The Basketball Nexus 2.0

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Sports fans, it's time for the Friday Free for All.
Over the next two hours, we'll bring you all the
latest from across the region in high school and college sports.
Now Here are your hosts, Chris Johnson and Alex Wheederspiel.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning, everybody, and welcome in. This is the Friday
Free for All, brought to you by Dan Cavett Buick GMC.
The Nexus of Basketball continues this week across West Virginia
as things get even crazier because, in addition to the
Girls champions Boys State tournament going on right now, oh yeah,
there's also a WVU head coaching search and WVU women's

(00:37):
basketball gets underway on Saturday. So as a special treat today,
since there's been no Morning Spiel this week and there's
an active head coaching search going on, we have got
a special guest coming on in our next segment. We'll
get to that in a moment. First, though, we're gonna
have Chris Johnson join us to let's go through all
the guests today. You're on today's edition of the Friday

(00:57):
Free for All. Chris Johnson, my regular co host, is
going to join us live from Charleston around eight forty
end of our show today, we're gonna hear at the
bottom of the eight o'clock hour from Craig Dutton. Chris
George is gonna talk with us about Little Bridgeport and
Tucker County. Travis Jones is gonna reset where we're at
on the entire tournament. Coming up at the top of
the eight o'clock hour, we're gonna hear from Jeff Rodgers.

(01:17):
He's gonna give us a little post mortem. That's what
Craig Dutton is doing as well, little postbortem on the
Philip Barber season. Nice postseason effort for the girls and
the boys. And then of course, coming up right on
the other side of this break, Mike Oustin is a
regular guest of mine on the Morning Spiel, is gonna
join us and we are gonna break down everything going
on as we know it with the Darien dev research.

(01:37):
And hey, maybe if you guys are lucky, that means
we'll get we'll get a head coaching announcement today or tomorrow,
because that apparently that's been what happens. Mike and I
talked on Monday, and right after we talked, the news
kind of broke. So maybe maybe we'll get more more
breaking news today. All right, all that said, we got
to get to the first break as quickly as possible
because we've got a jam packed show for you today.

(01:59):
And then of course we got to be out at
nine o'clock because more high school boys basketball coming up
at nine o'clock. A great day, semi final Friday. We're
gonna go over all the action coming up across the
board today. We're gonna talk about that with Travis and Chris.
That's ahead here on the Friday Free for All brought
to you by Dan Caveateadabuick GMC. We're back right after.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
This time for more high school sports talk on the
Dan cavatoyot Wick GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
This is the Friday Free for All brought to you
by Dan Cavatiota Buick GMC, Alex Sweeerspiel here with you.
And normally this is obviously, we typically do high school sports,
we do Division two college sports, and every so often
we'll dive into the jump into the world of WVU athletics.
Not always, but usually I reserve that for the other show.
But I don't know if you guys realize this. Thanks

(02:47):
to the high school tournament. We haven't had a Morning
Spiel pretty much all week except for Monday, so I
stole a guest from that roster and brought him over here.
And since I host both shows, I'm allowed to do that.
Mike Gosti of WV sports Now, who also hosts the
Mic Drop podcast and writes for Yard Barker. He does
a whole bunch of things, and he covers the Mountaineers

(03:09):
for WV sports Now, has been all over this Darien
Devrie or Darren DeVries search or replacement search for him
as he's left for Indiana, and Mike, I'm gonna let
you take it away because when we talked Monday on
the Morning Spiel, I think we were still thinking it.
You know, it's tough to know where this is, and
it wasn't long after you and I talked that. Okay,

(03:30):
now we know where this is. He's gone, and it
seems like the conversation on him leaving may have been,
in fact, a longer conversation than a lot of folks
are going to be happy to hear.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, you were kind of unlucky there. You're right in
front of the breaking news during our conversation on Monday. Yes,
all of this did happen right after that and what
I told you then and I stand by then, and
I've known this whole time, and it didn't become true
that Darren Devrees was not going to go to Iowa
in particular. That was the program that was always in

(04:05):
rumors all year really from the open of the season
to him deciding to go to Indiana instead of Iowa
because Iowa has been messing up money throughout, you know, years,
despite being in the Big Ten, and it just wouldn't
make professional sense based on their situation. He did turn
them down. Ren Baker pretty much confirmed that he got
a lot of calls, including Iowa, and said no to

(04:26):
all of those schools, but Indiana made an offer. And
you know, there's going to be a whole debate, in
a whole conspiracy, Alex. I don't know if anyone is
ever going to really be able to nail down or
anyone will fully ever admit on how long he's been
talking to Indiana. When the conversation initially erupted. There are
some that think from the Bahamas, because both schools were
down there, that there was the beginning of the conversation.

(04:47):
Some say February maybe some even will you know, give
them the benefit out and say it was maybe a
week or so ago. And Ren Baker said that they
were talking contracts. Him and Darren Derees are talking extension
in February. But again and Iowa was never gonna happen,
So we nailed that down. I was sure it wasn't
gonna be Iowa and that maybe he would say if
not Iowa, But again, Indiana made him an offer he

(05:09):
couldn't refuse. So Indiana made him an offer that is
a major investment in il That is a major investment
in the program, and they have not been near what
they were back in the eighties, seventies, the Bob Night days,
even early two thousands. Arguably not really a blue blood anymore,
but it's still Indiana basketball, and it is hard to

(05:31):
say no. I think the way he handled it was
really dirty and really funky.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
But he's there now.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
And it does put West Virginia in yet again another
coaching search, as they are now looking for their fourth
head coach in four years, which is just insane to
say for a program that prior to that was pretty
stable and was perennially in the tournament. They get snubbed
this year when the resume tells you they should be there.

(05:58):
But even if you give him this tournament appearance, the
recent years haven't been great. And four head coaches in
four years, just perception wise isn't good. So that's what
Ren Baker's doing wheright now he's trying to find that
next guy. Maybe he's currently coaching in the NCAA tournament.
Maybe maybe not. And Daron Derez is in Indiana. But
we learned a lot of who to believe, who what

(06:21):
not to believe. People need to maybe, you know, take
a minute before they just immediately believe what's online, because
that clearly was the problem throughout this. Darreon DeVries Saga
and I can get not being able to turn down
Indiana for what they offered, but you know it wasn't
handled the best. And of course Takertavis played right to

(06:43):
the bar of being able to apply for that extra year,
right to the bar, and all was, you know, not
able to play again right after he got to that bar.
If you would have played another minute of basketball, he
wouldn't be able to come back.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
But he did not.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
They really manage that perfectly, amazingly enough, and he's gonna
go to Indiana with their in degrees, but Ren Baker
did talk to us on Wednesday. I believe to unpack
a lot more and clarify a lot of what I'm
saying now and then get started on the search. He
is currently dark as he is searching.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
So.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yikes.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
I mean just listening to unpack all of it, and
that's really the spark notes. I mean, I could give
you a whole hour. I did a whole hour and
a half on mountaineerport in our show with WB Sports.
Now I've been covering it all week, so that's as
brief as I can give you.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah. Oh man, I guess how are Mountaineer fans at
this point? I've seen? So listen, here's the deal. I
will say this, I in a vacuum, don't. I wouldn't
if I were a Mountaineer fan, which I kind of am,
But if I were a mountain Your fan in a vacuum.
It's weird because I also have to cover the team
from time to time. Again not the men's basketball team.

(07:53):
I typically don't have to worry about that in football,
so I don't worry about it as much. But I
can be more of a fan, but some other sports
I do have to I do have to actually cover
from time to time. But I guess where I'm kind
of thinking is I've seen a lot of Mountain Your
fans who are really bothered by the way this went down,
and I'm thinking that in a vacuum, I don't have
an issue with going to Indiana because he could theoretically

(08:17):
be and I know he didn't go to Indiana, so
this is not a perfect one to one analogy. But
if you think about what Jim Harbaugh did for Michigan football,
he could kind of do the same thing for Indiana basketball.
Is put them back on the map. This is a
traditional blue blood power that has not been blue blood
status now for a couple of years, that he could
theoretically put them back on the map. I can see
the appeal, I can see the allure. I get it.

