John Radcliff mentioned this earlier in the week in his Fall Down/Pass Out feature, but I think it deserves another mention here: the transcendent college football blog Every Day Should Be Saturday is running a charity drive to benefit Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta. In all actuality, they may just be trying to raise money to throw a FUGEES concert for all I know. Honestly, I may have to donate more money if that's really what's going on. But the contest itself is the fun part. Here's the skinny, as per Spencer Hall himself:

You can donate online, and could just write any old donation in, but we don't like do things normally. Instead, in the DESIGNATION line, please write the rivalry score of your choice in, and then denote your school and EDSBS donation. So, if you're an Alabama fan, you just write something like 21-0/Alabama/EDSBS in the box, and then contribute.

You have to round up this year thanks to the new donations system that does not allow anything but whole dollars, but please taunt away in the notes. We will track these of course, and in the end award our bounty of trophies to the winning school with the highest donation total.

That bounty includes:

• A reskin of EDSBS. Last year's featured a spectacular Bo Schembechler reskin, so if you want the gristly sight of Pat Dye's face adorning the upper left hand corner up there, well, get on that charity pony, Auburn. WE KNOW HOW GOOD YOU ARE AT MOVING CASH.
• An entire episode of Shutdown Fullback devoted to your school. In a good way, mind you.
• A custom essay focused on doing nothing but denigrating the things the winning school finds deplorable.

If total donations exceed $30K, we'll do...SOMETHING amazing. Like eating a wheel of cheese with the winning school's logo on it. This is actually quite a sacrifice on our part, since we both hate cheese and would likely vomit it up on camera. And if you think eating something you hate is bad, try having it pass twice through the gates of gluttony, and then talk to us about food hell.

As WVU fans, we have a number of excellent options for this. $70.33 would of course be an appropriate donation, and many ACC fans and South Carolina alumni have actually followed suit, just to point and laugh at Clemson. John Radcliff took it a step farther and donated $99.00 in honor of Darwin Cook's game-changing fumble recovery touchdown.

Me? I chose to get a little more creative, and to troll a school a little closer to home. No, not Washington & Jefferson, but our little brother to the south. You see, the WVU record for most points scored in a single game is 92. Set in a game played in Huntington, West Virginia, on November 6, 1915. In a game the Mountaineers won by 86 points (the opposing team scored its lone touchdown on a trick play that was subsequently outlawed). So in honor of the 1915 Friends of Coal Bowl (that's what it was called back then, right?) against Marshall, I donated $92.06.

I trust your charity will be equally as creative and trolling.

I'm not much of an NFL guru, but when a WVU player goes in the first round (and quite surprisingly, I might add) of the NFL draft, I tend to sit up and pay a little more attention than I otherwise might. Fine, and I suppose a slow week at work doesn't hurt the process either. Amidst my research about the other first-round draft picks, I came across this little tidbit from LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne (who went sixth overall to the Dallas Cowboys) during his interview with the Cowboys' official website:

On who was the best receiver he went against last year:
Last year we had a lot of tough receivers, but I would have to say (Marquis) Maze from Alabama or the guy from West Virginia (Stedman Bailey).

Now, don't get me wrong, I find it pretty difficult to get to troll Claiborne. He was, afterall, the first defensive player taken in last week's draft and stands to make several dozen times my salary for the foreseeable future. But you can't even remember the guy's name? Like, you didn't get tired of hearing "Geno Smith pass complete to Stedman Bailey" over and over and over again on the Mountaineer Field PA system every time the guy in the gold #3 jersey caught a ball against your coverage?

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Now that the Gold-Blue spring game is in the books and things around the WVU sports world are starting to slow down a little, it's probably a good time to look ahead to the Mountaineers' 2013 football recruiting class. While Dana Holgorsen's first full recruiting class as head coach was solid across the board, 2013 is where the team should really start to reap the benefits of the 70-33 Orange Bowl victory over Clemson and, possibly to a greater extent, the move to the Big XII. The class got off to a pretty solid start over the weekend, with the verbals of Bloomfield, NJ, offensive lineman Marcell Lazard and Hermitage, PA, running back Deshawn Coleman. Both are excellent early pickups, with Lazard (6'5, 280) choosing West Virginia over offers from Florida, Ohio State, and Miami FL, among others, and Coleman (5'11, 170) spurning offers from Penn State and Purdue. Coleman could be an excellent sleeper pick after exploding onto the scene last year. Although those are the Mountaineers' first verbals of the class of 2013 (okay, unless you count Ohio safety Jayme Thompson, who already decommitted to join Urban Meyer's minor league franchise in Columbus), the future remains bright inside the Puskar Center.

