Last November, Kevin Jones sat in a crowded Manhattan meeting room and discussed his upcoming final season in a West Virginia uniform.
It was Big East media day, an annual time for public atonement and public prognostication.
Jones’s own self-discovery happened after last season, when he averaged 13.2 points and 7.9 rebounds in Big East play. He shot 44 percent that year. He shot 24.5 percent from 3-point range.
Full Article at: syracuse.com
Game time: 1 p.m.
Location: Carrier Dome
TV: ESPNUWho’s hot for Syracuse
Scoop Jardine is performing at the highest level of his career. In SU’s last four games, Jardine has dished out 32 assists and committed just four turnovers. He had six assists and no turnovers in Monday’s win at Cincinnati.
Full Article at: syracuse.com
Jim Boeheim says there are no gimme games in the Big East. Of course, Syracuse University’s Hall of Fame coach always says that. This season, it might be true.
“You can’t value one game over the other,” Boeheim said. “Every game is a big game.”
Letdowns can lead to losses. Just ask coach Bob Huggins, whose West Virginia club had won five of its last six and three straight, including an upset of Georgetown, headed into Wednesday at St. John’s.
Full Article at: democratandchronicle.com
Big 12 Interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas was in Morgantown on Friday to deliver the keynote address for the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce Dinner.
Neinas discussed a number of topics from West Virginia’s acceptance into the Big 12, the Big 12 football schedule, the location of the Big 12 basketball tournament and many other topics.
Full Article at: WVi
Who is going to have the best returning offense going into the 2012-2013 football season?
From a Big 12 standpoint, West Virginia. Remember the Orange Bowl? A second year in Dana Holgorsen’s offense will make Geno Smith even more dangerous. Nationally? USC with Barkley returning should be lots of fun to watch.
What do you think the percentage is that West Virginia joins the Big 12?
Full Article at: Dallas News
This is in no way substantiated, so for now you must consider it a rumor that is growing legs from a questionable source. I usually don’t deal in this type of rumor mongering, but it does make a little sense based on connecting the dots. The rumor is that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has interviewed, or is going to interview, former West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart for a spot on his staff. It could be an interview for the vacant offensive coordinator position or perhaps as quarterbacks coach should Randy Fichtner end up being promoted. We just do not know that answer and are not 100% sure this is even true.
Full Article at: steelersdepot.com
The one thing you can be certain of when West Virginia comes into the Carrier Dome to play the No. 3/4-ranked Syracuse Orange is that coach Bob Huggins will have their full and undivided attention.
Losses like the one at St. John’s on Wednesday have a way of bringing the communicator in Huggins out, and you can rest assured that he spent a couple of days communicating with his team, turning them from looking back at the failures at St. John’s and ahead toward Syracuse.
“Obviously, they are really good,” said Huggins, stating the obvious. “They have a lot of good players and Jim (Boeheim) does a good job of putting them into positions where they can be successful.”
Full Article at: TimesWV
The West Virginia Mountaineers (15-6, 5-3) will face one of the most talented teams on its schedule this afternoon when the Mountaineers travel to Syracuse to take on the No. 4 ranked Syracuse Orange (21-1, 8-1).
West Virginia hasn’t had the best week leading up to this Top 5 match up. The Mountaineers lost to the St. John’s Red Storm on Wednesday night and many of the young players appeared completely shell shocked afterwards.
Today’s match up in northern New York will be the first time the Mountaineer coaching staff will see their team respond after a loss against a team they should’ve beaten.
Full Article at: WVMetroNews
Christian Brown moved from Florida to Bridgeton to be closer to the many colleges recruiting him to play football.
Last month, the 18-year old decided to attend West Virginia University.
“I called the head coach (Dana Holgorsen) and told him that I was looking at them hard and liked the school,” Brown said in a phone interview Friday. “Then I told them I wanted to commit there. He was fired up about it. He was happy. He told me I made his day.”
Full Article at: pressofatlanticcity.com
The Norma Mae Huggins cancer research endowment fund, named in honor of Bob Huggins’ late mother, is currently involved in an online tournament against 63 other coach’s respective foundations. All of the participants get at least $5,000, but the grand prize is $100,000 that will go directly into the research fund.
“We’re going to be in excess of probably $600,000 and adding another $100,000 in there would be huge,” Huggins said. “The beautiful thing about it is it all stays right here in West Virginia. It doesn’t go anywhere else and that’s huge.”
Full Article at: WVi
West Virginia University’s football recruiting class is like those who stuck to their New Year’s Day resolution. It’s rounding into shape.
One of the services that rate recruiting, Scout.com, considers the current Mountaineer class No. 28 nationally.
