Danke schoen !

Danke schoen, seniors, and what a way for the Fab Five to go out.

WVU will receive no worse than the No. 3 seed in the Big East tournament after their 67-62 win over Pitt in a game that was over well before it began.

We knew victory was secure roughly 5 minutes before the tipoff, when a lovely lass belted out a few bars of Das Lied Der Deutschen, the German national anthem.

Not surprisingly, Herr Herber had four 3-pointers in the opening minutes and the Mountaineers never trailed.

Credit also to Pittsnogle for making up for his ohfer the last time against Pitt with 26 against the Panthers, and to Gansey for a typically phenomenal floor game. The points weren't there and the legs may have left, but the heart and hustle never did.

Here's our question: Why can't anyone figure out the Big East's simple tiebreaker?

Here it is, cut and dried: West Virginia clinched no worse than the No. 3 seed in the Big East tourney. WVU holds the head-to-head tiebreakers with Georgetown (2-0) and Marquette (1-0) and the split with Pitt also gives the edge to WVU -- by virtue of the Mounties' win over Villanova, the highest-seeded team either WVU or Pitt defeated.

Two losses by Nova and a WVU win at Cincy, and the Mounties are the No. 2 seed.

Shame on the AP's Raby and shame on the P-G's Ray Pitt-ipaldo for fouling up the key stat of the game. P.M. update -- shame on Beckner for getting it wrong, too.

-- Pitt-ipaldo takes the pro-Panther angle, saying Pitt could neither defend the 3 nor take care of the ball, but also (incorrectly) writes that WVU "can secure third place and a first-round bye with a victory at Cincinnati Saturday." Wrong, Ray. As we already established, WVU took care of that already.

-- From the other bench, the P-G's Finder reports that Pittsnogle was motivated by newspaper clips reminding him how terrible he was in the Feb. 9 meeting.

A Chez divided against itself cannot stand (Pitt)

Let's play Good Chez v. Bad Chez about the final two games of the regular season.

Good Chez says: WVU has been a top-1o to top-15 team all year, has played great on the road, is senior-dominated with one of the more devious coaches in NCAA. Final games are quite winnable, at home on Senior Night on Big Monday (lot of emotion, needs to be sustained by the overrated home crowd) and at Cincinnati, a dangerous foe but a good match-up if Monster Hicks is contained at all. Good Chez thinks Pittsnogle will play solid, Gansey will gear up for the stretch run, and a third player will step up to help Herber with the scoring (JDC, Daddyboy, Frank, whoever). Ruoff will continue to shine in limited minutes, and Summers won't kill the team the couple minutes he gets in the game. Pittsnogle will continue to flourish with his inside game from the left block. WVU gets by Pitt to clinch a Big East tourney bye, then beats Cincy to steamroll a little momentum.

BAD CHEZ says: WVU is a tired team with a short bench on its last legs. The Mounties haven't convincingly won a game since Marquette. Their offense is evaporating into a deluge of crappy off-balance and ill-advised 3-pointers and they can't get to the line. Their 1-3-1 has been shredded among Big East coaches, and they don't even pretend to play a token on post defense. Even though they keep the games close, they choke in the clutch with hair-brained final possessions, stupid shot selection and a lot of standing around on offense. Beilein's one-trick pony has been eclipsed and the lack of athleticism will be atoned by both Pitt's block-headed monster and the Indomitable Hicks. Another losing streak, a limp into the Big East tourney and they blow the bye after starting 8-0 in the league.

Who wins this Angel v. Devil showdown? We're going to find out in the next six days.

Orange you glad this wasn't March

Seton Hall, Syracuse ... WVU's doing its best to make sure plenty of Big East teams get into the NCAA tournament.

The Orange became the latest bubble team to get a quality win at WVU's expense on Monday night in a 60-58 loss to Syracuse in what became WVU's fourth loss in five games.

The photo above features a sight that's becoming all too familiar for WVU -- an opponent's big man (here, Terrence Roberts) throwing down an uncontested dunk.

Hickman tries to put a happy spin on the loss by mentioning that for a change, beating WVU is worthy of storming the court. He also posits that losing three straight and four of five is no slump.

We take a more pragmatic view. WVU allegedly had five seniors on the court for its decisive final two possessions of the game, but you could hardly tell by the execution and poise (or lack thereof).

What happened? Shouldn't a WVU team which thrives on the 3-pointer carve up Syracuse's packed-in zone defense like a Thanksgiving turkey?

On WVU's last two possessions, Syracuse pulled its guards well beyond the 3-point arc and played its three frontliners at about foul-line extended. That left the baseline open and dared WVU to attack there. WVU had a great chance to tie it on its first possession, but Kevin Pittsnogle's backdoor pass went through Herr Herber's wickets.