(08:39):
It was kind of abe to understand.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
It was kind of even funny to be And I
don't know if he was trying to needle or not
orn smart enough. Maybe he was the beginning of ren
Baker's press conference to talk about the Breeze's departure and
the search, he did mention just casually slipped it in
where he said, to paraphrase, I understand the allure of
a blue blood in Indiana, but just so you know,
West Virginia's been to more INC tournaments and more Sweet

(09:01):
sixteens and a more recent fun of four this century.
So he did slip that in to make it very clear,
and that is factual. Indiana's last fun of four two
thousand and two, West Virginia's two thousand and ten. Indiana's
last Sweet sixteen is twenty sixteen, right around the time
West Virginia was last there. Their last nca ternmy is
twenty twenty three, the same for West Virginia. And they
have been in more NCAA tournaments, more Lite eates, and

(09:23):
more Sweet sixteens in this century from two thousand to now.
So after the whole Bob Knight scandal, they have not
been near what they were. Granted, they do of the history,
and it is a basketball for school, whereas WU, even
if you could argue the basketball history being better than football,
it's always gonna be a football first school. They're trying
to equally disperse money. Yeah, Kurtsinnetti might be a big

(09:45):
loser here. He took them into the playoff, but they're
win win the Darren DeVries.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Now also with football on the Rise, football on the
rise of rides, what is the term of rising tide
lifts all boats? And I think they're sure.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Their athletics department, so yeah, very well right now they're
really benefiting from to that n al era. But it
just was funny because, as you mentioned yet, the job
you can't refuse in brand it is. It's similar to
when Harbaugh went to Michigan, because you can't refuse turning
around that brand.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, because you remember what the thought was at that
time was that was that when when Harbaugh went to Michigan,
The thought was, you know, yeah, it's a great hire
in the sense that Harbaugh's a great coach who has
had success everywhere. But like people were asking the question,
if you know at that time, I want to say
it was that twenty thirteen, I think.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
It was, Yeah, Michigan was the overrated program.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
They were asked the question if you could run a
national title at Michigan in the modern era, that was
a legit question that was being asked. And I think
that's a legit question to ask about Indiana right now
as well.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, I mean Michigan's only modern championship prior to the
one they've won very controversially in recent years, was a
co share of one they don't even have by themselves
from ninety seven and before that, we're talking decades upon
decade they have a lot of overall, but it had
been since the forties since they won one on their
own until this twenty twenty three with Harbaugh, so that

(11:01):
it's it's a fair comparison, but the money investments there
for the reason, again, a basketball first school, he's from
the Midwest. I don't have a problem with him taking
the job. It is a job you can't refuse in
Virginia right in a vacuum, and West Virginia fans got
to remember, they forget this. Bob Huggins left a school
that he took on the rise, and Kansas stayed and
put them right right in terms of natural contention where

(11:23):
they weren't before, and then he left them after only
one year. They've not been near as good since and
he certainly had a better run, so he kind of
screwed them over, and mount In Your fans didn't feel
bad for them at the time. Problem is, as I
detailed at the open of this segment. There's a lot
of dirtiness here when you have Tucket to Reed's eligibility
would have ran out if he played this year, but

(11:43):
he only played the eight games. You have the conversation
of when it happened and where it happened, and they're
both in the Bahamas, and you know, I don't want
to be a conspiracy theorist here. I'm trying to be
a journalist, but you know, you connect the dots and
it just really smells really fishy because they're everywhere they
you know, it just really you know that school's also
in the tournament when they normally never play, and yet

(12:05):
you know we're having extension talks. I asked frend Baker
if he felt any regrets or felt this was dirty
in any.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Way, and he said no.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
The medical staff handle Tucker and he doesn't have regrets.
But Alex, you know that might just be a d
speak because they did what I know factually, they spend
a million dollars on Tucker Devirees. He played eight games
and they did not make the tournament and now he's gone.
So that's a waste of money at the very least,
but they are getting money back. I mean, what I
didn't mention is they paid Darren DeVries two point eight

(12:34):
million dollars and they're getting the largest buyout in men's
basketball history and going to get over six million dollars
coming back into West Virginia. And for anyone who doesn't
know how this is going to work, this is not
over a period of years. This is not going to
be in court and spread out over years like rich
Rods was all those years ago. Indiana will cut this

(12:55):
check in sixty days. In sixty days, they're going to
pay a check of over six million dollars to w Athletics.
So that's part of this search too, and that could
be a benefit to the program if they end up
finding the right guy, and clearly that was not Darren DeVries.
If you don't want to be there, as Ren put it,
I don't want anyone to be anywhere if they're just

(13:17):
only held by a buyout. So Indiana paid it. He
has a fine job now, but it definitely smells very,
very dirty to how it was handled. They had Darren
Devries's quotes not just a press release with the news Alex.
They had his quotes in a press release with the
news ten minutes after Pete Damil broke the news, which

(13:37):
is only two days after the snub. It's hard to
believe they just started talking on Monday.

Speaker 5 (13:44):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
So the one thing I'll know I the one thing
I will say, I don't. I don't have it in
front of me. I thought the wording of his statement,
I might be looking too much into it, the wording
of his statement that he released after the snub. I
also thought people thought it was weak. People did think
that was There was a little bit in there that
it wasn't just that it was weak. There was there
was more first and second person language than there was

(14:12):
WE language, right.

Speaker 5 (14:16):
What of it?

Speaker 2 (14:16):
He only said we one time and then later on
in the statement, we was no longer in there and
those were replaced by it. So I'm just saying the
pronouns were interesting and uh in that statement, because I
did actually think to myself, it's weird that he didn't
say we on every single one of these pronouns, like
framing it as I am heartbroken or whatever it was. Again,
I'd have to bring up the statement.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
And to compare ren was. If you notice his initial
statements during the snub, he was really trying to say
I appreciate Darren Derez. He had Derees's name in that
statement all over the place, it feels like to me,
and even talking to Ren directly, I was sitting right
there during the presser. He's not going to admit this.
He's being mature, He's moving on. I think the program
can be fine, and we'll maybe get into W's brand

(14:58):
here in a moment. But I think it can work out.
But I also do think Ren is secretly pissed and
will not fully give that to you. Because regardless of
whether Indiana was talking to the Hamas in November or
is in February, even if it was two weeks ago,
Ren Baker said that in February we talked about an extension,
So those reports were accurate than myself and others were
saying that I'm an extension. That's apparently correct. We also

(15:20):
know that he was never going to go to Iowa.
People may say that on the internet, but they just
were getting false info or I'm gonna say this or
borderline lying with reports because he was never gonna go
to Iowa and Wren knew that. And then not only
does Ren give the statements after the snub and say,
you know, thanks to Davrez and admit he's trying to
aggressively keep Derees, which means a contract extension. He went

(15:41):
on talk Line this week, Alex and there was no
sports Line show with Kardi, but he went on talk
Line and literally said that he was very confident in
keeping Defrees.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
And then a day later.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Devrees is gone. So it feels like to me that,
regardless of when the conversation starts guarded, Ren Baker was
not fully privy to everything. He's not a dumb person.
He would not have went on a show that the
whole state listens to and and said he was confident
in moving on with Devrees if that wasn't how he felt.

(16:15):
I feel like there was a little egg on Ren
Baker's face here too. And he did make the joke
in the presser that you know, he appreciates the donors
and McAfee and Kendrick and everyone else who says they're
really invested in this and the money they donate and
you know, all the assistance they want to give. But
he's the only one sitting up there in the press conferences.
He's the only one. There's nobody even looked at. He's like,
there's nobody next to me here. If this doesn't work out,

(16:36):
McAfee's gonna keep posting his show. Kendrick's gonna keep owing
the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'm gonna be the one blame, but
I'm gonna then be be fired. And that is true
all these other sports that are having success. If rich
Rod doesn't have success and he does not actually get
this basketball coach higher the men's hire, even though Kellogg's
winning to be success year and and year out and
not bolt after a year, then eventually the ad that

(16:59):
I think ad. I think he's handled a lot and
done very well with everything he's had to handle and
deal with over these years. But eventually he then would
get blame and he would be fired. That is where
we eventually would get to if this hire doesn't work out.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
It's true. It's absolutely true. I all right, so let's
move on because it's it's I knew we were going
to spend a lot of time on this part of
the story, and I I'm sure fans are already sick
of it. I guess the question is who's next. We
have heard a ton of names already that nothing official
that I'm aware of from the school. You can correct

(17:39):
me on that. Nothing official. As far as interviews go,
it's of course difficult this time of year where you've
got guys coaching at NCAA tournament games. One of the
names they've been commonly connected to is Drake's head current
head coach, And of course they just won a tournament
game and an eleven to six upset last night, So
that's a possibility right there, and yet they're still dancing
right now. So what are you hearing as far as

(18:02):
actual possibilities. I think a lot of folks have seen
the names that are connected. They've seen Jared Calhoun's name,
they've seen McCollum's name, they've seen Wade's name. They've seen
all these names out there, and there's been a lot
of them. I've seen lists go ten to twelve deep,
which means to me that we're not as close as
I think folks would want to be, or we just
don't have as much information. What are you hearing?