What I hope to do here is break down who WVU will be losing, the areas of biggest need, and the most likely targets to fill those areas. That last part might be a little difficult this early in the game, as a large part of recruiting is done over the summer when coaches aren't busy with current players and recruits have time away from school and football to take visits and think about their future. Keep in mind, WVU should be able to take the full 25 players in this class and will have the luxury of counting a couple early enrollees back toward the 2012 class, which should provide flexibility to take a few projects. I see this class as pivotal in WVU's ability to succeed in the Big XII due to the number of impact players WVU will be losing and the need for new players to step in immediately and help us win.

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If you ask me, I have a feeling WVU's 2012 Gold-Blue spring football game is going to be a microcosm of the upcoming season as a whole. Neither the offense nor the defense is going to be as dominant as people hope, but both are going to do enough good things that the Mountaineers could win quite a few football games this fall. As I said before, it's really hard to evaluate much during spring practice due to the coaches repping certain plays and formations and wanting to see how certain players perform in specific circumstances. Nobody is going out trying to win a game here. But amidst the tailgating and trying to ward off the chilly damp weather, I noticed that the mountaineers have plenty to be happy about and also plenty to work on, just as I had hoped.

On Friday during my preview piece, I discussed several areas I was interested to watch on Saturday. Before we get to those, there are a few things that jumped out at me that I hadn't specifically been looking for. The defense looked to be playing fast and hard---think back to the 2002 and 2005 defenses who just liked to lay the brick on opposing ballcarriers. To me, that means the players are just using their instincts rather than being slowed by thinking. If they can continue to play fast and hard, good things will happen. They may not dominate, but they will create turnovers and make big stops, which is all our offense needs them to do. Guys who jumped out to me were Matt Moro, Isaiah Bruce and Cecil Level, as well as Will Clarke, whose athletic interception of a Paul Millard pass showed how good he can truly be.

On offense, it was frustrating to see how many non-scholarship running backs got to carry the ball. We need Shawne Alston to stay healthy, Dustin Garrison to get healthy, and Roshard Burney and Torry Clayton to get here and provide depth. On the other hand, it was exciting to see the offense open the game uptempo, which allowed it to get the defense on its heels and complete two long touchdown drives. I think that's a huge advantage going into this year, given how comfortable the players are with the system and with each other.

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In the vein of our standard "Staring Down The Musket" preview series where we pose questions about WVU opponents to other bloggers, we present our preview of tomorrow's Gold-Blue Game in the same fashion. But, instead of asking questions of other WVU bloggers like normal people, I decided to ask questions and answer them myself. And if you know me, you know it's really not that far out of the ordinary for me to do that. So, on with the show:

Country Roads: Since the 70 point outburst against Clemson in the Orange Bowl, expectations for WVU's offesne have been sky high. Reports from spring practice indicate that Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey are in sync and clicking on all cylinders. What do you expect to see from them in the spring game?

Country Roads: Don't get me wrong, the record-breaking bowl game was a thing of beauty and seemed to indicate that the offensive players were starting to really understand Holgorsen's system. And I also think we could have kept scoring if we really wanted to, but instead dialed it back and ran the ball more in the second half. But the 70 points included a defensive touchdown and at least two scores set up directly by turnovers. And I can't get the offensive performances we had against Louisville and Syracuse out of my head. But yeah, I think we'll look pretty good. I'm especially interested to see what type of impact Tavon Austin's move from H receiver to Y receiver (where Tyler Urban and Devon Brown played last year). SmartFootball did an excellent analysis of that move in his comments on my spring depth chart post, and I'm intrigued to see how those play out. I also plan to watch the moves along the offensive line, with Josh Jenkins returning from injury and Quinton Spain starting at left tackle. By many accounts, the line has been looking really good this spring, and I think a solid performance on Saturday would help validate that. Finally, I want to see how our receiving depth is developing. Is Ivan McCartney (who is unquestionably talented) healthy and ready to compete? Is JD Woods going to step up and contribute more this year? What about KJ Myers and Dante Campbell? Is Cody Clay better suited as a pass catcher than a blocker? Those are questions I think we may have some answers to this weekend.

