Titles; Honors and Just wanted to say again WE BEAT sPITT!!!

Well to say that this weekend in Mountaineer Sports was a success would be a mild understatement. Those of us that have been brought up on all things Mountaineer Sports would likely be satisfied that we simply Beat sPitt in Football. In addition to this most satisfying occasion were several other wonderful things...

1st Staying with Football: The Big East has seen fit to Honor Robert Sands with Big East Defensive Player of the Week; they also chose Tyler Bitancurt as the Big East Special Teams Player of the week. Noel Devine was an honorable mention as well.

Now to Basketball and in this Case I am going to go with Lady's first. They were able to earn 66-41 victory over Nevada in the Nugget Classic championship on Saturday evening at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev. In the process now at (5-1) they were able to have two ladies honored and placed on all tournament team. Guard Sarah Miles was named to the team and "frosh star" Center Asya Bussie was named the Tourney's MVP. Way to go ladies. Keep in mind that this is a team that is very young and the future of Mountaineer Women's Basketball is very bright.


And if the rest of this news isn't good enough and if the late start wasn't past your bed-time you may know that the Men Likewise were crowned the champions of the 76 Classic. In the process of notching there 5th win in as many tries the Eers landed 2 players on the all Tourney team. First was Foward Kevin Jones and DeSean Butler who garnered MVP honors. Additionally, he is this week’s BIG EAST Player of the Week. This win over a game Portland team was quite entertaining and left some including myself just wanting more of the same. It is the first in-season tourney win for the Eers since 2001. Our recent wins also place us 7th in the AP; 8th in the Coaches Poll and #1 in real time RPI.


It has certainly been a great week to be a Mountaineer wherever you may be!!!

Da Geek

8th ranked Round-Ballers get a chance at the 76 championship tonight.

Well this wasn't the road I would have predicted for the Mountaineers to get to the championship game but it has worked out well so far. Oh and by the way Devin Ebanks is pretty good. Yes Eer Nation we shall get to see our full complement of talent on the Court tonight for the Championship game against Portland. Let us all check in on the game on ESPN 2 at 10:00. I am very excited at our opportunity this evening but I am also impressed by our opponent who on two consecutive nights destroyed UCLA 74-47 and then beat 16th ranked Minnesota yesterday as well. This should be a great game.

GO EERS!!!

Da Geek

How to salvage a season... and a reapearance into top 25?

That is pretty simple Beat sPitt and all seems to be better with the world. That is right Mountaineer nation the Eers went against the script of the press and upset their detested rivals from the North. How did it happen? Well a little thing called Defense came to life and demonstrated the maxim that "it" wins championships. Well no championship this year but at least we put those pesky panthers in there place. The Coaches Poll has seen fit to re-add us to its poll bringing us in at 23.

So what is at stake when we enter New Jersey next week? Well actually, a whole bunch. Since the pitiful Fighting-Irish have cooperated with us by losing their 6th game this year, the Gator Bowl is out for them. So that leaves CINCY WVU AND sPITT as the remaining contestants for participation. I really see only one scenario where we are in so here goes: WVU wins against Rutgers, and sPitt gives up its second loss in two weeks to Cincy. The Gator Bowl is not obligated to take the 2nd place team out of the Big East (or Notre Dame if within 2 wins of a Big East team... they are not) they have the second selection after the BCS makes its selection. If sPitt wins and gets the BCS birth I think that the Gator will be hard pressed not to take the Bear Cats. Thus a win at Rutgers isn't enough we need a win and a sPitt loss, but if that happens it is a New Years Day Bowl for us after all. And wouldn't it be grand to send a hopeful lot of panther fans to some other lessor teir bowl birth this year?

Da Geek

WVU 104 Mountain State 82

In case you have been in a cave for the last 2 years you are probably aware that Bob Huggins came to Morgantown and coaches the gold and blue roundballers. What I witnessed yesterday is the culmination of his coaching and recruiting. He has brought a different brand of basketball to the Mountain State. He has made solid defense the cornerstone of his philosophy. What he has now added to that is a team that can score with the ball too. I watched for the first time in my lifetime of watching WVU basketball a team with depth. By that I mean we have a team that really goes 10 men deep. Yesterdays starters were as follows: Butler, Smith,Bryant, Mitchell (Newcomer), and Devin Ebanks. For those keeping score that is 3 forwards and 2 guards. I would note that Joe Maz was being held out as a precaution (Huggs stated that he could have gone if necessary.) But that leaves the following to play from the bench. Kevin Jones (scored 20 and rebounded 10), John Flowers, Dalton Pepper (Newcomer), Joe Maz, and Newcomer Deniz Kilicli (Center who has been screwed by the NCAA for 20 games) Cam would be next off the bench then. I am excited because the talent doesn't end there. WVU boasts additional talent even behind that. This season could prove to be the most exciting in the Bob Huggins Era. I implore you fans to get to the Coliseum and watch these guys. There will be more to come, but I wanted to give the reader something to think about. Yesterday's exhibition was a wonderful display of things to come.

DaGeek

7 Wins 2 Losses BCS 25 What does it all mean?

Well normally I am an eternal optimist but I have to admit that this is an uneasy possition to be in. We have made ourselves "Bowl Bound" We shall get a bowl bid to somewhere. The fact that we didn't need to use the Liberty win to become qualified is I guess nice. Now back to my thoughts... We have an opertunity to go to a BCS bowl if we infact win out.

I think that this is a tall order. Cincinnati is far and a way the best coached team in our league. Coach Kelly simply schemes his teams in such a way that they become successful. He has the luxury of starting either QB and having similar results. He has a stable of receivers that can for the most part be interchanged and again give similar results. Obviously, this team has been able to put up points. Their D has given up several but that is not as much of a problem for them as they have as of yet scored more. Our offense will have to score in the high 30s to low 40s for the first time this season to defeat this team. While I am confident we have the talent to do this I am not sure we have the attitude to do this. We simply have not been able to put a team away or attack a team for 4 quarters all year. To beat the Bearcats this weekend we simply have no choice but to do just that.

Anyway, we have a shot to go to the BCS. We have a shot at 2nd place in the Big East. We have a shot a 3rd place to fith place in the Big East. Here are the Bowl possibilities as I see it right now: From the BCS the two likely locations would be the Sugar and the Orange. The Fiesta is going to be salivating at filling there boring Big 12 selection with Either TCU or Boise State. The Rose is not going to invite us to play in that game so that is out. Now what of the soon to be gone Gator Bowl? I would opine that the Big East will maintain its grip on this Bowl as Notre Dame has once again become Notre Lame. So that means that the Gator will get to select from the remaining eligible Big East teams. Only one of those teams travels WVU. So with a win over either sPitt or Cincy and Rutgers the Eers would likely be Jacksonville Bound. After that game though things get a little tricky to predict. The Mountaineers are the team that is most desired for selection by the remaining bowls over all of our Big East Brethren, however Notre Lame is in the Car Care tie in and thus would likely get the nod in that game. So that leaves the Toronto Bowl, and the St. Pete Bowl as the likely scenerios if we don't win at least 2 of the 3 remaining games. So what does it all mean? We have already done all we need to do to get invited to a the above bowl games so failing to win another game would yeild the same results as winning 1 of the remaining 3 however 2 wins and I think we are Gater Bound and 3 wins locks a BCS birth.

DaGeek