By that point, Syracuse had claimed the mental victory. WVU got the ball back with about 39 seconds left, and clearly there was no way the rattled 'Eers would try THAT again.

Syracuse countered with the same defensive alignment with its guards playing even further out and putting even more pressure on J.D. Collins and Pat Beilein. What happened next was a total disgrace -- nobody moved, except for token cuts to the free-throw line by Pittsnogle and Gansey.

Herber was on the baseline but he might as well have been in Rochester, because no way was WVU going back to him that soon after the turnover. It was obvious by the lack of urgency shown in the offense that WVU's only chance was a 3 over an extended zone -- long odds, indeed.

So WVU's offense devolved into a game of catch between Collins and Beilein until there were about 5 seconds on the shot clock, by which point 'Cuse's guards had created sufficient pressure and WVU could do nothing but fire up a 25-footer which barely drew iron. Syracuse sent its three frontliners hard toward the rim, while Pittsnogle, Gansey and Herber were much farther from the rebound and had no chance.

Coach Beilein was exposed by his two nemeses, Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim, in a 48-hour span. The question is, will Pitino make it three on Saturday?

UConn-not remember where the game was played?

This might border on the hypercritical, but Beckner has bungled another key fact in his UConn preview piece in today's Daily Mail. We think it's worth noting, however, because it speaks to a larger problem. Here's the erroneous selection:

UConn wasn't able to do what the Mountaineers (18-6, 9-2 Big East) did -- beat No. 4 Villanova on its home court.

The Huskies marched into Philadelphia on Monday and lost for just the second time this season. WVU, on the other hand, beat the Wildcats, 91-87, back on Jan. 8 at the Pavilion.

Well, UConn didn't play Villanova on its "home court." That game took place at the Wachovia Center downtown in Philly and was witnessed by a Pennsylvania college hoops record 20,859. By contrast, WVU played in front of about 6,500 at the Pavilion up the Main Line in -- yes, it's a location -- Villanova, Pa. So, not only was it not Nova's "home court" -- it wasn't even technically in their home city. The reason it's worth pointing out -- did Beckner even bother to watch that Nova-UConn showdown? And maybe worse if he did, did he pay no attention?

Nova is going out of its way NOT to claim Wachovia Center as its home court ... because it's also the home of an NCAA regional. So playing 4 or more games there would ship the Wildcats elsewhere come tourney time. They played Syracuse there in January and drew more than 20,500 for that one, and previously also hosted Louisville there, and UConn was the other choice game. Nova also played on its "home court" twice at the Palestra in Philly, and hosted Longwood in a game at nearby Atlantic City.

We haven't been this confused since the "Frank Young rules" feature ... or the "Joe Herber is an Iron Man" column in the game coverage when Herber wilted in the second half against Seton Hall.

Of course, things could be worse ... Hickman took another day off today. Not a shred of Mountaineer coverage a day before they host the No. 1 team in the country. Nice.

Costly loss in East Rutherford

It's blurry, but it's worth it ... click here for a better view: LINK.

But CBS Sportsline's latest projections have WVU NOWHERE IN THE TOURNAMENT. Yet check out the 4th seed in Oakland region ... Weber State? Harold Arceneaux and Eddie Gill might like that result, but only Houston Nutt advocates such extreme prejudice against the Mountaineers !

Have you seen this man?

We haven't either -- at least, not in the second halves of games.

Surprising, then, to open up the DM and find a glowing feature on the leaner, meaner anchor of next year's WVU basketball team.

Beckner puts a happy spin on the fact that Young is averaging less than 8 points per game -- but the Daily Mail's esteemed WVU beat writer apparently failed to do his homework on ol' Franklin.

We dug a little deeper and found that, in his last five games, Young is averaging less than 6 points per game, is shooting 29 percent from the field and 28 percent from 3.

It's fair to wonder where Young has been in the last 30 minutes of recent games.

He's just 2 of 14 from 3 (14 percent) in his last three games -- and both of those 3s came in the first halves against Pitt and Georgetown.

His only field goal against Seton Hall came at the midway point of the first half -- all of which suggests Frank is nowhere to be found down the stretch, when the outcomes are decided.

This isn't meant as an indictment of Young -- we understand Beilein often prefers to bench him in favor of his five seniors during crunch time -- as it is of Beckner, who clearly should have given Young's role a little more consideration before dedicating 700 words to blindly praising him.

Bull crap

Stunning news out of the increasingly bizarre scheduling dealings with Buffalo ...