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I saw this last night on Deadspin and actually re-tweeted something about it, but it definitely deserves further comment. People who attended the 2012 Nike Championship Basketball Clinic in Pittsburgh on Apriil 14 are claiming that WVU head men's basketball coach Bob Huggins was drunk during his presentation:

[A]ccording to an eyewitness, West Virginia's Bob Huggins is the only [coach] reported to have been "slirring [sic] his speech, swaying, talking in circles and dropping f bombs" when it was his turn. Huggins's talk was called "Our Man to Man Offensive Concepts," and it was scheduled to take place at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. A source in Pittsburgh just told me eight different people who were there have confirmed to him Huggins was wasted.

Okay. So, what to think after no less than five people tweeted that Huggs was drunk/bombed/trashed/wasted/loaded while presenting on WVU's "Man to Man Offensive Concepts"? Well, I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure whether he was actually drunk. And it's not like Huggy swaying, talking in circles, or especially dropping F-bombs is anything out of the ordinary. However, we do know Huggins and alcohol have a history of memorable(?) times together. He was fired at Cincinnati after being arrested for a DUI, he has a reputation for pounding cold ones and shots, and anyone who has ever been to Kegler's after a home basketball game knows that Bobby likes to throw a few back.

Not that there is anything wrong with it, since most of the rest of Morgantown is right there with him buying him drinks. And isn't that one of the things we love about him? That he's one of us, right down to his passion for West Virginia and his affinitiy for booze? I know personally I embrace it. I just hope for Huggs' sake and for the sake of WVU that he doesn't hurt himself or anyone else in the process. And I don't think he will. But dang, being drunk while presenting at a coaching clinic? If true, it has to concern you at least a little, right?

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MetroNews is reporting that WVU and head basketball coach Bob Huggins are close to finalizing a home-and-home basketball series with the Virginia Tech Hokies. The series would begin with a 2012 game in Morgantown followed by a return trip by the Mountaineers to Blacksburg in 2013. If we are to believe Huggins' previous statement that WVU had only one non-conference game left to fill on the 2012-13 schedule, the game with Virginia Tech should round out the schedule. While the schedule likely won't be released in its entirety until late summer or early fall, you can expect to see a neutral site non-conference game (in addition to the conference home-and-home) with Kansas State and the annual game with Marshall. In addition, the Mountaineers will face former head coach John Beilein's Michigan Wolverines in the 2012 Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival at the new Barclay's Center. Oh, and you can probably expect to see a fair share of mid-major programs to round out the slate.

All in all, not a horrible non-conference slate, but it does lack the name-brand panache of some former schedules that featured Ohio State, Purdue, UCLA and the like. Keep in mind, WVU will still be a relatively young team lacking the consistent elite play of Kevin Jones and the, uh...umm...threat of Truck Bryant scoring 32 points, or 0 points, or whatever. Sure, the addition of transfers Aaric Murray and Juwan Staten, plus incoming freshmen Elijah Macon, Terry Henderson and Eron Harris should give the Mountaineers a few more options. But this is a team that is going to have to learn how to win games, and what better way to do it than against nonconference foes who are good enough to push the youngsters to improve without totally destroying their confidence? (See me trying to put a positive spin on things here?)

Look, I know VT/K-State/Marshall/Michigan isn't exactly a murderer's row, but it doesn't have to be. If WVU can escape nonconference play at, say, 9-3 or 10-2, it should be in good shape going into a decent Big XII slate.
Kansas will, of course, be fantastic. K-state, Texas, and Iowa State are all capable of beating WVU. Baylor will be down. And Texas Tech, TCU, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State...well, I'm not really worried about them. If the Mountaineers go 11-5 or 12-6 in the conference, that puts us squarely in the tournament again, where we can lose by 20-something to another 6 or 7 seed. Just what we all wanted.

BlueGoldNews.com reported last night that WVU assistant men's basketball coach Jarrod Calhoun is leaving Bob Huggins' staff to take the head coaching job at Fairmont State University. Calhoun has been at West Virginia since Huggins came back in 2007, serving as Director of Basketball Operations before being promoted to Assistant Coach last year. Calhoun has previous ties to Walsh University in Ohio, Cleveland State, and Cincinnati. The Fairmont State job will be his first as head coach.