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Yeah, So in contrary to that a little bit, I'm
gonna disagree to the speed of this in the timeline.
I don't think this is going to be a search
is going to take months. I do not think this
is going to be a long search like the football
or the men's search.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
Was last year.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
Ren Baker just did this search less than a year ago.
All of these names that you're mentioning, the Ben McCollums,
the Jared Calhoun with the Huggins connection, and obviously Ben
McCollum being that sexy name out there, and even some
bringing up just retained Chester Frazer. You'll keep the roster.
He's a great recruiter. He won conference titles in the
Big Ten already. If he does not go with the freeze,
because they've only known each other for a year, it's

(18:58):
not like a twenty year friendship, maybe you convince him
to stay by being the head coach. Nico Nedved has
been brought up. There are a lot of names that
have been brought up, but I do not think this
is a list right now that is twelve or fifteen
coaches deep. I do not think this is one hundred
coaches deep. When he did the football search, he used
the phrase that he's going to cast a wide net

(19:19):
and then whittle it down. And I know that at
that point he did cast a wide net and whiddwed
it down to a final three, a final two, Kotinikki
eventually bowed out, and then you get to rich Rod.
I don't think there's any wide net needing to be
cast here. Yes, he respects the tournament, and yes, if
these coaches are coaching, they may not want to leave now.
They may not want to have conversations now, they may

(19:41):
not want that reporting out now, but maybe it'll get
out anyway. And I'm sure he's talking to some of
these names that are in the NCAA tournament. I do
not think it's going to be Chester Frazier in a
promotion from what I'm hearing and how it sounds, but
that is a name that has brought up a lot
to dismiss. Immediately, he did get asked about Bob Huggins,
and he gave the answer of him not gonna talk
about any coaches in particular. But we're not looking to

(20:04):
the past. We appreciate his contributions, We're looking to the future.
So you can read into that. How it is people
keep saying you can bring rich Rod back, why not
Bobby Huggins. Let's put it to you this way. Here's
the difference. Rich Rodriguez did not screw over Ren Baker directly.
Seventeen years ago. Ren Baker wasn't even a w fan
at that point. I'm sure Bob Huggins directly impacted Ren

(20:25):
Baker at the beginning of his tenure. He made it
horrendous so and very stressful, and I imagine those wounds
are pretty fresh, even though he does want to respect
the legacy. So it's not gonna be Huggins. B Line's
too old. Joe mazzul is looking for his potential second
consecutive NBA title. That's not happening either, So I don't
think the wide net in all the names and some

(20:45):
of the fake reporting and having to really dig, I
don't think it's gonna be as long and as vast
as the other searches. I don't think it's gonna happen tomorrow,
but I do think it's gonna be a quicker search,
more weeks than months, and maybe even one or two
weeks from now. You'll know that, coach, because the spring
portal is opening up very soon, and that means you're

(21:06):
gonna lose even more players, and then you get you
you got to start getting players, but you don't have
a coach, so it's hard to do that. So this
is better timing than when Huggins went to Pittsburgh and
they had that scandal and had to settle on Island
as interim. This is better timing than that.

Speaker 7 (21:18):
When that was June.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
But still this is an ideal, and you know, not
making the tournament, you could have got way ahead of
all the recruiting if you kept the staff, but that's
not the case. But I don't think this is gonna
take be a very, very long thing. But all of
the names that you mentioned are names that I'm hearing
either three sources. I do think he's talking to. Nothing

(21:41):
is out from the school, and what maybe you could
get Alex is the only thing maybe you could get
in the next couple of days if you start hearing
national reporting. So Will Wade agreed to jump to a
power school and go to North Carolina State in the
ACC despite winning, despite McNeese, who I also picked by
the way in my bracket, but despite winning and getting

(22:01):
an upset win in the NCAA tournament. He hasn't signed,
but I'm imagining he's still going to leave. So you
might get something like that where you get, you know,
someone reporting. Okay, there's an agreement here, but nobody can
announce anything because he's still in the tournament. I don't
think Ren's gonna wait forever for these guys. But I
also don't think he's going to get a bad coach

(22:21):
because a good coach that he wants, that wants to
come is still winning. So that's kind of the dichotomy there.
But I don't think this is going to be as
long as the football search or the men's search. I
think this is gonna be quicker because he did a
lot of the work last year. It's even what Pete
Thamill told McAfee that Ren Baker should be able to

(22:42):
just go, go go, because he already vetted these guys.
I'll tell you this for sure, Alex. He talked to
Ben McCollum last year. He talked to Jared Calhoun last year.
And when I say last year, I don't even mean
twelve months ago.

Speaker 6 (22:55):
So he did the vetting.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
Unless they committed some felony in the last twelve months
that he wasn't aware of, the vetting should be done.
And now you're seeing the resume by what their record
was this year, and it's all good because they're in
the tournament, so I don't think he has to do
the wide net and then woodle it down. I think
that the list starts whittled down and then he makes
his decision.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Do you have a feel on a front runner potentially
or is it still too early for that.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
I think it's a little too early. I would say
that Ben McCollums the number one name to watch right now,
and he's also connected to the Iowa job, which I've reported.
I do feel I told you in this segment on
this show that I think the West Virginia job is
a better job than Iowa basketball just by being in
the Big Ten. They've been messing up money, they haven't

(23:47):
been as good in the last thirty years, et cetera.
So I do think the West Virginia job is better now.
Granted that would be staying in the same state. Defrees
didn't want to do it, but maybe he would. He
hasn't been at this level as long. It's only one
year doing it here at Drake and getting a win.
But that's a name to watch, meaning I do think
Ren's very interested in him from what I'm hearing, and

(24:09):
if he wants to go to Iowa, he can go
to IOWAA tomorrow. You can get a Will Wade scenario
with him going to Iowa tomorrow because they wanted Devree's
number one, but he was their number two. So if
you get reporting that he's going to Iowa, then I
think Ren is going back to the drawing board and
maybe a Calhoun and others get more of a possibility.
But if that doesn't come out soon, then again, Iowa

(24:34):
basketball is not a great brand right now, and maybe
he would rather be at use So maybe he's waiting
and they're waiting and eventually they partner up and then
Iowa totally gets left out in the dust. I also
think that West Virginia's brand is better than it was
a year ago because of one thing. For anyone who
wants to be negative, and I get it, I get
being upset when you're doing all these coaching searches and

(24:55):
all this drama and a coach leaving you, Alex, but
think of it this way, what Darren DeVries just did
this past year by getting him flirting with the NCAA
tournament despite having their best player only play eight games
and being snubbed and having nineteen wins after nine a
year ago.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
He just proved to.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
What a lot of people were saying before while but
some weren't sure of. Some people were saying, oh, would
take five years to recuperate from Huggins and eilerd Defrees
just proved, No, that's a top brand, the facility's a
top notch. The N and l's getting better. They're in
the Big twelve. No it's not the Big ten, but
they're in the Big twelve. And you can turn it
around quickly there in the transfer era. So he just
did that so a new coach can do the same thing.

(25:33):
I think the brand in the sales pitch is better
now than it was a year ago when he got Devrees,
who at that time was the number two coach on
the market behind Dusty May. So he did very well
last year even though Devrees left. I think he can
do well again. But where McCollum goes, I think there's
a domino to fall. And if he goes nowhere soon,
I think he's waiting FORU. That might be a tip

(25:54):
that that's happening. But you know, if I had to
put percentage, I think I think.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
I think.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
I think Calhoun is a candidate here, even though he
has the hugg and stain a little bit on him.
I also think the coaches in this search are different
than last year in the sense of McCollum, Calhoun, even Nedve.
I mean their resumes are very very similar, They're very
similar coaches. I don't think there's any coach here that,

(26:23):
if they get hired, to be very different than the
other guy, whereas last year was Devrees and everybody else
after Dusty May and way below Devrees. So I think
they're very very similar. But I don't think grand Baker's
gonna hear too many no's. I do think this is
a good job, and there's not as many major jobs
open right now. I mean, Texas could get open, and
that looks like it's going to be open. But it's

(26:45):
not like it's six or seven Power four programs that
are open like it was a year ago when it
was West Virginia, Michigan, Louisville, et cetera. It's a smaller
group in W's brand. I actually think is better than
the other ones that are open right now. I think
Ren feels that way too.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, and I agree with that, and I will always
say hire the best guy. But I think if it's
close or if it's tied, I think Calhoun has a
clear edge. And I think when you talk about you're
selling stories, right, Like Calhoun has already proven that he
can coach. You look at what he did at Youngstown,
you look at what he did at Fairmont State. You
look at what he's currently doing at Utah State. They
won twenty six games this year. I think that if

(27:23):
it's close, I think Calhoun sells a good story in
that WU guy from the region. Also, I know that
this shouldn't be a thought, but if you're thinking, hey,
is this guy gonna leave us for a better place?
The only thing you would theoretically maybe have to worry
about is Ohio State, since he is originally from Ohio,
but most of his ties coaching are in West Virginia.