But the coaches in Morgantown aren’t finished. Sources say that, aside from sealing the current commitments, Dana Holgorsen’s staff is trying to sign at least six others, including a couple of four-star players.
Full Article at: The Charleston Gazette
What happened to West Virginia’s basketball team Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden was a complete surprise to Bob Huggins. While he knew the Mountaineers were capable of a poor performance, he just didn’t see a 78-62 thrashing at the hands of St. John’s coming.
Then again, with his team depending upon so many freshmen – five among the top eight players – as the season goes along, he’s finding out more and more each day.
And some of it he doesn’t like.
Full Article at: The Charleston Gazette
Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas remains adamant that West Virginia will be in the league by July 1, 2012. Neinas, speaking in a one-on-one interview with Hoppy Kercheval, said the football schedule for the upcoming year has already been set and has the Mountaineers figured in.
Asked if the league had a contingency plan in place for the football schedules incase legal battles kept WVU from making the jump to the Big 12 by 2012, Neinas simply said, “We have not.”
A Rhode Island judge has ordered mediation between WVU and the Big East regarding their legal battles – something that could lead an eventual settlement. Neinas said the Big 12 would be open discussions of possibility assisting West Virginia on paying part of a potential buyout to exit the Big East.
Full Article at: WVMetroNews
Wayne Selden is a good ways away from making his college decision, but the Boston, Massachusetts native is starting to get offers from many of the top programs in the nation, including West Virginia.
Selden is ranked as the one of the top shooting guards in the class of 2014. The 6-foot-5 prospect plays for The Tilton School and was recently in Morgantown competing in the Remember The Miners Mountaineer Showcase.
The sophomore prospect hasn’t had a chance to go on any official visits yet and as of now, he is keeping all of his options open including WVU.
Full Article at: WVMetroNews
West Virginia doesn’t have long to figure out what went wrong at St. John’s on Wednesday night. That’s because third-ranked Syracuse awaits the Mountaineers Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome.
West Virginia, coming off a disappointing 78-62 loss against the Red Storm in Madison Square Garden, will be playing in an even tougher venue on Saturday.
West Virginia has defeated Syracuse in the Dome just once in nine tries, that coming in 1997 when Gale Catlett’s WVU squad routed the Orange 101-79. Since then, the Mountaineers have dropped their last eight against Syracuse in the Dome by an average margin of 14 points per game.
Full Article at: MSN
Syracuse center Fab Melo is not expected to participate in Saturday’s game against West Virginia. The seven-foot sophomore standout has been out of the past two games for the Orange due to academic issues. Syracuse lost the first of those two games on the road at Notre Dame, but bounced back to beat Cincinnati on Monday.
Full Article at: WVMetroNews
If you do not yet know the name Nerlens Noel, you probably will in the near future. Noel is listed as the top-ranked Center in the class of 2013 and was impressed with his recent visit to West Virginia University.
“I put out a list of about ten (schools) and I think West Virginia will be added,” Noel said.
Noel was in town to participate in the Prime Time Shootout at University High School last weekend. While in town, he met up with WVU Assistant Coach Larry Harrison.
Full Article at: WVi
It would be easy to make too much out of West Virginia’s abysmal performance Wednesday night against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.
It was one lousy night in a 31-game season. There haven’t been that many.
By the same token, though, it would be far too easy to make too little of the deed.
Full Article at: The Charleston Gazette
On Wednesday night in New York City, West Virginia University’s inflated ego was deflated by a St. John’s team that was wallowing near the bottom of the Big East.
In years past, this would be considered something of an embarrassment for while the conference’s reputation was as the nation’s strongest, its bottom-dwellers were usually just so much fodder for teams like the Mountaineers.
But this is a new season in the Big East — be it West Virginia’s last or next to last in the conference — and it is not the Big East of old.
Full Article at: TimesWV
One of the nation’s top shooting guards is still on the market in the 2012 recruiting class and he has the Mountaineers on his list.
Arlington Country Day shooting guard Carlos Morris recently de-committed from South Carolina, citing the uncertainty of head coach Darrin Horn’s future with the Gamecocks.
“He was on the hot seat and I didn’t want to stay committed and lose out on the other schools,” stated Morris. “So I wanted to open it back up and see what it is.”
Full Article at: WVMetroNews
25. Oliver Luck
The father of Andrew Luck would probably have been happy to sit back and let his son get all of the headlines.
But Oliver Luck also had a job to do as West Virginia’s Director of Athletics, and he navigated the Mountaineers through the conference realignment nightmare this fall.
Now he’s promising everyone in the state that WVU won’t be in the Big East as of July 1.
Luck is definitely making a name for himself and it has nothing to do with Andrew.