The Mountaineers have some experience with assistant coaches leaving, but mostly in football. I think the consensus at this point is that when you run a successful program, other schools are going to want to hire your coaches. That's what is happening here. Clearly, FSU wants to capitalize on the name that Calhoun made for himself working under Huggs---and where better to drop Huggins' name than a WVIAC school just down the road from Morgantown. Plus, Calhoun has proven to be a winner apart from Huggins, having helped lead Walsh to three straight NAIA Sweet 16s, including a national title in 2005.

For Calhoun, the move makes sense as well. He earned his bachelor's degree in 2004, so he can't be much older than 30 and starting his head coaching career at that age only bodes well for his future. If he can win at Fairmont State (and I think he can), he will start to get opportunities at smaller D-I programs soon. Heck, if he is successful enough he may be in position to take over for Huggins whenever he decides to retire.

Speaking of Huggins, in all likelihood he will go replace Calhoun with another trusted member of his coaching tree, and life will go on in the Coliseum. Unlike football, basketball coaching is largely dominated by the head coach and the loss of a single assistant isn't as big a blow as the loss of an offensive or defensive coordinator on the gridiron. While Calhoun was certainly an integral part of WVU's success over the past few years, Huggins is the heart and soul of the basketball program and as long as he is walking the Coliseum sideline in his black track suit, the Mountianeers will be just fine.

The Smoking Musket would like to thank Coach Calhoun for his service to the WVU men's basketball program and wishes him nothing but the best for his future career.

Our friends over at WVIllustrated reported today that Head Coach Dana Holgorsen has released an updated Spring Depth Chart. The new chart includes some minor changes, including the listing of no fewer than THREE true freshmen cracking the two-deep (and a fourth, Ford Childress, battling for the backup quarterback spot), and six other redshirt freshmen featuring prominently throughout. Keep in mind, the chart reflects only the current state of affairs within the context of spring football. Issues such as injuries, testing players at new spots, and trying to generate competition and develop depth at certain positions are all coming into play here. Oh, and there's the small matter of 25 new players arriving in time for fall camp. We should definitely take this with a grain of salt, but I still think there are a few interesting developments:

• After Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, and JD Woods (okay, and maybe Ivan McCartney, who is battling hamstring issues), WVU is dangerously young and thin at wide receiver. Yes, Ryan Nehlen is listed as a starter, and he's a redshirt senior. He will play some, but after him, you have a bunch of guys who have never seen the field in college. Given the amount of reps wide receivers take in Holgorsen's offense, that could be an issue. To be sure, there is talent. KJ Myers and Dante Campbell have the bodies to turn into excellent deep threats. Cody Clay is moving back to the pass-catching role he excelled at in high school after spending last year as an offensive lineman. And true freshman Jordan Thompson has impressed so far in spring ball. Plus, there is a glut of talent on its way this summer. Those new players (Travares Copeland, Devonte Mathis, Will Johnson, Darreall Joyner, Devonte Robinson and Deontay McManus) will all get a chance to step up and contribute. However, they are unproven. And that's the problem. Let's just hope nothing horrible happens to any of the starters, mmmkay?
• Imarjaye Albury moved ahead of Shaq Rowell into the primary backup spot at nose tackle. Again, who knows whether the move is just something to motivate Rowell at this point or whether Albury is actually performing at that high a level, but you have to be encouraged. Rowell actually played a decent amount last year, and did fairly well at times, so he's not exactly a pushover. And defensive line seems to always present a depth concern for the Mountaineers, so the emergence of Albury at this point in his career is definitely a positive. Also note Tyler Anderson's spot as starting defensive end. A bit undersized right now at 6'2, 244 lbs, Anderson could grow into a solid defender after moving down from linebacker this winter. The fact that he is picking up the required technique to play with his hand on the ground is yet another boon for an undersized defensive front.
• Karl Joseph cracked the two deep at safety. Let me say that a different way---a true freshman is slotted to earn significant playing time in what has traditionally been one of WVU's deepest and most talented positions. The last guy who did that was Robert Sands, and I think he turned out okay. I'm not saying that Joseph is necessarily going to be a pro one day, but you have to like where his career is headed if he is pushing veterans like Darwin Cook for playing time. On the other hand, the corner spot is in need of reinforcements. With Pat Miller's injury, Avery Williams, Terrell Chestnut and Brodrick Jenkins are the only scholarship corners on the field right now. Yes, Williams and Chestnut are young and talented, but when Miller and Jenkins graduate, WVU will need quality depth to push them. Nana Kyeremeh and Brandon Napoleon need to get here and get up to speed soon.