From Hickman:

West Virginia deputy athletic director Mike Parsons has finally received a call from an official at the University of Buffalo.

But it wasn’t the school’s athletic director, Warde Manuel, and the call served to clear up nothing about the status of West Virginia’s scheduled football game with Buffalo this fall.

“I got a call from their sports information director, but he was only calling on behalf of the athletic director to tell me that [the AD] was leaving on a trip out of the country,’’ Parsons said. “He apologized for the lack of communication.’’

But the Buffalo SID couldn’t shed any light on whether or not the school was planning to honor the contract that calls for the Bulls to visit Morgantown on Sept. 9.

More and more, Parsons said, he is beginning to believe that the Mid-American Conference is calling the shots for Buffalo and may well be at the core of the disputed game and Buffalo’s new contract to play at Auburn this fall.

“But it’s all speculation on my part because no one is telling us anything,’’ Parsons said.

Inexcusable. Manuel is too coward even to make his own conciliatory phone call. Or maybe Rick Chryst has him by the balls. Predictably, the Buffalo News is trying to paint WVU as a spendthrift who won't shell out more cash for mighty Turner Gill, when in reality the Mountaineers are the ones getting the shaft in this ordal.

Either way, we love the closing paragraph:

If the MAC does try to fill the Buffalo spot on West Virginia’s schedule with another school, Parsons has said that WVU will have to agree to it. As for the $200,000 buyout, Buffalo might not have to pay that if the school agrees to visit Morgantown in a future season.

Uhhh, we think WVU would decline any future "dealings" with the Bulls and take the $200k.

Sorry, Sylvester

We're not too proud to admit when we're wrong, and it's with that in mind that we are taking Mississippi State and coach Sylvester Croom off our Chicken List.

Mississippi State announced its football schedule and, sure enough, October 7th is reserved for a game in Starkvegas against WVU. The contract with Mississippi State was signed in 2002 -- just after WVU's awful 3-8 season and the Bulldogs' second straight losing season. WVU has gotten better, while Mississippi State ... well, they're showing promise under new coach Croom.

"Certainly, West Virginia wasn't ranked as highly then, but they were a respected team," said MSU athletic director Larry Templeton. "This is consistent with what we've been doing with our (non-conference) games through the years. It's a good home-and-home."

One more point -- given the way Buffalo is handling its schedule and apparently reneging on its contract to play WVU on Sept. 9, is there any wonder we're paranoid about teams backing out?

Uppity bulls

From the DM:

Officials at the University of Buffalo say they are finished talking about a contracted football date with West Virginia.
"It will be short and sweet and will be our only comment," said Buffalo assistant athletic director Paul Vecchio on Wednesday. "We will not make any comments regarding our football schedule until it is approved and released through the Mid-American Conference."
Vecchio wouldn't say what schedule the MAC school submitted to the league office. WVU and Buffalo have a contract to play a football game in Morgantown on Sept. 9, but reports continue to suggest the game won't take place.
That's because Buffalo has reportedly agreed to play at Auburn this season, a game that would guarantee the Bulls a higher payout than what they'll get from WVU.
WVU associate athletic director Mike Parsons on Tuesday said he was having trouble getting officials at Buffalo to return his phone calls. Instead, Big East officials contacted Parsons and told him they'd been in touch with MAC officials and that WVU could release its schedule as planned.
That schedule still lists Buffalo at WVU on Sept. 9.

Won't talk to the media. Won't talk to WVU. That is, well, Bull - s**t.

Who does Mikey like? Hmmm ...

Seems pretty obvious from the schedules that Commish Mike Tranghese is pulling for Louuhvull to win the Big East in '06.

We couldn't help but notice the Big East did reigning league champ WVU no favors in putting together the conference schedule.

One-third of the games on weeknights. Three ridiculously short weeks -- and two of those quick turnarounds involve WVU following a home game with a road trip just a few days later.

WVU (allegedly) plays Beefalo on Sept. 9, and is home against Maryland five days later. WVU is home against Syracuse Oct. 14, and visits UConn the following Friday. WVU is home against Cincy on Nov. 11, and visits Pitt the next Thursday.

Are we seeing a pattern here? It's hardly the kind of schedule befitting a team that saved the Big East's BCS bacon just five weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, the Teethbirds have none, zip, zero short weeks. They have at least a full week before their weeknight games -- plenty of time to heal and gameplan.

Even the typically P.C. RichRod isn't happy about this. We're pretty sure this quote from MSNSportsNet.com wasn't cooked up by a P.R. official: "I think it’s quite a challenge for our team, with four weeknight games and three of those on short weeks. I’m not in favor of playing three weeknight conference games on the road, because of the class time we miss, but television dictates most of our schedule."