(27:43):
So I think there's a lot of attraction there in
my mind, just from a pure common sense perspective. And
have you used the same basic justification of how they
went about hiring Rich Rodriguez and what it meant for
the athletic department in program as a whole. I think
if you can't Bob Huggins, that is just not an option.
You are bang on there that this is not This

(28:04):
is not gonna These are not one to one comparisons.
These are totally different stories.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
But this would be like if you hired rich Rod
in twenty eleven instead of days right, Yeah, this would
be closer to that, and that at that time you
wouldn't been able touch real way, and we're never could
have sold the fan base on that. Twenty years from now,
maybe with Huggins, but he'll be too old at them, right.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
But so Calhoun offers a nice, a nice little compromise.
There a nice fac similar where a little guy who
coached under Huggins. Now I am curious the one guy
used whose name you mentioned, because I so funny. It's
funny enough, so I'm gonna give a little shout out.
I had a listener who's doing his route yesterday, was
delivering a package and he said, he goes, he goes, listen,
I actually listened to your show. I was like, I
was like, well, that's fantastic. I was like, listen because

(28:45):
he was talking to He's like, who do you think
the coach is gonna be. I was like, I'm not
gonna I don't know, but I'm talking with a guy
tomorrow and bring him on the show, and I'm gonna
I we're gonna talk about this. So the name that
he and I both agreed where we were like, you know,
we just don't know enough about is Chester Frasier and
a lot of former players I've gone to bat for
Chester Fraser. How shocked would you be if Fraser actually
did get the head coaching job because to me, that

(29:07):
one seems like a total dark horse. But I also, like,
I do get the appeal when you've got players go
into bat for you. I understand the appeal from that perspective.
So I am curious because he and I both were
talking about, like, I'm gonna be honest with the guy
where I'm not really sure where he fits into this.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
You know what, Chester Fraser screams to me as a comparison,
He's very much the andokod Nikki of this, because Andy
kotor Nikki was the guy that disproved a lot of
what people were saying that Wren does normally in coaching searches.
Ren Baker has been public in saying that he prefers
head coaching experience. It doesn't matter if it's a pickup league.

(29:44):
He'd rather you be a head coach at some point
over just always being an assistant, even if you're a
really popular, really good assistant. He said that publicly numerous times.
And I can tell you that Andy ko Nikki was
a was a candidate that.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
He really, really really liked.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
So if Seed her on rich Trod, I'm sure he's
happy with rich Rod, but Kotornicki was someone he was
absolutely considering. Coder Nicki has never been a head coach.
He's been that coordinator, that assistant that everyone thinks eventually
will be a head coach, and he didn't come. So
if Ren Baker was looking at any koto Nicky and
was serious about him, then why would he not consider

(30:20):
Chester Fraser very very SIMILARI and Chester Fraser, unlike Koda
Nicki is already in your house. And yes, players are
saying that they do want him, since here Harris is
one that has publicly continuously said he wants Chester Fraser.
Granted he's the one that was with him before, so
that's the player he's had for a couple of years.
Ren also did say to add to make that not

(30:42):
a I don't think it's enough of the reason. I
don't want people to just hang their hat on old
players want him, so he should keep them because Ren
did say, which is true. Anytime you do a coaching
search in this portal era where you're dealing with players
like this, they almost always want an assistant to stay
on because they just like who they know and they
probably recruited them. So he's not going to be totally
sold on just that scenario. The pros and cons of

(31:05):
Fraser are this. The pros are he's a young, up
and coming coach that everywhere he's been has won. He's
won conference titles as a guy who got a lot
of respect and a lot of credit for that, even
his last head coach saying it was a lot on
Chester Fraser. Before he went to w he was a
part of the staff that recruited a strong transfer class

(31:28):
that did win nineteen games and almost got w in
the tournament. He's been the lead recruiter on a lot
of these players that have been throughout w and Illinois
the last several years. And he's going to be a
head coach at some point in the future. So you'd
hate to see two years from now he's a head
coach somewhere else and you could have had him. The
negative is he's never been a head coach. There's a

(31:50):
lot more to being a head coach than just recruiting,
because people sometimes get fooled by old great recruiter. Make
him the head coach. There's more there. And if you
don't have success, Alex, it's a search that really puts
rend Baker's job on the line. If he doesn't have success,
Rand Baker's probably gone and you're gambling on a guy
who's never done it before. When maybe because we agree

(32:13):
that the job is still sound and you have a
brand and maybe the best brand with coaching jobs available,
why are you going to bring in the assistant and
let Iowa hire McCollum when you think your job is
better than theirs. That's also part of the decision too.
So I don't think Fraser has a zero percent shot.
I wouldn't bet on it, I wouldn't predict it. I

(32:33):
would be a little surprised. I wouldn't be blown off
my chair depending on how this goes and where McCollum
goes in that first domino, but I think this is
not like last year again, he can kind of pick
his guy now. Obviously Texas has more money and that's
in the SEC even though they haven't really been a
great basketball school and underachieved times. So maybe that job

(32:53):
is better than the views. But if we're talking jobs open,
I think West Virginia is right there among the power programs.
So I don't think that would happen right now. I
don't think he's that desperate. This is early in the spring.
He has a good job, the brand has proven you
can do it in one year. I don't think that'll happen.

(33:14):
But yes, players are making their voices known. But Alex
also remember this. Players absolutely, if you recall, said they
would say if Islert was named the interim, and every
one of those players who said that the second Islert
was named the interim left and I can almost confirm
to you that we later found out they and this

(33:34):
is to their credit, they did that as a favor
to Eiler to get him the job, because they wanted
to help their friend out. They knew they were leaving,
so you cannot This is not like when Pat White
stood up there on the stage and said you got
to keep you know, this's got to be Bill Stewart.
This is twenty years later. I think Ran is smart
enough to not do something because of what sincere Harris says,

(33:55):
despite you know you respect him, He's also not a superstar.
He's a role player. You're gonna hire a coach for
role players. You need to replace Tuckertive Reez Javan Small's
out of eligibility. You can lose Sincere Harris, and it's
not gonna affect your win loss record, to be honest,
but a bad coach will affect you for years to come.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Well said, well said all around. Why don't you go
ahead and throw a few plugs out there where folks
can find your work. I'm assuming you're gonna be quite
busy over the next few days.

Speaker 6 (34:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
WV Sports now for the site, a lot of coverage
there on this coaching search and football spring ball will
actually get back underway next week inconveniently enough, and then
a lot going on around Mountain your athletics in general,
and Rich Rod's gonna be cutting thirty players, so Bucker
your Seatbelder probably announced those decisions the second we got
a new head coach for the men's basketball program, the

(34:45):
way these things work out. So WV Sports now for
all of that Mountain your report for the podcast, where
really go in depth on this conversation, really for the
coaching search, Yard Barker for national writing, and then of
course Mike Drop for a podcast of my own. You
can find that everywhere you get your podcast. But I
will be very, very busy. I will have a very
busy spring.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Once again.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
I do not think this is going to be like
the last couple of years, though I do think this
will be quicker.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
I really do.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
I think rend did a lot of the work last year,
and the brand is even stronger now. There's not as
much drama now despite Debris leaving so as much as
the fans are down and I get it, and it's
polarizing and it sucks, and I do think it was
dirty and I get not like in Debris and is
really his whole family. But once they hire the right coach,
I think they can be fine. And the last point

(35:32):
I want to make, and kind of what you brought
up there about maybe Calhoun being a tiebreaker, even if
you'd rather have McCallum, maybe you go Calhoun because you
think he wouldn't leave. I agree that does kind of
make sense now because I will say, and I said
this on my show, Alex, more than even getting in
the tournament next year, the absolute goal of this is
you cannot be doing a search again in March of

(35:54):
twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Cannot.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
I don't care if you win twenty five games. If
that coach leaves, you have failed this. You cannot be
doing it. So that is the number one goal he
has to achieve. However, as you know with me, I've
been a career. You don't have to have a WU
or West Virginia ties to have coaches and somewhat ties
have left and Wren doesn't have ties, and don Nalan
didn't have ties, rich Rod had ties and left, Ogerson
didn't have ties and did one Orange Bowl. I brought

(36:19):
all that up, but I agree that maybe that could
be a tiebreaker to not avoid this. But Ren Baker
was asked that directly, and his answer might be unsettling
for you and your listeners off of what you're saying
in that scenario, because he said, I, to paraphrase, I
don't think one example and something happening like this means
that you go off of your normal thinking. If they

(36:41):
have ties and it fits and everything's great, Sure, I'm
not eliminating guys with ties, but I'm not gonna get
married to one particular statistic or category or attribute, because
that narrows your search down too much. That's paraphrasing.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
What he said.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Does not scream to me like he's worrying about that,
which does give you concern that we're back here again
in the year.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yes, I will say I like that only because I
actually like that answer, only because I do think you
have to have a process, you have to have a
set of standards that you're gonna follow when you're doing
a job like this. But I'm just throwing it out there.
I think if that was a concern, I think it's
unlikely that Jared Calhoun is going to be you know,
flying flying, the flying out of town, you know, a

(37:23):
year from now. If they make you cannot be searching
again next year, No, I would disaster, disaster stop.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Cannot be searching again next year, full stop.

Speaker 5 (37:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
I can't think of a scenario where that would be
where that would end well for the mountaineers with a
fifth coach in five years. So, Mike, much appreciated. Man,
Thanks for thanks for doing double duty and juming on
this show. And we will talk with you on the
Morning Spiel at some point soon. All right, yeah, man,
all right, we'll take a break and get into some
high school basketball action here on the Friday Free for All,

(37:53):
brought to you by Dan Cavitzet to be a GMC
back after.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
This time for more high school sports talk, gone a
Dan Cavatoyo WAGMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
We're now joined by Jeff Rogers, play by play voice
for Philip Barber Basketball, and wanted to do a little recap,
a little post mortem on the season now that it
is officially over for both sides. Jeff, how are you.

