Campus Connection

Campus Connection

By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com January 23, 2006 MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As I was walking around the Coliseum outer ring for a quick bite to eat at the concession stand, I noticed an 8x10 computer print out pasted on the window of the Mountaineer ticket office that reads: All tickets for 2006 B-Ball schedule are sold out! Yes, these are unusual times in Morgantown, West Virginia. Debby Travinski, Manager of Athletic Ticket Operations, says this is the first time in her 25 years at West Virginia University that there have been this many advance sell-outs. “We sold out a lot of games when (guard) Greg Jones played here in the early ‘80s but a lot of them we were selling tickets on the day of the game,” she said. “Now, there are no tickets left to sell.” Last week, Travinski announced prior to the Marquette game that the Notre Dame and Pitt games were sell outs. Two days later it was announced that the Cincinnati and Louisville tickets were gone; UConn tickets went the very next day. “Right now we’re just managing tickets and answering any questions people might have,” Travinski said. “People are so used to calling on the day of the game and getting some type of discounted ticket. There are none. It’s been a wild ride.” In 10 dates so far West Virginia is averaging 8,790 per game, meaning it will be virtually impossible for the No. 12-rated Mountaineers to set an attendance record this year. Even if WVU were to average 15,000 over its remaining five dates, that would only boost the overall season average to 10,860. The record for average attendance was 11,384 set in 1982 when the Mountaineers won 23 straight and reached No. 6 in the polls. That year West Virginia also set an overall attendance mark with 177,062 fans on 20 dates. However, this year will be the first time since 1983 that West Virginia will reach the 10,000 mark in average attendance in the 14,000-seat WVU Coliseum. The season high so far for attendance was 13,571 for the Marquette game played on Jan. 14. Briefly: West Virginia coach John Beilein visits with legendary UCLA coach John Wooden before Saturday's West Virginia-UCLA game. Kevin Johnston photo It’s now OK to call John Beilein’s basketball team road warriors. Last Saturday’s triumph at No. 18 UCLA was the most recent triumph in an impressive string of road victories for the Mountaineers dating back to last season. Since Jan. 5, 2005, West Virginia has knocked off No. 18 N.C. State, No. 18 Pitt, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 3 Villanova and No. 18 UCLA on the road. That doesn’t even include West Virginia’s run of post-season victories in the Big East and NCAA tournaments. There used to be a time around here when it was impossible to win a game on the road -- even in places like Athens, Ohio -- let alone winning at some of the most historic venues in all of college basketball. I find it interesting that on the same week Georgetown upset No. 1-ranked Duke and West Virginia went out to Los Angeles and beat UCLA on its home floor that the Big East player of the week didn’t come from one of those two schools. Instead, the league picked Marquette’s Steve Novak, who averaged 26 points per game in victories over DePaul and Notre Dame. I guess this league must be pretty good. This may sound strange, but the 2006 Big East Basketball tournament in Madison Square Garden is probably going to be the most competitive and interesting basketball tournament played this year – NCAA tournament included. Think about it: all 12 teams going to this year’s Big East tournament in New York City will have a legitimate opportunity of reaching the NCAA tournament, with no fewer than eight making the field of 65 for sure. The top four seeds earning byes could all conceivably be ranked in the Top 10 and, with apologies to the America East and the Atlantic Sun, there are no Binghamtons and Kennesaws playing in New York City. I can see those four Big East-tournament quarterfinal-round games on Thursday being all-out wars. Keep in mind, too, that all 10 games will be played in the world’s most famous basketball arena. Most of the talk in the Big East today – and rightfully so -- is about Georgetown’s upset of No. 1-ranked Duke last Saturday afternoon. But you can bet that resting in the back of the minds of Big East coaches is West Virginia’s four-point win at UCLA. You just don’t hop on a plane and travel 3,000 miles across the country and beat a good UCLA team at Pauley Pavilion. It just doesn’t happen. Win or lose, West Virginia’s hard work bringing up its RPI from the low 80s two weeks ago to 28 this morning will have to once again be repaired after Wednesday night’s game against 7-9 Marshall in Charleston. Metcalfe Former West Virginia national champion Megan Metcalfe made her professional debut last weekend at the Eleventh Annual New Balance Games in Armory, N.Y. The Edmonton, Alberta, native, placed third in the women’s mile with a time of 4:31.91. That time is the third-fastest clocking in the world this year. Metcalfe, performing for New Balance Canada, is looking to qualify for the World Indoor Track and Field Games in Moscow, Russia, in March. Here is some love recently being thrown at the WVU basketball team from ESPN.com: Andy Katz Power 16 (#8): “I've been reporting on how Big East and ACC coaches say West Virginia and NC State are top-10 teams, so naturally I'm putting them in there, too. It's not a favor.” Jay Bilas Power 16 (#11): “Texas and Memphis have a chance to be in Indianapolis, and West Virginia has proven to be an elite team.” Fran Fraschilla Power 16 (#10): “West Virginia's offense is more well-conceived than any I have seen in a long time. The Mountaineers spread the floor for back cuts and set up the 3 with expertise. Do they have the depth to make another "Elite Eight" run?” Doug Gottlieb Power 16 (#4): “West Virginia has 22 total turnovers in its last 3½ games. For perspective, the Mountaineers forced Villanova 22 turnovers in their meeting at the Pavilion.” Andy Glockner Power 16 (#8): “West Virginia is very, very good (and careful with the ball).” West Virginia's Mike