Conference elite just ahead for Mountaineers

Wilson
- Stevenson
- Toussaint
- Wague
- Wilson
- Bell
- Mitchell
It happened all the time in the basketball era at West Virginia University, known as “The Golden Age” of Mountaineer basketball.
While still able to recall the fading memories of the long-gone Southern Conference, when West Virginia University ransacked that league under the steady and heady direction of Fred Schaus, those gold-hued championship seasons rolled by one after another.
It was as if the NCAA Tournament reserved an East Regional spot for Schaus and the Mountaineers of Jerry West, Hot Rod Hundley and the full court pressure defense they brought against harried opponents.
The season with the most bunting and gilt-edged wins came in 1958-1959 when the Mountaineers waded through the East Regional, soundly defeated Louisville on its home court in Freedom Hall and then fell to California by one point in the national championship game.

Bell
Fast forward some 64 years and we arrive at the 2022-2023 season of WVU basketball.
How does history figure in this modern-era season?
Well, the Mountaineers of last season were moving along with a 13-2 record, when they arrived at the eve of the Big 12 Conference schedule. When the 18-game slog through that conference swamp had been completed, the Mountaineers had endured a seven-game losing skid and completed a 15-16 regular season record. In the conference tournament, WVU beat Kansas State, before seeing the season end with an 87-63 loss to eventual national champion Kansas.
So far this season, the completely revamped team had a 9-2 overall record prior to last night’s home game versus Stony Brook.
And following the Stony Brook game, WVU heads back to the Big 12 where national powers await in nearly every outpost.

Stevenson
Kansas, TCU, Baylor and Texas lead the imposing list of conference “challenges.”
And beating Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Kansas State on their home courts isn’t easy for any invader.
Not too many player returnees remember last season’s crumbling record, because so many of those players are gone through graduation, transfer or other reasons.
Missing from that mostly forgettable season are Taz Sherman, Sean McNeal, Malik Curry, Jalen Bridges, Gab Osabuohien, Pauly Paulicap and Dimon Carrigan.
The losses this season were to serious basketball schools Purdue and Xavier of Cincinnati. The most compelling wins came against Pitt, Florida and Alabama-Birmingham.

Wague
After being inducted into the college basketball Hall of Fame, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has grouped together a roster of mostly unseen figures, including Erik Stevenson, Tre Mitchell, Joe Toussaint, Jimmy Bell, Mohamad Wague and Seth Wilson. Emmitt Matthews has returned after a year away from Morgantown, and Kedrian Johnson and Kobe Johnson were on last season’s roster.
The potholes and hardships of the Big 12 road will be initially seen by six of Huggins’ first nine players.
When the team enters the WVU Coliseum via a rolled out carpet in Morgantown, seeing friendly faces in the usual crowds of over 10,000 will be an encouraging sight after “visiting” Lubbock, Waco, Austin, Ames, Lawrence, Manhattan, Stillwater, Norman and Fort Worth.
The latter day bromide calling for the home team to “defend this house” is all too important, if any team wants to contend in the Big 12.
History happily repeated itself those long years ago in the Southern Conference.

Toussaint
Can recent history be thrown down the steep slope of a banned strip mine here in the 2022-2023 season? Or will the Big 12 sink its dangerous claws into the Mountaineers again?

Mitchell