After Petrino whined all autumn about the legality of a certain onsides kick, this smells like a four-months-late make-up call.

The Scared Running of the Bulls

Of all people, Turner Gill should know it's not wise to go for two. The former Nebraska quarterback, whose failed 2-point conversion lost a national championship to Miami back in the early 80s, is the new coach at Buffalo, and apparently he's into chasing paydays more than honoring contracts.

Buffalo has officially picked up a 2006 game at Auburn, although the Buffalo News doesn't have any further details. But rampant speculation points toward the Bulls backing out of their commitment with West Virginia. Somebody roused Punxsutawny Hickman and he produced this column quoting Mountaineer scheduler-maker Mike Parsons as saying that Buffalo won't even return phone calls by the WVU administration.

Real classy, on both parts. First off, Buffalo joins UCF, Maryland and possibly Mississippi State as teams running scared of the Sugar Bowl champion Mountaineers. The Bulls probably will receive a greater payday from Auburn, which likely will include the funds to buy out of the WVU contract.

And secondly, Auburn, who recently signed a series with WVU, is now trying to screw the Mounties behind their backs. Way to get off on the right foot. Of course, what else do you expect from the corrupt $EC?

Game on?

We've been losing lots of sleep here at Spot the Blog about the possible loss of the most attractive non-conference game on WVU's schedule (and, yes, that's a jab at you folks in Huntington).

Now comes word from the Mississippi State camp that the schedule changes MSU athletic director Larry Templeton is considering have "nothing to do" with WVU -- "another team (is) having schedule problems, and MSU may cooperate to alleviate a problem."

According to an e-mail forwarded to Spot the Blog from the reporter from Mississippi, the WVU-Mississippi State game likely is still on, and the AD is happy to have the Mountaineers on the schedule.

Still, we have questions. Something doesn't smell right.

If this is the case, why wasn't it originally reported that way?

Why did the original story mention that Mississippi State might change a team on the schedule? Templeton's vague reference to schedule changes certainly leads a reasonable person to believe the Bulldogs don't want to play.

A simple line of explanation from the AD in the original story -- maybe, "because another team is having scheduling conflicts" -- would have gone a long way toward preventing the fueling of the paranoid fire.

You'll forgive us for wondering about the stability of WVU's schedule. We've seen Florida State (1993), Central Florida (2005) and Maryland (in the future) back out of games against the Mountaineers, and we recognized the warning signs of another retreat.

We've also noticed that Mississippi State's fan base are not only agreeing with our theory, they're DEFENDING it.

They rip RichRod for wanting to establish recruiting pipelines in Mississippi. Apparently, they don't know those pipelines have existed for years. When the MSU-WVU deal was announced in 2004, Mississippi natives Charles Hales, Dee McCann and others already were on the roster.

We'll take the forwarded e-mail with a grain of salt, and believe this game's really being played when we see the schedule. Until then, we trust no one.

Are the Bullies chicken?

First, Central Florida. Then, Maryland. Now, Mississippi State? Seems the list of schools that are ducking WVU's football team keeps growing.

This is informed speculation -- no schedules have been announced, but our theory seems plausible that Sylvester Croom (above right) and his Bulldogs (or Bullies, as they call themselves) don't want any part of the Mountaineers on October 7th -- especially if you read between the lines.

We found a story in a Mississippi newspaper that says Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton (left), in announcing his Bulldogs will open the season on a Thursday night, previouly said he's having conversations about altering the school's tentative football schedule.

Our Google news search turned up this story from Jan. 8 that quotes Templeton as saying a conversation involves "changing teams on the schedule," and that it would have to be one of Mississippi State's non-conference opponents, since the $EC schedule is set by the league office.

So, who could he be talking about? The Bulldogs' four non-conference opponents are UAB, Tulane, Division I-AA Jacksonville State and WVU.

Reading between the lines ...

UAB -- Friday's announcement that MSU would play UAB on Sept. 23 sets that game in stone.

Tulane -- We don't think an MSU program trying to rebuild amid NCAA sanctions would drop a sure-fire easy win against a struggling Green Wave team against whom Croom has a 2-0 record.

Jacksonville State -- Since the trend is for I-A teams to load up on I-AA opponents for easy wins and clearer paths to bowl eligibility, it's hard to imagine a horrible MSU program would give up a seemingly guaranteed win. (Then again, I-AA Maine DID beat Mississippi State in 2004 ....)