Gansey was named ESPN.com's national player of the week after scoring 24 in a huge road win at UCLA Saturday afternoon on CBS. Rich Schmitt Photography And this today from Katz: “Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun didn't hesitate: If the voting were conducted this week, (Mike) Gansey would be his Big East Player of the Year. Unless something dramatic changes, don't be shocked if this stays true, especially with multiple players from Villanova and Connecticut possibly canceling each other out.” Gansey was ESPN.com’s college basketball player of the week. I don’t want to go too far out on a limb with this and make any more out of it than it deserves, but Jay Bilas’ statement about Mike Gansey being the best guard at West Virginia University since Jerry West may not be as far off base as it seemed when he said it Saturday night on ESPN before the Louisville-Connecticut game. Though not a comparison, Bilas even mentioning Gansey and West in the same sentence makes you take a step back and think for a moment. I never saw West play in person but I’ve seen plenty of footage and I’ve talked to many people from that era and believe it or not, there are some distant similar qualities in their overall games. At the risk of being blasphemous, like West, Gansey has long arms, is an exceptional leaper, and is fearless going to the basket. Like West, Gansey has terrific shooting range. Like West, Gansey is a tremendous competitor. Like West, Gansey has an aw-shucks, down-to-earth approach to the game and his growing celebrity. Like West, Gansey is roughly the same height with the same slight build. And like West (especially in college), Gansey has not yet perfected his ability to create his own scoring opportunities off the dribble. As many of you old-timers will recall that was one of the reasons why Fred Schaus did not start Jerry West during the first half of his rookie season with the Lakers in 1961 (West played forward in college and was being asked to handle the ball exclusively in the pros). Of course, West worked compulsively to perfect all of his flaws on his way to becoming one of basketball’s greatest-ever players. Gansey’s pro career has not yet been conceived and he is not close to being at West’s level, but it is interesting to at least consider some of the qualities I've pointed out. I wonder if the Memphis Grizzlies general manager sees any of those same qualities in Gansey, having watched him in person on Saturday at UCLA. The former Mountaineer great made it a point to be low-key at UCLA, choosing to sit behind the Bruin bench because he didn’t want to be a distraction for his alma mater. West spoke to the team before his jersey number 44 was officially retired prior to the LSU game, and West Virginia went out and lost a heartbreaker to the Tigers, 71-68 in overtime. The one category I would put in Mike Gansey’s favor over Jerry West is the regular season competition the two faced. In the late 1950s, West Virginia played national teams outside of its league schedule, going to the KIT and facing Duke and Villanova on a regular basis, but the Southern Conference was not on par with the rest of the major conferences in the country at that time. Some pointed to WVU being in the Southern Conference as perhaps one of the reasons why it had such great difficulty in the NCAA tournament aside from its run to the NCAA finals in 1959. By comparison, when the regular season is completed this year, Gansey will have faced Connecticut, Texas, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Louisville, UCLA, Syracuse, Kentucky and Oklahoma -- all teams that are/were nationally ranked. I bet you at least one of those teams wind up in the Final Four. West himself once made reference to West Virginia’s weak conference schedule in his autobiography Mr. Clutch. Although I wasn't there in person, I'm told from some of those in the WVU travel party that the reception they received from Mountaineer fans in Los Angeles was terrific. One WVU representative likened it to going on a bowl trip. Sports Illustrated writer Brant Wahl was in Morgantown last week interviewing West Virginia senior center Kevin Pittsnogle for a story that will appear in this week's magazine. This came from Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard back in October: “A former (Dave) Wannstedt assistant told ESPN's Chris Mortensen that it'll take five years for Wannstedt to turn the University of Pittsburgh into Temple. He was wrong, of course. It took all of five games.” Ouch. Van Zant Big East baseball coaches couldn’t be happier with the decision to have an eight-team post-season tournament at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater, Fla., May 23-28. This is in place of the previous format that saw only four of the 10 conference teams qualify for the post-season tournament. “This is huge,” admitted West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant, who has seen his team on the outside looking in during five of the last six seasons. “There were three big things that happened to this league to make it a major conference in the eyes of college baseball. “One, we obviously increased the tournament field to eight teams,” said Van Zant. “The second one was we went to a Friday-Saturday-Sunday format where we have eliminated doubleheaders. The third major improvement was we finally hired an umpiring coordinator to handle all of the umpiring assignments in the league this year.” The conference regular season scheduling format calls for a 27-game slate with teams facing nine of the 11 conference opponents. The two opponents skipped will rotate on a yearly basis. This year West Virginia doesn’t face Notre Dame and St. John’s, which incidentally finished one and two in the conference race last season. Bright House Networks Field serves as the spring training facility for the Philadelphia Phillies. In a recent story I wrote concerning West Virginia’s last trip to UCLA (“California Dreamin”), it was pointed out to me that I incorrectly stated that the Mountaineers faced the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion. The game was actually played in Los Angeles Sports Arena. Have a great week!