Saturday Rundown: Big East Tourney, More Gridiron Bash Rants, 12-Year Old Coach

The Saturday rundown is back! And as I mentioned in my St. John’s wrap-up, Marquette at Syracuse decided the Big East tournament fate of WVU. And so it was, Marquette loses 87-62 at the Carrier Dome. WVU now ties Marquette for fifth place in the conference, and by virtue of the victory over Marquette early in Big East play, WVU claims fifth seed in the conference tournament. Remember when the Mountaineers were picked to finish tenth in the conference?

Managers across West Virginia were definitely rooting for Marquette. With their loss, WVU now will play their Big East tournament game at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, and we expect half the state to call in sick for Wednesday afternoon. WVU’s opponent will be 12th-seeded Providence or DePaul. The Friars and Blue Demons both sit at 6-11. Providence hosts Villanova tonight, while DePaul visits Pitt tomorrow. Providence holds the tiebreaker, so if the Friars win tonight they are in. Lose tonight and they must hope Pitt can hold off DePaul.

Get through our first-round matchup and we will be looking down the barrel for a second-round match with 4th-seed Connecticut, again at 2 p.m. on Thursday. So you might want to make sure that blue flu lasts at least two days.

Moving on to more fantastic news about the Gridiron Bash. This is at least my third post on this gem, as you know WVU has drawn Dwight Yoakam to perform at Mountaineer Field on the eve of the spring game. As disappointed as we are at that decision, it seems even worse than we originally though.

The original announcement and most subsequent information prominently featured a flat rate of $35 would be charged for admission to the Bash and the spring game. So why are tickets listed on WVU’s website for $48.50? Even if you add the traditional $5 admission to the spring game, which doubled as a donation to WVU Children’s Hospital, that leaves a mysterious $8.50 and I would like to know where it is going. I guess it could be a convenience charge of some sort, but in that case it should be delineated as such. On top of that, a ticket buyer will pay $3 to have their tickets delivered via U.S. Mail.

As certain that I am that people do not want to pay $35 to see a Dwight Yoakam concert, I am doubly sure that nobody wants to pay $51.50 for the same. And so we go from great idea to complete sham in a matter of no time. I hope a lot of people will still show up for the Gold-Blue Game, but I think a lot of people will be scared away by the high price tag of the Gridiron Bash, even if the standard $5 admission for the spring game only is retained.

Finally, somehow in the shuffle of candidates for WVU football head coach was lost one name — Joshua Irizzary. You should read the article, but to summarize, Joshua is 12 years old and lives in Connecticut. He sent a letter of application to WVU President Mike Garrison. In the end, Bill Stewart was chosen but Irizzary was definitely a finalist. This is a great story and I would love to see WVU embrace this even more. I say we should fly in young Mr. Irizzary for the spring game or the home opener against Villanova, dress him down with official coaches’ gear and a headset and let him run out on the field with the coaching staff and patrol the WVU sidelines. Even let him call a play or something. Why not? Let’s make this happen, West Virginia.

Three Points: WVU at St. John’s

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I. Joe Mazzulla - Did it feel like deja vu when Mazzulla went the length of the court to tie the game at the end of regulation? It should have because almost nearly the same thing happened in 2005 when WVU visited the Johnnies at Carnesecca Arena. J.D. Collins made almost the exact same court-length drive for a floater with time ticking off. The only difference is that Collins’ basket won the game for WVU on that night, 67-66. Even as upset as I was that we blew the lead, and that we let St. John’s back in the game, that we blew foul shots, at the end of regulation that shot was such an adrenaline rush. I guess it’s good for WVU that we were able to go on the road and win a close game.

II. Joe Alexander - Alexander absolutely took over toward the end of regulation and in overtime. Without him WVU loses the game without a doubt, but there was a point earlier on in the game where he looked a little tenative and the shots were not falling. He was 5-of-13 from the floor at one point. But the biggest thing is that he was able to get to the line, drain the shots, and was absolutely carrying the team on his back in overtime. He was even bringing the ball up the court, which was really starting to worry me. I’ve brought this up before but again, what a contrast between the end of this season and the end of last. Joe was mailing it end the last 10 games or so last year, this year he looks to be stronger than any point in the season.

III. 5-of-11 Three Pointers - For the last four Big East wins WVU has posted 5, 6, 5 and 7 three-pointers in each game. This team is winning games without draining 9 or 10 treys a game. This is something that never would have happened last season or even earlier this season. I felt after the Villanova loss that Huggins may have lost the team, but it seems like just the opposite has happened. They have really bought into the 1-on-1 game, playing tough on the defensive end and taking their man off the dribble on offense. Alexander and Wellington Smith are getting to the rim off the bounce more in the last few games than at any other time, and Darris Nichols and Mazzulla are able to penetrate from the point to get to the rim and get a shot or draw contact. It is very uncharacteristic of a WVU team but it brings another aspect that you have to defend. Now you simply can’t overextend your defense and sell out to defend the three. Getting to the rim and drawing contact was key as WVU was able to foul out four Red Storm players, and hit on 30-of-42 from the line, which is not stellar percentage-wise but impressive simply in number of attempts.

Overall I was pretty down on this team a couple weeks ago, but it looks like they have hit their stride at just the right time going into the Big East tournament. These guys can finally play with confidence and don’t have to rely solely on the jump start to draw momentum. Now we just wait for the Marquette-Syracuse game later today (4 p.m. tipoff on ESPN) to see what seed we can draw in the Big East tournament (MU win, 6th seed. MU loss, 5th seed.) A #5 seed would draw a match-up with Providence or DePaul on Wednesday afternoon, while a #6 would likely pit us against Seton Hall in prime time Wednesday night.