MORGANTOWN - Odds and ends and a few things I think I think while attempting, for the first time in six weeks, to write a column that does not include the RR-words. Bear with me. This ain't easy:
MORGANTOWN - Odds and ends and a few things I think I think while attempting, for the first time in six weeks, to write a column that does not include the RR-words. Bear with me. This ain't easy:
s Remember the rage you felt toward Cincinnati's mini-coach, Mick Cronin, last basketball season when he made a spectacle of himself by stomping up and down the sidelines and, yes, even charging onto the court, berating the game officials during West Virginia's overtime loss to the Bearcats in the Queen City?
"Did I do that?'' Cronin asked with a smile.
Well, the guy comes to Morgantown for the first time Wednesday night and there won't be any similar displays. The NCAA pretty much took care of that over the summer by writing new coaching decorum rules. He may still rant and rave, but he'll do it, for the most part, within the confines of the coaching box.
Here's a shocker, though. I really like the guy. He's smart and articulate and you have to like a balding guy who stands what, about 3-foot-6 (kidding, but not by much), and has managed this season to beat Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim, Jay Wright and Jamie Dixon. Wednesday night the Cincinnati grad and former assistant coach gets a shot at his mentor, Bob Huggins.
s If none of that brings you over to Cronin's side, how about this one: The little guy has not much use for little guys in the NCAA tournament.
Hey, it's never too early to start the debate, right? Remember West Virginia and Syracuse being shut out of the dance last season while mid-majors galore made it in? It's the same annual debate that is going to drive you nuts again when it begins in another month or so.
Well, Cronin used to be at one of those mid-majors, coaching Murray State before returning home to Cincinnati. Two of his three teams there made the NCAA tournament, too. And all things being equal he doesn't believe either one was even close to being among the top 65 in the land.
"I had two teams at Murray State, 28 wins and 24 wins. One was a team that lost to North Carolina by two points in the first round. And we beat high-major teams,'' Cronin said. "But if you'd have put us in a high-major league, through the rigors of an 18-game schedule, we would not have made the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid.''
Get ready for the debate because West Virginia could easily be involved in it again. It seems almost a given that the Mountaineers, already 15-5, will win 20 games. They should finish at or around the .500 mark in the Big East. But that's exactly what WVU did last year and was shut out of the tournament. Unless they win at least 22 and are a couple of games above .500 in the league it will be iffy.
MORGANTOWN - Odds and ends and a few things I think I think while attempting, for the first time in six weeks, to write a column that does not include the RR-words. Bear with me. This ain't easy:
s Remember the rage you felt toward Cincinnati's mini-coach, Mick Cronin, last basketball season when he made a spectacle of himself by stomping up and down the sidelines and, yes, even charging onto the court, berating the game officials during West Virginia's overtime loss to the Bearcats in the Queen City?
"Did I do that?'' Cronin asked with a smile.
Well, the guy comes to Morgantown for the first time Wednesday night and there won't be any similar displays. The NCAA pretty much took care of that over the summer by writing new coaching decorum rules. He may still rant and rave, but he'll do it, for the most part, within the confines of the coaching box.
Here's a shocker, though. I really like the guy. He's smart and articulate and you have to like a balding guy who stands what, about 3-foot-6 (kidding, but not by much), and has managed this season to beat Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim, Jay Wright and Jamie Dixon. Wednesday night the Cincinnati grad and former assistant coach gets a shot at his mentor, Bob Huggins.
s If none of that brings you over to Cronin's side, how about this one: The little guy has not much use for little guys in the NCAA tournament.
Hey, it's never too early to start the debate, right? Remember West Virginia and Syracuse being shut out of the dance last season while mid-majors galore made it in? It's the same annual debate that is going to drive you nuts again when it begins in another month or so.
Well, Cronin used to be at one of those mid-majors, coaching Murray State before returning home to Cincinnati. Two of his three teams there made the NCAA tournament, too. And all things being equal he doesn't believe either one was even close to being among the top 65 in the land.
"I had two teams at Murray State, 28 wins and 24 wins. One was a team that lost to North Carolina by two points in the first round. And we beat high-major teams,'' Cronin said. "But if you'd have put us in a high-major league, through the rigors of an 18-game schedule, we would not have made the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid.''
Get ready for the debate because West Virginia could easily be involved in it again. It seems almost a given that the Mountaineers, already 15-5, will win 20 games. They should finish at or around the .500 mark in the Big East. But that's exactly what WVU did last year and was shut out of the tournament. Unless they win at least 22 and are a couple of games above .500 in the league it will be iffy.
But Cronin insists it shouldn't be.
"When the guys sit up there on [ESPN's] College Game Night and talk about these mid-major teams being just as good as a Syracuse or a West Virginia last year, I don't believe it,'' Cronin said. "Maybe in a one-game shot, maybe. But if you put them in this league and make them play 18 games, they wouldn't even be on the bubble some of those teams.''
s As Bill Stewart finishes off his new football coaching staff at West Virginia (Appalachian State's Lonnie Galloway will likely be the final piece as wide receivers coach), doesn't it look a lot like some of Don Nehlen's old ones? Of course, you already knew that.
But here's the thing. Nehlen went through so many assistant coaches in 20 years at WVU that it could have been ugly if Stewart hadn't been choosy enough to go after a handful of absolutely the best ones Nehlen ever hired. But he was.
Doc Holliday? Check.
Steve Dunlap? Check.
David Lockwood? Check.
Throw in defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich, who was already on board, and Stewart himself and fully half of the Mountaineers' new staff were with Nehlen at or near the end of his 20-year run as the WVU coach in 2000.
Again, just picking random former Nehlen assistants - and there were plenty of them out there who wanted to return - and this could have been an ugly trend. As it is, I'm not sure Stewart could have done any better in putting together a staff.
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.
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