Speaker 7 (38:18):
I'm good, Alex, how are you doing.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
I'm good Man. Really enjoying the NonStop basketball now the
NSAA tournament is underway. It's a great, great combination here
in mid to late March. Philip Barber really actually, I
think a pretty eventful postseason for both the girls and
the boys. Wanted to have you on to do a
little post mortem on both. Let's start with the girls,

(38:41):
who obviously got knocked out last week in the opening
round and a game wasn't super competitive. But at the
same time, I think there's a lot to be said
for a team this young making it that far, getting
that experience against a top seed. Give me kind of
your thoughts on the end of the Philip Barber season
and what there is to look forward to ahead next year.

Speaker 7 (39:03):
Yeah, I think, uh, I think Philip Barber's girls team
and had headcat trick Mauser had to be happy with
the season as a whole, the way that it turned out,
making another trip to the state tournament there, fourth in
a row, after the way the season started. You know,
they started started the year a little rough like one
in six I think, and and you know, had to

(39:23):
had to work that young lineup up to speed and
and they did a good job throughout the year getting
them up to speed and and had some had some
really nice games throughout the second half of the year
and just kind of ran into a buzzsaw down in
the state tournament little bit. Wheeling Central's pretty good team.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Tough draw there, Yeah, it was. It was always going
to be tough. I did think that it was a
tougher one eight draw than usual, but that's sort of
the mark of a good team that even when you
get maybe a little bit of a tougher draw at
eight than you would have gotten in years past, they
still took care of business. So obviously credit to them.
That was gon be difficult. Before we switch over to

(40:02):
the boys, I'm kind of curious, what do you think
of the big things kind of building blocks for next
season now looking ahead at what what Philip Barber girls
has got, because this was a really young team, so
what's next.

Speaker 7 (40:13):
I guess, Yeah, they started four sophomores and a freshman
for most of the year. They lose two seniors off
the team. There are players coming in off the bench,
so that starting lineup got a lot of experience together.
And they've got five or six additional freshmen and sophomores

(40:34):
they came off the bench, so they've got a really
strong nucleus for next year because those girls all all
got a lot of playing time, a lot of experience.
They all actually got into the state tournament game, so
they've they've gotten a little taste of that, and I
think that's a lot to build on for next year.

Speaker 5 (40:48):
You know, the.

Speaker 7 (40:51):
I Isieknas is a pretty good building block to start with.
I mean, you start with that power in the middle
and you work your way out from that. And I
think if Philip Barbara can continue to work on some
outside shooting and find the source for that and going forward,
they're going to be really tough.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I think they're going to be a team to
watch right from the jump next year to see how
they start out of the gate, especially once you've got
you know, all those sophomores jumping into upperclassmen status. Next year.
Let's move over to the boys, who obviously didn't have
a great year. You know, we know that they wound
up with a sixth seed and in their region, and

(41:27):
I know a lot of that. You know, there's been
a lot of talk back and forth Philip Barbara and
South Harrison didn't get a chance to play due to
a snow out, and had they played, you know, maybe
South Harrison winds up the six, Philip Barbara winds up
the seven. But even still, I have to say this
is what has always impressed me in the last couple
of years, But Philip Barbara athletics and seemingly every sport,
I feel like there's just a real belief that they're

(41:49):
never out of it. So even in this season where
Philip Barbara really I think they were six and fourteen
going into that regional game, they go on the road
in a game that they absolutely would have been heavily
heavily the under against a really good Braxton County team
who has played really well. This team was coming off
of a surprise trip to the state tournament a year ago,
and in this year they looked much more like a

(42:11):
tournament team throughout the course of the whole season. And
then lo and behold, Philip Barbara comes in in upsets
though on their home floor and what was one of
the biggest upsets of boys Regional Friday for the semi
finals and gave Philip Barber a chance to be a
game away from the state tournament. Huge win, great experience. Obviously,
it didn't work out. They did not wind up going
to the state tournament and getting a win over Richie County,

(42:33):
but that's a really really strong way to add that's
a strong way to end the season. That's a great
message to send these young players.

Speaker 7 (42:41):
Oh absolutely, And like you said, it was a very
very tough season for Philip Barbara during the regular season
and you know, they struggled to find a lineup that
geled together and really just a lot of inconsistent play
throughout the year. But once they got the tournament time,
and you know they got to draw down to Braxton
County and everybody thought it's gonna be pretty tough. You know,

(43:04):
they look pretty good and they're they're really strong at home.
They had one nine in a row there, and and
it's kind of an intimidating place to play a little bit.
It's a little bit different set up there than it
is at a lot of gyms. You got a big
TV screen up on the over the scorers table, so
you know, you kind of wonder about are the guys
going to stop and watch themselves after they make something,
and you know if there's a replay up there, what

(43:26):
it is. You know, just just a little bit out
of the ordinary. But they really came together in the
first half at Braxton County is probably the best basketball
that I saw them play all year. Uh, you know,
everything was working well offensively and defensively.

Speaker 5 (43:40):
They were hitting.

Speaker 7 (43:41):
Outside shots, they were penetrating to the basket, things that
really didn't come together during the regular season. And then
after that win, going over to Richie County to play
a really strong team in the region and matching them up,
you know, it was a fight. I mean it was

(44:01):
I don't think either team led by more than six
points the whole game, and just back and forth, back
and forth, and ended up going to overtime and Phil
Barbara kind of ran out of gas in the overtime period.
But you know, very good representation at the end of
the season for the Colts.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
So what is there to build on going into next
season for the boys team? Obviously, just a tremendous end
to what had been a difficult season. I think it's
as you kind of pointed out, it's it's hard to
ask for much more for them to have given much
more than they did at season's end. They pulled off
an upset over a higher ranked team and then they
almost did it again on the road in overtime. So

(44:38):
not much more you can ask for this year, obviously,
But I guess the question is now, what's there to
build on next year?

Speaker 7 (44:46):
Well, I think I think continued development will be the key.
They lose their senior point guard log and Watson, he graduates,
the rest of the starting lineup will return, So that'll
be three players that were juniors this year in Malachai Polling,
Patrick Webster and Kale Wolf, each who had their moments

(45:06):
during the year. Each of those led Philip Barbarn scoring
at least one time throughout the year, and then sophomore
land and Carpenter, who was probably their most consistent player
all season, playing undersize down in a post. It was
kind of odd to see him at Richie County landing
at five ten, guarding Hodges at six seven and Manda

(45:27):
man defense and giving up nine inches, but he held
his own, ended up filing out at the end of
the game, but really really played well in that game
and held his own in that matchup. So I think
those four coming back with a season of experience very athletic.
All four of them are very athletic, and if they
can continue to work on their games and get a

(45:48):
little more consistent and you know, developed some new skills
that maybe we haven't seen yet, I think that's a
strong nucleus. They have a couple of other players that
could move up from the JV that might provide an
assist for them next year. But you know, it's it's

(46:10):
gonna be up in the air as to how they
look next year. I think if they get out of
the gate strong and build off the last few games
of this season, I think it'll be a pretty good season.
But if they start out struggling like they did this year,
could be more of the same.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Looking forward, to seeing it. Jeff. Thanks for your help
all year long. Thanks for providing some extra context in
detail to Philip Arber basketball. And great job as always
with the boys and the girls. We'll obviously look forward
to talking with you with you next year. That girls
team is going to be of course one to watch,
and the boys might be one as well from what
we're hearing, So we'll we'll talk with you then maybe

(46:48):
we'll I don't know, if I don't know, if you know,
we do do some high school baseball on the show,
so if you if you're around for that, let me know.
But otherwise look forward to talking with you in a
couple months.

Speaker 5 (46:57):
All right, all right, sounds good. I appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (46:59):
Alex.

Speaker 7 (46:59):
Thank thanks for everything you do.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Thanks Jeff. Hey, we're going to take a break, folks.
This is the Friday Free for All brought to you
buy Dan Cavatota, Buick GMC.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Back after this now back to the Dan Cavatoyota Wick
GMC Friday Free for All on one O three three
w KMZ.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
And we're back in the studio. Alex Sweeterspiel here with
you on the Friday Free for All brought to you
by Dan cavatoa buick GMC, and we're rolling on top
of the eight o'clock hour. Let's take a look at
what's going on at the State Tournament today, and helping
us do that is Travis Jones, who is of course
on location and probably has to pay rent in Charleston
at this point with how long he's been there. Good morning, Travis,

(47:39):
by how are you? Oh you said how are you?
We said it at the same time. One of us
is gonna have to buy the other a coke now
as a result of that. I'm good, Travis, I'm good.
I'm not as good as you. You've seen some really
good basketball, uh, these couple of days here, and a

(47:59):
concluding by the way, I might add a couple of
games that have come down to essentially the last shot
over the course of this tournament so far, and one
of which involves a team that's going to be back
in action today. And before we get into that, I
just want to get your general feel on how the
first three days of this tournament has gone so far,
and then we're going to get into some of the specifics.