I'm sure there are other changes to the depth chart that I may have overlooked or underestimated. What significant developments did you see? Are there other areas of concern? What about positive surprises? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Preseason Top 5:5)Florida State4)Oklahoma3)Southern California2)LSU... And one??Who is missing???

— Dari Nowkhah (@ESPNDari) April 3, 2012

Preseason Number One:WEST VIRGINIA.Let the debate rage... and hope #Kansas can rep the #Big12 a little...

— Dari Nowkhah (@ESPNDari) April 3, 2012

For West Virginia:K-State, TCU, OU, Baylor all go to Morgantown.Big 12 road games: Texas, Tech, OkState, Iowa State - better than all 4.

— Dari Nowkhah (@ESPNDari) April 3, 2012

Okay, so when I first told WVUIE97 that Dari Nowkhah picked WVU as his 2012 NCAA football preseason #1, his reaction was "Dari who? I have no idea who that is." Which, of course, is a fair reaction for a guy who spends his free time as the frontman for the alternative band The Fray. Relevant to our discussion, though, Dari Nowkhah is an anchor for ESPN's Sportscenter. Which means that until WVU moved to the Big XII, he was required by contract to hate us. Now? That's about the farthest thing from the truth. After the Mountaineers' 37-point beatdown of Clemson in the Orange Bowl, Dari has jumped on the bandwagon, thrown the driver out the window, and engaged the Nitrous. As you can tell, Dana Holgorsen and company have a new fanboy in the media, and frankly it's not one that any of us would have expected.

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After recently upgrading to provide fans with running water and electricity, Mountaineer Field makes the switch into the digital age in 2012 with its new digital ticketing policy. According to the release, tickets will now be scanned using a bar code system, much like the procedures currently in place at most professional stadiums. Season ticket holders can also transfer tickets via email, provided the transfer is made at least 2 hours prior to kickoff. Tickets can then be printed and presented directly at the gate, rather than having to sit through long lines at will-call.

The new policy is definitely an upgrade and, if memory serves, brings the general public system into conformity with the current system for scanning student tickets. The new policy will make it easier for season ticket holders to get rid of tickets they can't use and thus will allow more people to attend games, as well as cutting down on counterfeit tickets (not that counterfeit tickets were a huge problem to begin with) and will-call lines. Hurray convenience!

With the implementation of beer sales at Mountaineer Field/Milan Puskar Stadium last season and the talk of upgrading cell phone and WiFi service within the stadium, the fan experience is only getting better and better. Oh, yeah, and the games will be a lot more fun this year with the new Big XII teams on the schedule. It's never been a better time to be a Mountaineer.

It's finally here, the most exciting single day of the sporting year. The brackets are filled out, the bets are placed, and the "real" tournament tips off at noon today. Unlike last year when WVU was in the very first game of the day on Thursday, the nice thing about this year is that WVU fans get to enjoy the excitement of the afternoon games as we build up to the evening session game against the Zags. We had a chance to shoot some questions over to the gents at the Gonzaga blog The Slipper Still Fits, and they were kind enough to answer and to ask a few of their own. Be sure to venture over there to learn more about WVU's first-round opponent and to check out my answers to their questions.

Country Roads: The Zags had yet another impressive season, finishing at 25-6, 14-4 and in second place in a very tough West Coast Conference. However, most of the struggles seemed to take place away from home, with the lone home loss being to Michigan State. Is that a trend that worries you, or is it just the nature of teams naturally playing better in their home gym?

The Slipper Still Fits: I think it is more of the latter, to be honest. Gonzaga has always been an extremely strong home team, one of the best home teams in the country in fact. On the road, I'd only call one of their losses truly suspect and that was to [San Francisco]. Over the past few years, for whatever reason, the Dons have had Gonzaga's number. Mark Few and Co. haven't won there in three years now. Their other losses came to Saint Mary's (twice), BYU, and Illinois. That isn't a horrid group of teams to fall on the road to. What has been a bit disconcerting is that Gonzaga's freshmen guard combo of Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell have struggled throughout the year away from Spokane. And, in those games, it has been very tough for the Bulldogs to get wins. Against West Virginia, they have to find their stride early or else the pro-Mountaineer crowds in Pittsburgh will simply swallow this team up.

