This is 2019, right? That was my first thought when trying to find the West Virginia University basketball game on television Saturday.
Television: It’s that hot, new invention that you assume would love to broadcast the 25th-ranked team in the nation. This was the only game WVU has scheduled in this two-week holiday stretch, so safe to say wondering eyes did appear to want some Saturday Mountie Dawg action. With some 1400 channels and probably as many streaming options, it’s gotta be on somewhere. This is 2019, right?
Or maybe not. So, I went retro. And as I adjusted the AM tuner on my transistor radio, I soon discovered the WVU-Youngstown State game at AM 1400 and sat back to enjoy the velvety stylings of Jack Fleming, maybe listen to the Mountaineers bank in some two-handed set shots. Of course, I was shaken back to reality when, lo and behold, Tony Caridi was calling the game — and doing quite well, as usual. Which is more than I can say for the Mountaineers, who looked (sounded?) sluggish against a mediocre FCS school. Yep, it’s 2019 all right.
I’m just not sure what to make of WVU right now. Yeah, the Mountaineers are 10-1 and ranked in the top 25, but if you’ve watched them — I mean, really watched them — you’ve got to be wondering just how good they really are. The strength of the team is the frontcourt with Derek Culver, Oscar Tshiebwe and Gabe Osabuohien, but they’re still learning how to play together, stay out of each other’s way, and somehow demand the ball in the post.
Tshiebwe has been marvelous in the infancy of his college career, with a high-octane motor and NBA-level skills. But he’s a low-post guy, and that’s affected the play of Culver, another talented youngster who’s now expected to float more to the high post. His numbers are very similar to last year’s, but a sophomore is expected to take that next step in production.
“Derek Culver’s a really good basketball player,” Bob Huggins said in the post-game press conference. “We’ve just got to get him to where he has continual focus. When we get behind, generally that’s when Derek scores his points, that’s when Derek gets his rebounds, that’s when Derek makes his plays. We’ve got to get him to do it all the time, so we don’t get behind.”
Osabuohien is a reluctant scorer who nonetheless provides much-needed length, with a polished floor game. Unfortunately for our local fans, his emergence has sliced away the playing time of Cameron product Logan Routt.
The backcourt has been skittish. Jordan McCabe is the starting point guard and he has a smooth handle but erratic jumper. Seniority apparently dictates that McCabe starts, because the team is more dangerous with freshman Miles McBride at the helm, although Deuce usually gets the call at gut-check time anyway. Jermaine Haley is a star waiting to happen, so hopefully he’ll flourish in the second half of the season as he did last year. The best shooters, Emmitt Matthews and Sean McNeil, combined for one point Saturday. Taz Sherman has had his moments and could help, too, because Huggs is looking to play the hot hand at any given time. If Wheeling Central grad Chase Harler can score like he did against Youngstown — he was 3-for-3 from the floor — he’ll earn some serious PT.
The Mountaineers have the week off until their next game, their red-letter date with Ohio State in Cleveland next Sunday. The Buckeyes, ranked fifth in the latest AP poll, whipped No. 6 Kentucky 71-65 on Saturday. We’ll know a little more about where the Mountaineers stand next week, assuming the game finds its way to the television screen. If not, I’ll have to send off a tersely worded, hand-written letter to Fred Schaus or whoever’s in charge over there.
*****
Clearing out my notebook before the Christmas break:
— Shoutout to Wheeling Park grad Elijah Bell, who snagged two touchdown passes yesterday for North Carolina A&T, which won its third straight HBCU National Title by besting Alcorn State 64-44 in a wild one. Winning has a way of finding Bell, who won the Randy Moss Award as West Virginia’s best high school receiver when Park won the Class AAA state championship in 2015. Bell finished his career as the school record-holder in receptions, receiving yards, receiving TD’s, and HBCU championships. The NFL may be next. Stay tuned.
— To anyone who made a fuss over cadets in the Army student section doing the age-old, “you looked” hand gesture: Go away. Far away. Get your awful politics out of sports. This is the Army-Navy game, and you whiners can’t have it. You tried, you failed. Enough.
— I appreciate all the kind words sent this way after the Bishop Donahue column this week. It was a labor of love. One of the players I mentioned was Nick Szymialis, who was a senior when I was a freshman at BD. Nick was the best player on the state Catholic championship team of 1975, and with his hand-tied bandana and hardass demeanor he was like a rock star to me. Sad to hear that Nick passed away this week. Glad I got to know him after high school. Nick was a good dude.
— On the national scene, NASCAR legend Junior Johnson died this week at the age of 88. Junior was a true one-of-a-kind driver who won 50 races, including 13 in 1965 when up and retired because “I get bored pretty easy,” he said. Junior then became a successful car owner for drivers like Darrell Waltrip, and he died a wealthy man and Hall-of-Famer. My favorite Junior Johnson quote was borne from his moonshining arrest. From his prison in Chillicothe, Ohio, he wrote a letter to the judge who sentenced him and promised to one day “piss on your grave.” Did he do it? “Of course, I did. I wasn’t going to let the man make a liar out of me as well as a jailbird!”
— Have a Merry Christmas, good people.