Bleacher Report
Bob Huggins was calling timeouts early and making substitutions from deep on his bench and nothing was working for West Virginia’s coach.
St. John’s was driving and scoring and rebounding at will and Huggins rolled up his sleeves in a huddle and pulled out one last trick. He’d abandon man-to-man defense and opt for the 1-3-1 zone.
“Nothing else seemed to work,” he said Wednesday night. “But when you spend the whole timeout going over where everyone is supposed to be and then three guys are in the 1-3-1 and two of them aren’t, they’re not really into what you’re doing. Know what I mean?”
Full Article at: Charleston Daily Mail
With the release of Marshall’s 2012 football schedule, one thing appears to be certain: The final installment of the series with West Virginia will be played as previously scheduled, on Sept. 1.
WVU’s move to the Big 12, including a shift from seven conference games to eight, leads observers to wonder if the game with Marshall would remain intact. MU’s announcement Thursday indicates that the seventh and final game in the contract brokered by Gov. Joe Manchin is unaffected.
As Conference USA schools unveiled schedules Thursday, Marshall found out it will take its annual trip to Texas to open the conference season, playing at Rice on Sept. 22. The Thundering Herd is 0-8 in the Lone Star State, including a 2008 loss to the Owls.
Full Article at: The Charleston Gazette
A couple of folks in our Mountaineer family are in need and I wanted to share their story here in case some people wanted to help.
First a little background…
I frequent a WVU sports message board in my spare time and ran across a rather interesting post today. It wasn’t your typical sports related post – it was from a father asking for help. Both he and his wife are WVU grads and like so many WVU grads they now live outside of the state. I don’t personally know this guy and he didn’t ask me to tell his story here, but I felt it was worth sharing regardless (I hope he doesn’t mind…I assume he won’t).
His daughter was born with Goldenhar Syndrome, a craniofacial syndrome. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t a clue what that is, but, hey, it just sounds bad. His daughter is only 9, but has had multiple surgeries in her short life and will need many more. I could go on, but the entire story can be found here.
2 years ago and I may not have shared this story. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a grinch, but my life has changed. I am now the proud parent of a 14 month old child. Good grief, he is the best thing in the world! I can’t imagine my life without him and I certainly couldn’t imagine him with medical issues. I also can’t even begin to imagine what this family has gone through nor do I even want to think about it.
Anyway, if you have a free minute and have an extra couple of bucks stop in and read their story and try to help if you can.
Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas told the Charleston Gazette that he’s been assured West Virginia will be able to enter the Big 12 for the 2012 season, and he’ll be releasing the league’s schedule with West Virginia included by Feb. 1.
That date, by the way, is in six days.
Neinas left commenting on the Big East lawsuit, which seeks to force the Mountaineers to adhere to the 27-month notice required to leave the Big East, to West Virginia, but told the paper he received “continual assurances” that West Virginia would be able to get out in time.
The two sides were set to undergo non-binding mediation, and the hope was that a settlement could be reached.
Full Article at: ESPN
There can’t be a younger starting five than St. John’s had Wednesday night against West Virginia. Five freshmen were introduced as the starting lineup for the Red Storm, and when the game was over they snapped a four-game losing streak with a 78-62 victory.
“We don’t look at it like that,” said Moe Harkless, who led the freshmen with 23 points and 13 rebounds, “we just go out there, play and try to have fun in the game.”
They had a blast in this one. The Red Storm (9-11, 3-6 Big East) used runs of 8-0 and 9-0 to take a 36-20 halftime lead, and they led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
Full Article at: NewsandSentinel
If the West Virginia men’s basketball team was going to have a chance in the second half and could make a 21-point deficit disappear, it was going to begin with a moment like this.
Truck Bryant took a step out of a prolonged shooting slump with a 3-pointer to cut the St. John’s lead to 56-40 and a long rebound on a Red Storm miss gave the Mountaineers a rare opportunity in transition Wednesday night.
WVU fans at Madison Square Garden to witness what became a 78-62 loss lifted their heads as the Mountaineers ran the court and then, just as quickly, tucked their chins into their chest.
Full Article at: Charleston Daily Mail
Interim Big 12 Conference Commissioner Chuck Neinas said he’d like to “make the record clear for folks in West Virginia.”
On Wednesday, he did just that. In an interview with the Gazette, Neinas said he’s been assured by officials at West Virginia University that the Mountaineers will be part of the Big 12 next fall — and a football schedule will be released by Feb 1, less than a week from now.
WVU and its current conference, the Big East, are involved in a pair of lawsuits. The school wants to leave the Big East after this school year, but the conference maintains the school must stay for the full 27-month waiting period outlined in Big East bylaws.
Full Article at: The Charleston Gazette
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