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Now that the bracket has been announced, we can finally start wringing our hands over WVU's seed and potential path to the Final Four. (You can even print your bracket here.) As you probably know, WVU is the 10 seed in the East Regional with an opening round game against 7 seed Gonzaga. The full regional bracket looks like this:

The fact that the Mountaineers play in Pittsburgh is definitely an advantage, as droves of WVU fans will likely make the short trek north to the Consol Energy Center to watch them play. Plus, not having to travel across the country is a nice edge over a team like Gonzaga, who will be coming from Spokane, Washington. A potential second-round matchup with Ohio State would be intriguing as well, and would draw large numbers from both fan bases.

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We all feel pretty safe that WVU is going to be an at-large selection for the NCAA tournament when the brackets are announced at 6:00 tonight on CBS, but what seed will the Mountaineers be? Who will they play? Where are the first and second round games? What about the other teams in the bracket? There are many questions left to be answered as things unfold tonight.

The Smoking Musket will be breaking down all these questions, and more, once the bracket is unveiled tonight, but in the meantime join us and leave your comments about WVU's seeding, opponent, and location, as well as the other selections. Will Seton Hall make the bracket? Does Marshall somehow sneak in? Who earns a #1 seed? What teams have the easiest road to the Final Four? Did someone get snubbed? Come, sit, discuss.

Ugh. Where have we seen that before? Oh, right. UConn the first time around. Notre Dame. Marquette. Syracuse. Baylor. I think you get the idea: WVU builds a sizeable second-half lead (leading by 9 with 5 minutes to go), then finds a way to completely piss it away at the end (allowing overtime, then losing by 4 after not making a field goal). More than anything, that's what I'll remember about this season of WVU basketball. Somehow, the Mountaineers found ways to win these types of games early in the season. Then, inexplicably, they completely lost the ability to function as competent basketball players in the last 5 or 10 minutes of games.

I honestly think a lot of the problem is youth. I know that can be a bit of a cop-out, especially when other teams are playing freshmen and when these guys have had 30+ games of really good college basketball under their belts. But the way the season has gone losing so many games at the end, you see players pucker up at the end of games and you wonder whether the close losses have gotten into their heads some. How else can you explain Gary Browne essentially present the ball on a silver platter to Shabazz Napier for a breakaway layup not once, but twice? And the inability of anyone to get---let alone make---a decent look at the basket in the closing minutes? You would think someone could figure out a way to manufacture some kind of points when we need them to close out a game. But instead, we just panic and throw up something totally awkward-looking with nobody in position to even get a rebound. It's baffling, it's frustrating, and it's disheartening, but that's the kind of team we have to live with.

The worst part of it all is how huge a travesty it is for Kevin Jones. KJ was absolutely brilliant for the first 30 minutes of the game until his teammates seemed to completely forget about him on the offensive end. What's worse, the shots they took were so bad that Jones didn't even have an opportunity to get in decent rebounding position for one of his patented put-backs. That he finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds is a testament to KJ's brilliance at doing what he does despite his teammates forgetting about him in the closing minutes. First he gets robbed of POY honors and now this...for a guy that will go down as one of the best players in WVU basketball history and who plays the game with as much heart as Kevin does, he deserves better. I just hope he has the chance for one last run in the NCAA tournament.

Speaking of the tournament, I don't think we're in danger of missing out on a bid, even with today's loss. I mean, it's not like we got blown out by DePaul or something. We'll still get in, and probably end up as a 10 or 11 seed somewhere. But man, this hurts. It hurts that we couldn't make one more run to stick it to the Big East. Alas, we're out. Done. Finished. Hasta la vista, Big East. It's time to let bygones by bygones and focus on the future. Hopefully a future that includes our Mountaineers figuring out a way to close out games.

Well, it's the last game of the regular season and it's also a HUGE game for both teams' NCAA tournament chances. Huggs says he thinks WVU is in the tournament regardless of the outcome of this game. USF just beat Louisville at the Yum! Center to potentially seal its bid, but the bottom line is you can never win too many games. As such, USF is touting tomorrow's noon tip-off as its biggest home game in 20 years, selling tickets for $10 and giving away free t-shirts. So expect a fairly hostile atmosphere from the Bulls---can the Mountaineers pull out a key win on the road? We sat down with Ken DeCelles over at Voodoo Five to discuss the matchup.

Country Roads: Congrats on the big win over Louisville! That's a huge win on the road over a ranked team---just the kind of win that the NCAA selection committee looks favorably on. At this point, do you think USF has done enough to get in? Obviously you'd like to beat WVU and win a game or two in the Big East Tournament, but pretend that doesn't happen. Does USF still make the dance?