That leaves WVU, a near-consensus Top 5 preseason pick and emerging national power. Remember the date of the original story? January 8th -- six days after lil' ol' WVU of the weakling Big East kicked the tar out of Georgia, champ of the mighty $EC?

Our best guess: Mississippi State backs out of its two-game series with WVU at the last minute, just like Central Florida did in '05. They cite their need to get better as a backhanded compliment to WVU's success and an admission of inferiority -- but leave the Mountaineers' schedule unfinished and have Ed P. scrambling for a 12th game like, well, a chicken with his head cut off.

We remember the old schoolyard maxim that deep down, the biggest bullies were basically cowards. Mississippi State could be proving too that the $EC and its Bullies are chickens.

Kudos to Beckner

We've noticed a disturbing trend.

The Gayzette's Dave Prickman, err, Hickman, likes to take whole days off. We don't mean he isn't entitled to a pair of days' rest per week. But in the business of journalism, you plan ahead and work on some stories so that your topic of interest provides some reading material for your loyal subscribers.

Dave, though, doesn't get it. He took Friday off, after the overwhelming task of covering a basketball game and doing signing day coverage.

Andrew J. Beckner may have an unflattering column sig, but at least the guy (or his bosses) know that you probably want a morsel of Mountaineer coverage per issue when you're talking about a top-10 caliber team and one of the most-discussed programs in the country.

He offers us a little snip on how Beilein wants Darris Nichols to develop more of his offensive game. Nothing major, but it fills a void, and lets Daily Mail readers know that the beat writer gives a damn, which is more than we can say for the self-flagellating stiffs across the hall in the CN building.

The Daily Mail, Gazette and Dominion Post are the only papers of record or matter in West Virginia, and since the D-P's genius decision to go registration-only, they're effectively neutered. Which, from a national perspective, means the DM is the only paper that appears to give a damn about covering WVU.

Gansified

From urbandictionary.com:

1. gansified --When WVU player Mike Gansey goes crazy and hits everything the throws up.

Wake Forest got Gansified in double overtime last week.

WVU remains undefeated and atop Big East

Sad, sad song for ND: another close Big East loss. South Bend Tribune story.

WVU honored the Sugar Bowl football team at halftime ... the winningest four years in school history.

Here's the AP story from USA Today.

Also, from a recent USA Today roundball round table ...

What's been the key to West Virginia's recent 12-game winning streak, a run that has the Mountaineers sitting atop the Big East?

Malcolm Moran: Experience, coaching, style, and the evolution of the program within the Big East.
Eric Crawford: I was looking at the stats, and I couldn't find anything that really jumped out. They've had good shooting games and bad, good defensive games and bad.
Jeff Zillgitt: I understand players decide the outcome, but I really like Mountaineers coach John Beilein.
Tim Gardner: I agree. But I'll go one step further. Don't forget about Mike Gansey.
Eric Crawford: Gansey seems to be the guy who makes the key play, no matter what kind of game it is. Shot. Steal. Whatever.
Tim Gardner: The guy averages nearly 20 points, over 2 steals, 2 assists and 5 rebounds. Plus, he's shooting 63% from the field and 51% from three-point range.
Malcolm Moran: I think Gansey is good enough to deserve his own word. If teams have been Pittsnogled, can't they be Ganseyed?
Tim Gardner: Exactly!
Eric Crawford: Last year when they missed shots, they lost. They started 1-5 in the Big East. This year, if they miss shots, they find a way to stay in the game, and usually win.
Tim Gardner: Gansey has completely knocked my socks off the past few weeks. I wasn't too high on the Mountaineers at the beginning of the year, but if he keeps playing this well, he opens things up for the entire team.
Malcolm Moran: Plus, you can't calculate the importance of last year's stretch run through the conference and NCAA tournaments.
Jeff Zillgitt: If you've followed his career, you know what Beilein can get done at Canisius and Richmond, so give him a bigger budget and more talented players to coach and he's going to have a solid team.
Tim Gardner: Eric, I think that's a maturation process that Beilein and their run last year has instilled in them. They look tough. Not Final Four tough, but they'll be close.
Eric Crawford: Yep. They still tend to give a team too many good looks at the basket, and on the wrong night, that can get them.
Jeff Zillgitt: I enjoy watching WVU on the offensive end. It's fun basketball.
Malcolm Moran: They were a possession away last year, and they might be better now.
Tim Gardner: No doubt their defense needs work. But a tough Big East schedule could help with that
Eric Crawford: One thing about their offense this season -- they just don't turn the ball over. And if you have that kind of offensive ability and don't make mistakes, you can be awfully tough to deal with.
Eric Crawford: You'd better have some shooters of your own if you want to beat them.