Speaker 8 (48:18):
Yeah, you know, I would I would classify it as
a typical state tournament, particularly under the new format with
four classes. You know, you the one to eight games
haven't been competitive for the most part. I think that
you know the other thing, Alex, You look at zero
upsets in this tournament, So the seeds have held. We

(48:39):
hit semi final Friday. Of course, we already have a
state championship set in Class DOUBLEA with Williamstown taking on
Wheeling Central. That's a one versus two matchup. Meanwhile, and
all the other three classes that will play their semi
finals today, it's one through four still standing. So you know,
the coaches that it's seed this tournament by vote after

(49:02):
the first round of the regionals. Certainly in this case
knew what they were doing because it's just completely gone
chalk today. But you know, you do get some lopside
of games, as you mentioned in the quarterfinal round. You know,
that's that's the nature of it. Outside of a couple
of games. I thought the Logan game in particular the

(49:25):
other night with Wyming East was a good one. It
came down to basically free throws with no time on
the clock and a chance for Logan to send a
game into overtime, and they could not against Wyoming East.
To Wyming East gets knocked out last night by Williamstown.
But today's the best, I think the best day of
basketball the year with the state semi finals, and I
think we've got some intriguing matchups starting with this one

(49:46):
right off the off the bat coming up in just
over an hour, with the Shady Spring and Nitro in
Class Triple A in one semi final, and of course
we'll talk Bridgeport and Fairmont Senior in the other semi
final coming up at to one fifteen. So I do
think today's got a chance to be really, really good.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Yeah, we'll know by about two thirty who's gonna be
playing in the Class Triple A Championship. And obviously there's
a real possibility that we could be looking at I
don't recall if Bridgeport and Shady Spring played this year.
I don't think they did, but bridgeporton Nitro Okay, bridgeporton
Nitro did play bridgeporton Fairmont Senior. This will be their
third time playing. I actually think Farimont Senior might have
played Shady Spring. There's a chance there's gonna be a

(50:26):
rematch here in this Yeah, and this uh uh cluster championship, right, Okay,
so we're looking at a very good odds that you
know pretty dec noge there could be a rematch here
in one way or another, unless it's Bridgeport and Shady,
which you know that was the one too. But I
will say this is a very tight one through four
and uh, you know, it sounds like the way Bridgeport's

(50:47):
been playing lately. There are certainly some concerns. I mean,
again nitpicking a twenty three or twenty four and one
team at this point, but there are some concerns. Your
third time against Faramont Senior. You know, there were obviously
difficulties eating a team three times, and I think you know,
the Polar Bears got a real stiff test in their
first game, so I think they're definitely a wake after

(51:07):
that one against Chapmanville. Give me kind of your thoughts
on what you're thinking about Bridgeport Fairmont Senior.

Speaker 8 (51:13):
Well, you know, I think the thing, if you're Bridgeports
that you're concerned about is the way that Fairmont shot
in here the other day by Guy's other named not
Trey Cumberlage. I thought Durell Claybrook was very good. He
hit three threes in the opening quarter that helped them
get kickstarted, and then Jules Butler was excellent as well

(51:35):
for Fairmont Senior. And those are two guys that were
really non factors in the first two meetings between the teams,
so they could be X factors today. It boils down
to this for me. You know, Bridgeport has not played
well in the first half. That has continually been a
problem outside of maybe a handful of times since February.

(52:00):
You know, not that they played terrible in the first half,
but they've been in close games at halftime. They come
out in the second half and just kind of wear
teams down. And you know, I wouldn't be surprised if
that pattern. I only expect that pattern to continue today.
I think it'll be a very competitive first half of
play and then you know Fairmont is within uh you know,

(52:22):
arms reach in the second half. You know, who knows
what happens with that. But in talking to people down
here and it's it's kind of it's always fun to
talk to to neutral parties that have not seen, you know,
teams play all season and this is the first you know,
you're getting their first their first impression of them, you know,

(52:43):
to you and the thing that you know, I had
built the most about people who have seen Bridgeport the
first time just so impressed with how they defend, and
Fairmont Senior knows that all too well. They scored thirty
five and thirty eight points in the two meetings this
season between the two teams. So I think for Fairmount
to win this game today, they've got to get the

(53:04):
game into the fifties or sixties. I think that's where
Bridgeport would be uncomfortable put pressure on the Indians offense
as opposed to know Bridgeport flexing their defensive muscle, and
to me, I think that's where the game comes down.
If it's a low scoring game, it favors Bridgeport. If
it's a more of a medium or high scoring game
than Fairmont Senior has a chance.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
All right, very good, real quick Before I let you go. Obviously,
since we last talked, Fairmont State men's and women's basketball
both played their first round games. Both go down in
the first round games. They were, of course, five seeds
in their regions. You just want to give us a
quick word on the end of Fairmont State basketball season.
Really terrific season earlier and that I'm sure the programs

(53:45):
would have been happy with.

Speaker 8 (53:47):
Yeah, I think disappointing end would be a fair statement
for both. As you said, you know that by the
seed they weren't supposed to win. They were playing four seeds,
but I think did you know Fairmont's women in particular
felt that they were underseated a little bit, but that
certainly didn't prove it. Went out against iup and the

(54:10):
Crimson Hawks controlled the pretty much the entire game, and
you know, had a twenty point lead in the second half.
So kind of a disappointing into a terrific run for
those you know, five graduate seniors for Fairmont States women,
But that game notwithstanding, they'll they'll go out as history makers.
Never as Fairmont went back to back conference titles before

(54:32):
in women's basketball history, So that's something that they'll forever
be able to Lake Plain two as being the first
to ever do that. And then on the men's side,
I think it was a disappointing start to the game.
They were down by seventeen to Faeteville State, came back,
took a late lead, had a chance with the ball
up to the night seal the game turned it over,

(54:55):
and a chance to win it at the buzzer, but
a stick back at the horn didn't. Oh and then uh,
you know, they played their fifth overtime game in two
in two in two games about a six day separation,
and and just weren't able to make the plays, and
Fayetville moved on. West Liberty obviously eventually won that region
and is seated to in the Elite eight tournament. They'll

(55:17):
start on Tuesday. But uh, you know, great season for
the women, I think a good season for the men overall,
and I would just say, you know, disappointing finish for
both would be a pretty fair assessment.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Okay, I hate to put you on the spot. You
think Jared Calhoun's coming to West Virginia, I think it's
a good possibility.

Speaker 8 (55:35):
You know, obviously there's some other candidates there. You know,
Ben McCullum, uh is a name near the top of
the list, who you know, ironically Jared lost to in
the National Championship game when Jared was the head coach
at Fairmont State and Ben McCullum was the head coach
in Northwest Missouri State, which is you know, very very
small world of the very small coaching world. But obviously

(55:56):
mcfellum I think is also involved in Iowa. So we'll
see how that plays out with McCullough winning last night,
that probably extends if he's involved till the end of
the weekend. If it is Jared Calhoun with the loss
last night by Utah State to UCLA. If it is Calhoun,
and that might heat up today and possibly even be

(56:19):
leaking out by the morning.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yeah, okay, very good. Hey, I tell the folks there's
a lot of great basketball that folks can both listen
to and watch between today and then tomorrow's championship games.
Give us the quick plug.

Speaker 8 (56:30):
Okay, So coming up on your airwaves right now and
about forty five minutes, myself and Speedy Evans will have
the call of the Shady Spring Nitro game, so you
don't have to touch your dial. You'll get all of
the semi final action right here on one of the
three three kmz throughout the day. Then tomorrow, the four
championship games are available for free on the Metro News
television app, so you can download that for free for

(56:53):
your smart TV or your streaming device and enjoy all
four of the Boise State Basketball Championship game James tomorrow
in Crystal Flear HD.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
All right, very good, Travis, much appreciated.

Speaker 6 (57:04):
Man.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Have a good end to the tournament here.

Speaker 8 (57:07):
All right, thanks Alis, appreciate.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
All right, see you Travis. All right, that was Travis Jones.
We got to take a break. We'll come back next
and talk with Chris George, then Craig Dutton and then
Chris Johnson. That's what's coming up next. We're going all c's,
Triple C's, Chris, Craig and Chris. Back after this back.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
To the WKMZ locker room for more high school sports
on the Dan cavatoryo w at GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
We've now got Chris George joining us here on the
Friday Free for All brought to you by Dan Cavato
to buick GMC and Chris. Of course, I've been paying
close attention to what's going on at the boys basketball tournament,
and we're getting down to semi final Friday. We're going
to talk about that quite a bit today, and I
know a lot of folks think, generally speaking, this is
kind of the best day of has been historically the

(57:55):
best day of the tournament, pretty big one. I wanted
to talk to you a little bit, of course about
Bridgeport Fairmonts in your Antucker County East Hardy correct me
if I'm wrong. For both of those schools, we'll start
with Bridgeport Fairmont, But I think for both these this
is a third matchup.

Speaker 9 (58:08):
Of the year, right, right, third matchup?