Voodoo Five: Thanks! The win at Louisville is amazing and the selection committee will definitely take notice, but I think it will take at least one more win for USF to feel safe heading into Selection Sunday. Even though we only lost one non-conference game with a full squad (Southern Miss by two), those losses to Auburn, Old Dominion, and Penn State are going to be tough to overlook.

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Q. What's 6'3, 245 lbs, eats Tajh Boyd for lunch, and just ran a blistering 4.43 second forty yard dash at the NFL combine?

A. That would be WVU defensive end Bruce Irvin, of course.

Don't believe me? Fast-forward to the 1:08 mark of this video for confirmation.

Irvin, who was projected as one of the top ten athletic freaks of the combine, took his WOW factor to a whole new level this morning. He dropped jaws during defensive line workouts by clocking in just behind Baylor's Robert Griffin III's 4.41 and just ahead of Oregon's LaMichael James' 4.45. Suffice to say, NFL.com's own bloggers were quite impressed.

We knew Irvin was good and would likely get drafted fairly high despite a moderately disappointing season where he didn't develop into the type of every-down player we hoped he'd be. But really? A 4.43 at 6'3, 245? With those measurables (Irvin also benched a respectable but not freakish 23 reps of 225 lbs), Bruuuuce could probably score a negative 3.14159 on the Wonderlic and still be able to pay cash for a small island nation with the signing bonus he's about to get as a high first round pick.

As WVU alumni haven't exactly dominated the NFL in recent years, Irvin's performance could be a major boon to the Mountaineers' recruiting efforts going forward. Stay tuned to The Smoking Musket for more updates.

As this whole WVU-to-the-Big XII saga played out, one of the most fascinating things for me to observe has been the varied reactions among the WVU fan base. The problem with the move to the Big XII seemed to be the anger it evoked from the Big East brass and other members of the conference. And I can understand why they would be upset, losing their flagship program just after two founding members decided to leave for greener pastures. I'm just sad it had to end that way.

I'm not saying the Big East is without blame here. Far from it. The Big East is and has always been a basketball league. The football conference was handicapped from the start after Penn State was rebuked and decided to pack its wagon, ford the Ohio, and start a farm. Say what you want about the ACC raid in 2004, but since then, the Big East has had several opportunities to improve its football and was negligent (at best) in failing to do that. The recent additions are too little, too late, and if we're being honest, probably weren't enough to keep WVU, Pitt and Syracuse in the conference anyway.

But is all this really deserving the anger that many Mountaineer fans have toward the conference? After all, the Big East has provided the springboard by which WVU became the school it is today (in football and men's and women's basketball especially, to say nothing of the olympic sports). Should WVU fans be as bitter toward John Marinatto and the remaining conference members as many are showing? I, for one, don't think so.

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Mired in one of the worst stretches of basketball in the Bob Huggins era, the WVU men's basketball team appears to be teetering on the brink of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2007 NIT championship season. For a team that appeared to virtually be a lock after beating a surging Cincinnati team in Morgantown nearly a month ago, the possibility of that bid slipping away has to be a scary proposition. But how worried should we be?

From just glancing around at the national pundits' opinions today, the situation may not be as dire as we think.
Take, for example, Nicole Auerbach of USA Today. Her latest Bubble Tracker has WVU still in the tournament. She claims that if the Mountaineers can win at Pitt and beat either Notre Dame (in South Bend) or Marquette (in Morgantown), WVU should fall on the right side of the bubble. Ditto ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi, whose latest Bracketology lists WVU as a 10-seed. A falling 10-seed, mind you, but still squarely in the tournament.

Keep in mind that WVU doesn't have to meet a certain magic number of wins to get in. Quality matters, too. And maybe even more than that, the selection committee has to compare WVU's profile to the profiles of the other at-large teams to fill the field of 68. It's not like they can limit the number of teams to 57 if the quality suddenly starts to drop off. We just have to be better than the 69th best team in order to make it in.

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Brett McMurphy, of CBS Sports, is reporting that WVU and the Big East are closing in on reaching a settlement of the pending lawsuits in West Virginia and Rhode Island. Says McMurphy:

West Virginia and the Big East Conference are nearing agreement on a settlement worth at least $20 million that would resolve all issues between both parties, college football industry sources told CBSSports.com.

The Mountaineers will join the Big 12 for the 2012-13 school year. However, in a bizarre twist, sources told CBSSports.com that West Virginia officials have contacted future Big East members to see if one could join in 2012 instead of 2013.

Some pundits are questioning how and why WVU, whose officials have continually disparaged the Big East and its leadership, could attempt to convince other schools to join a year early. I think the answer is fairly obvious. Those other schools are joining the Big East anyway because they see it as a better position than their current one. Even without WVU, Pitt and Syracuse, the Big East will be a better conference than any current non-AQ league. It will generate more TV revenue, and it will command a larger audience. So why not join up ahead of schedule, especially when Pitt and Syracuse will still be in the league for a year?

As for the buyout number, $20 million is a hefty pricetag to pay. Heck, Mountaineer field cost $22 million (in 1980) and the new basketball practice facility costs $24 million. But is it worth it? Absolutely. The amount of revenue WVU will generate over the long haul due to its membership in the Big XII will be far more than $20 million. And really, WVU needed to get out as fast as it could, no matter the price.

From here on, it's going to be a matter of keeping up with the Texases and Oklahomas of the world to compete at an elite level. Once WVU has paid off its settlement, it can move forward toward that goal.

After a bit of a hold up, Eric Kinsey, a 6'3, 240 lbs outside linebacker and defensive end from Miami (Florida) Northwestern High School,has committed to the West Virginia University Mountaineers, announcing the news and faxing in his National Letter of Intent on National Signing Day 2012. Kinsey, a 3-star prospect and the No. 103 ranked outside linebacker by Scout.com, chose the Mountaineers over offers from Ole Miss, FIU, Louisville, Nebraska, USF, and Vanderbilt.

Kinsey is a solid pickup at another area of need as WVU transitions into the Big XII, which is obviously a pass-happy league. Given the transition to a 7-man front, Kinsey should have a huge opportunity to come in and compete for playing time right away if he can learn the defense and figure out how to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Welcome home, Eric!

Annnnd breathe! Now that the inital wave of LOIs is over with, we can step back, collect our thoughts, assess the players we have in the fold and see who else is left out there that might still sign with WVU. To recap:

• There really haven't been any major surprises since last night's update, which is both a good and a bad thing.
  All 19 players we predicted signed and faxed their letters of intent, putting the wraps on a very solid class in Dana Holgorsen's first year as a head coach. The Orange Bowl win should really start to pay dividends in next year's class, when coaches and players have more time to develop relationships and build interest.
• As I predicted, OL Adam Pankey chose WVU over Pitt, rounding out a very solid OL class.
• Although neither MSN nor Scout.com lists him as official, ESPN is reporting that ATH Travares Copeland picked the Mountaineers over FIU and Rutgers. As I said yesterday, I like Copeland a lot, and I think he could fit in well at a couple different positions. Here is the video of Copeland's announcement:

So I missed on LB Deaysean Rippy, but was (unfortunately) right about WR Joel Caleb and LB Schyler Miles. I really thought we would wind up with at least one of these guys, and we ended up finishing in second with all of them. Such is life.

The SEC recruit I mentioned was actually two SEC recruits. CB Daniel Gray ended up sticking with Tennessee after visiting WVU, reaffirming his UT commit, wavering, and then signing this morning. I thought we would get either Gray or DL Eric Kinsey, who is a former Ole Miss verbal. At this point, I'm hearing all kinds of mixed signals on Kinsey---he signed with Cincinnati, he signed with WVU, and he is announcing at 7pm tonight. If we get something official, we'll post it. But at the very least, this one ain't ova.

The whole surprise recruit thing was mostly a stab in the dark. There always seem to be surprises, and I had heard some chatter about a last-minute push for someone nobody had been talking about. That may have been Tracy Howard, who I mentioned earlier today. He ended up at Miami. Teko Powell is another guy whose name was thrown around. He signed with Illinois. Sunny Odogwu was thought to be a potential grayshirt, but it looks like he will go the prep route.

At this point, there don't appear to be any more candidates out there, meaning WVU should finish with 22 in the class. Yes, it's short of the full 25 allotted, but it does address our needs and it is chock full of very very good players. It's always disappointing when you lose out on most of the 50/50 kids, but there is nothing to be ashamed of with this class.

So now that we have a handle on things, who are you most excited about? Do you have any concerns that were left unaddressed? Who did WVU really miss out on this year? Let's hear your thoughts in the comments.