Speaker 2 (58:11):
That's wild man. So give us a little bit of
a breakdown from your perspective the first two times. We'll
start with Bridgeport and Fairmont Senior. A little bit of
a breakdown on what you saw in those first two games,
what you think can be applied from those games today,
and maybe what does not apply as much going into
this different venue. Obviously, because this is a neutral site,

(58:34):
it's a tougher place to shoot. Take us through kind
of your thoughts on part three of this one.

Speaker 9 (58:41):
Well, the first time they played was literally the second
game of the year, and Bridgeport won the game. Neither
team was really anywhere near where they are now, and
Bridgeport just kind of used their size and their defense
to win that one up at faaramount. The second game
towards it was the last game in the regular season
for both teams on March to fourth, and Bridgeport played
their most complete game of the season and won by

(59:04):
nineteen that night.

Speaker 6 (59:05):
And it wasn't this.

Speaker 9 (59:06):
I mean, the final score is a little bit misleading.
The game was you know, fairly closed for about three
and three quarters three and a half to most and
Bridgeport was able to pull away. Their size in that
game was was was really a big issue. Carter Zuiliani
had a double double that night, his best game of
the season. And that's where they have an advantage against

(59:29):
Fairmont is with their size in the interior. The Polar
Bears Tree Cumberlyage had a good game both twice against
Bridgeport at eighteen the second time. And Darrell Claybrook has
stepped up for what Fremont Senior has been that number
two score they've been looking for. He's come one towards
the middle late portion of the year and he really
had a good game in the first round the state

(59:50):
tournament back on back on Tuesday. So this is going
to be interesting. It's the third time they've played. Bridgeport
has not played nearly as well as they did in
that Pharamount game back on the fourth of March, and
you know they've been undefeated since them. And Dave Marsh
will be the first tell you he's not happy with
how his team is played in the first half of

(01:00:11):
the last three games they played. The two games in
the in the regional winning the game against Elkins back
on Tuesday, and they just find ways in the second
half is to jump on people and this kind of
overwhelmed people. And if that works again today then great,
If not, then they might be going home. I think
Bridge Sports still has the advantage here. It's weird. You know,

(01:00:31):
you watch Bridgeport all year long. When they get out
and run, I think they do a little better, but
it kind of gets away from some of their strengths.
And when they play a half court game, I think
that's where they have an advantage over most of the
teams they play. However, Bridge Sport doesn't always play well
in the half court either, So I think you're going
to have to put fork solid quarters together Friday afternoon.

(01:00:52):
If you do that, I think it got great shot
to get to the championship. But if you don't. Faaramont
Senior is a team that's been there and done that.
These kids outside the two North Marrion kids, you know,
they're transferred in at the beginning of the school year.
These kids have played there before and they play a
lot of games there. This is Bridgeport's uh second time
on the floor this year and for the seniors. They

(01:01:13):
were there for one game of sophomores. So I thought
Bridgeports shot the ball, you know, in the second half
really well against Elkans. They got some things going once
they started to kind of getting out of their own way.
Give Elkins credit for that. I thought they had a
good game playing defensively. But you know, third time, we'll see.
I know, I never believe in the theory it's hard

(01:01:34):
to beat a team three times. The only thing hard
about playing a team three times is is you know
them just as much as they know you. So I
think you just got to continue to do what you do.
I've always been I've always had the feeling of, no
matter what sport it is, if you beat them twice,
you can beat them a third time. You just got
to do what you do and h and that is
for Bridgeport to concentrate on the inside game with Carter's

(01:01:56):
Leoni and Phoenix Sickles, and the guards have to do
a good job of, you know, maintaining the basketball and
not turning it over. But this Fairmont team is going
to be tough. This is going to be a heck
of a matchup on Friday afternoon, for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Really excited for this one. And something worth noting here
too is that you've got to think that this is
a Fairmont team that you know, if they weren't already
as we know, a pretty battle tested group. Boy, they're
awfully battle tested now. After that game against Chapmanville, that
was a heck of a game that took everything they
had to get it done, and they played in a

(01:02:33):
sort of a nip and tuck, tight defensive game that
required them to play a lot of the ways you
might have to play to beat Bridgeport.

Speaker 9 (01:02:40):
Chapmanville's tough, and they were kind of the unknown because
they had a bunch of new players this year and
they too have gotten better as a season one a.
And they had a big sixteen point win over Nighter
there towards the back half of the regular season. So
and they had size, I mean they did, and Fairmont's
able to neutralize that size. And Darrell Claybrook had a
great game after Trey Cuba was in foul trouble. This

(01:03:02):
is going to be a heck fa matchup. Fairmont doesn't
like us, We don't like them that both both the
coaches are good friends, uh, two of the nicest guys
you'll meet. But two of the most disipl very hard
nosed coaches you'll meet as well on the on the
game floor. Should be fun. I'm not going to give
a prediction, but I will tell you it's going to
be interesting to see how this plays out. The winner

(01:03:24):
of this game could win at all. But I don't
want to take anything away from the other two teams
because Shady Spring is playing really good basketball right now
and Nitro has not played their best basketball team of
the season. But Nitro is a team that worries me
if you're Bridgeport, because that's who beat us earlier this year.
I know Bridgeport wasn't exactly playing their best at the time.
It was only the third game back for the football kids,

(01:03:44):
and it was a third game that week and Nightro
took advantage and really pumbled us. And in that game,
what concerned me a little bit was Nitro has the
size that can match up with Bridgeport other than University.
Bridgeport has not seen a team like that the rest
of the way, and University gave us fits. We beat
University bus six, but it was a heck of a dogfight.
I'm not saying Bridgeport if they win, better off playing

(01:04:07):
Shady Spring because Shaddy Spring is a very good opponent,
but Nitro's an interesting matchup if the Indians would happen
to get by Fairmont Senior. And likewise it's the Ployer
Bears happened to get by the Indians. They beat Shady
Spring down at Shady at the end of the regular
season by six points, and they beat Nitro on their
home floor by six as well. So it'll be the
second time around for Fairmont against either one of those

(01:04:29):
two teams if they would happen to be Bridgeport today.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
All right, So that game's at one o'clock today, And
of course a reminder, folks, you can actually hear the
entire game, like you can hear the every game of
the entirety of this tournament on WKMZ one O three three,
and that you know, the coverage will begin this morning
at nine and then you'll of course have immediately following
this program, and then you'll have at nine point thirty

(01:04:52):
the tip off for the first game, and it'll be
back to back to back for the first three games
of the day, and then of course the latter half
of the games will start coverage at five o'clock. So
keep that in the back of your mind. Of course,
that brings us too. The other game that is of
particular interest I think to our listeners, and that is
going to be and I mean I think you called

(01:05:13):
this months ago that we were probably going to see
this a third time as well, and that is Tucker
County and East Hardy. It's gonna be the final game
of the night tonight at nine o'clock. Tucker County gets
the win over Magnolia on Thursday. East Hardy won the
very first game of the day on Thursday, beating Clay

(01:05:33):
Battel by seventeen and they're set to meet once again
this season for the third time. And what has become
just a fantastic rivalry East Hardy.

Speaker 9 (01:05:43):
I mean, what can you say, It's it's another it's
another rivalry game and the Cougars have have defeated this
Tucker team in the past, didn't beat him. This year
Tucker won both over East Tardy, but last year East
Tarty was able to stun Tucker up at their place.
And Gideon good is a good unintended a big man

(01:06:04):
for the Cougars inside and the Hamilton Twins and Jordan's teats.
I mean, this East Tardy team can shoot the basketball.
They have size inside with Gideon Good who's a year
older than he was a year ago, which when he
was a freshman last year. This for Tucker it all
depends on the status of Garrett Wolfong. He got hurt

(01:06:25):
back on Thursday in that game against Magnolia, hurt his foot.
Don't know the status of his injury. Daniel hellmaking the
post game, was hoping that he could play. He thinks
that he could, but it was a foot lower leg
injury and he hobbled off there for about three minutes
to go in the fourth quarter. So you know they
have to have him healthy. I really think he's vital

(01:06:47):
in this game. But the question is if he plays,
how healthy is he Because the thing about Garrett Wolfong
is he is so athletic and he leaps out of
the building and his jumping ability at six foot three
makes him play like six seven six eight. So if
he isn't one hundred percent, how how how much is that?
Does that affect him on the rebounding and also defensively

(01:07:08):
and being able to move in space. Because this East
starting team can shoot the basketball, uh, Tucker County matches
up with them better this year. They did last year.
Last year, East Tardy was able to match up and
beat them at Tucker because they just spread him out
and use their quickness. But Tucker won the last two
games that year, including in the playoffs. But you know,

(01:07:30):
it's gonna be It's gonna be interesting. I think the
status of Garrett wolf Fall is huge in this one.
If I'm Tucker, I would much rather play someone else
other than other than East Tardy. But unfortunately that's the
way it sits right now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
If they get to the Championship Saturday, and as a reminder, folks,
you can of course, uh listen to those games here.
You can also check them out on the Metro News
TV app. Should they make it to Championship Saturday, though,
there's a very very good chance that they'll meet up
with the only team that uh, I mean not the
only team they lost to.

Speaker 5 (01:08:01):
I'm trying to remember.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Tucker has two losses this year, I believe, but one
of the only two teams they lost to, and maybe
the only team in state. I'm actually gonna double check this.
I know, fantastic, great, I'm gonna double check this live
right now. No, Okay, both losses were in State. The
other one was to Williamstown. That's right, okay, but so
they will have to more than likely assuming Tug Valley
gets by, you know, gets gets the win in their game,

(01:08:26):
and that of course can be heard at five point thirty.
Tucker County would take on Tug Valley once again this season,
and Tucker beat Tug Valley in overtime way back on
January fourth, and then the more recent time they played
on the road February first, Tug Valley got a seventeen
point win. That's a huge one and that would feel
every bit the state. I mean, this is a really
good top four in this class single A, but that

(01:08:48):
could be a potentially and I don't want to get
too far ahead because obviously a couple of things need
to happen here. But that would also be another one
of these situations where a team plays for the third
time this season and they split the first two. So
I think that would be in particular a very noteworthy
classing the late title.

Speaker 9 (01:09:05):
Yeah, and wouldn't it be ironic if they end up
playing again for it all? And it was last year
that Tucker County was the kind of the odds on
favorite in that game, and it was Tug Valley who
got the win and ruined Tucker County season, and this
year Tug Valley's the one seed. You know, I guess
they got the one seed because maybe if you look

(01:09:27):
at the differential and score at their place a little
bit bigger than it was at Tucker when Tucker won
in overtime. So maybe that's why. But I got no
problem with it. It's gonna be interesting, you know, Tucker's
next two games. If they would happen to get get
by East Tarty, it's Tug Valley more likely. I don't know.
That's a dangerous matchup, but you never know. Because Tucker

(01:09:48):
teams had an excellent year. One thing about Tucker this
year compared to last year, they make shots. And when
you play in championship games, defense is always important, but
making shots from the guard position is key. And Tucker County,
as we know, led by Trevin Bond and Sam Marx
and Mikey Mitchell and others, can really shoot the basketball.

(01:10:08):
And I think that could play intair advantage if they
get in that situation because Tug Valley is a little
bit stronger, a little bit more physical than what Tucker is,
and it kind of showed at dare place. Tucker would
love to get that match up again, but again it
comes down to East Tardy because I'm telling the East
Tardy is very capable of winning this game today and

(01:10:32):
that would not surprise me if he's already pulled the upset. However,
I think Tucker will witness by about eight or ten,
if you want my prediction on that. But I really
that is if Garrett Wolfong is able to go. If
Garrett Wolfong's not able to go, then that's a huge
difference in this game because Gideon Good then has a
huge advantage inside at six seven against Tucker. So that's

(01:10:52):
a big storyline for that one. But you're right, Tug
Valley Tucker round maybe three back to back years. They
played three times last year as well. That's developed into
a nice rivalry. I'll be all these games in Saturday
down Charleston potentially have to be have to be good
or could be good, and they will be good, I'm sure,

(01:11:13):
but we'll find out. We'll see if if Mount Lions
are going to finally bring They've been there so many times,
both the boys and the girls have been so many times,
and Kentucker Boys finally bring one home we'll find out.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Yeah, I'm excited for it and I'm looking forward to
maybe popping a few on on the Metro News TV
app on Saturday. Chris much appreciated man another great season.
And again, I know we talked a little bit about
this next week, but looking forward to talking some Bridgeport
baseball with you here over the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 9 (01:11:45):
Yeah, we got some baseball games that kind of start
up this week. They'll smacks last night and the night before,
so we're starting to get some games. Weather it's been
fairly decent and Bridgeport's practicing and they'll open up next
next week on a twenty seventh downn Highton. Well earlier
start the normal for Bridgeport usually wait that's wait to

(01:12:06):
April holes day to get things going, but not this year.

Speaker 8 (01:12:10):
Very good.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
All right, we're gonna take a break. This is the
Friday Free for All, brought to you by Dan Cavatota
Buick GMC back after.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
This time for more high school sports talk on the
Dan Cavatoyota Wi GMC Friday Free for.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
All, now joined by Craig Dutton. Here on the Friday
Free for All. As the show must go on, we
talk a little Lincoln Basketball didn't have enough time to
get to them last week, and now as the things
start to kind of open up a little bit time wise,
we've got nothing but time, so we can do a
little post mortem analysis on the Lincoln Cougars. Obviously, it
was a really tough year. They were much better on

(01:12:44):
the boys' side a year ago. The girls had some
ups and downs. Craig out I wanted you to start
with the girls a little bit and kind of analyze
how you thought the season went on the whole, now
that you've got the entire sample in front of you,
and then I want you to kind of analyze where
you think they're headed.

Speaker 4 (01:13:00):
Well, the girls, I think they're heading in the right direction.
They're very, very young. And it's funny what coach Hawkins
adopted this season. He adopted to five on five subsystem,
you know, kind of like what you see in hockey.
You don't have a deep enough roster to do like
three different sets like you see in hockey. But of
course in girls basketball, I've seen Fred Sorrow use this

(01:13:22):
at Williamstown, Kim Caldwell uses it at Tennessee and Marshall,
and it worked well for Lincoln this year. Where he
would have his more experience starting five on the floor
first usually and then towards the end of the period
he would bring in a very young set of five.
And a young set of five is probably what's going
to come back next year for Lincoln. You know my
Sadie Adams who ended up being an All Conference member

(01:13:45):
this year for Lincoln, she will be I believe she
will be back this next season for Lincoln. And then honestly,
you're going to have a rotation. That rotation they would
have about three different freshmen at times on the floor
for the Cougars. So I think it's going to be
a lot better because starting out you knew there was
going to be trying to find the right gelling between

(01:14:07):
the upperclassmen and the underclassmen. And I think as the
season progressed on because what he would do is in
the second half, he would just take what was best
from those two crews of five with a starting five
and then the secondary five and take what worked in
the second half.

Speaker 5 (01:14:21):
And I think that what led to a lot of
their wins and successes here.

Speaker 4 (01:14:24):
You know, they swept Bridgeport to be able to make
it to the regional finals versus Kaiser, played a really
good game, had a really good turnout in Kaiser.

Speaker 5 (01:14:32):
I saw some of the videos.

Speaker 4 (01:14:33):
They had a really good student section travel two hours
or so into the Eastern Panhandle for that regional final.
So the girls into their season on a very good note,
a lot of runs towards the end of the season,
and I think for next year there's a stepping stone
for them to try to achieve as a program.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Yeah, worth noting to folks that Lincoln actually won for
a team that only went nine and fifty. They had
a really really good stretch. They won six of eight
between January twenty seventh and February fourteenth, And yeah, certainly
sometimes that can be schedule related, but there are some
pretty interesting examples in there of games where like they
played Ripley on back to back nights and they won one,

(01:15:16):
lost one, So that's not just scheduling. Like they played
a good game, the better game in the first one
they won. They didn't shoot as well in the second one.
But point being that, there's there's definitely some reason for
optimism when you look at stretches like that. Let's talk
about the boys a little bit. Obviously, this was this
was not the season they expected. This was not the
season they were looking for, you know, especially with this

(01:15:37):
is a group that last year pulled off and I'm
going to use this in air quotes, a first round
upset in the old format of sectional play. Now, I know,
I've talked with Zach Bart about this. He's not sure
that was as big of an upset. That was a
pretty close a one to four game in sectional play.
But all that being said, this was a Lincoln team
that won a postseason game a year ago. Just the

(01:15:59):
wheels kind of fell off after the long break. They
went they basically twenty days without a game, and they
didn't win another game after that. They won their last
game of the season on December twenty eighth, and then
lost every other game after that for the remainder of
the season. It just felt like they never came back
whole after the long winter layoff that was caused by

(01:16:22):
all that horrible weather we had in January.

Speaker 4 (01:16:25):
And you hate it for a guy like Aiden Rice
as a senior, you know, he had an outstanding season football,
outstanding winter, and boys basketball should still be up for
least second team honors in the Big Ten. He was
consistent throughout the season, there were nights where he got
shut down by opponents, but when you really needed him

(01:16:47):
to shine, he would. He'd be in double digits, maybe
almost nearly twenty points versus teams like Bridgeport and a
handful of others.

Speaker 5 (01:16:53):
He was very reliable on the floor as a floor general.

Speaker 4 (01:16:57):
He was a little bit more quiet of a leader,
but that's the kind of guy you needed for Lincoln
this year, he just didn't have enough support around him,
and that's why Jordan Toath really looked at guys who
didn't have a lot of experience beyond the JV level.
Luke Joyce really came on strong at the very end
of the season. Cole Vincent as a freshman, I mean,

(01:17:18):
you've got three more years of him and he's only
going to get better. He's been player of the game
on a couple of different occasions for us because he's
managed to just have knights where he just puts he
just light slights it up. And that's going to be
the future for Lincoln is trying to build a round
cole Vincent, because he will be the guy who's going
to be you know, propolled put into that role of

(01:17:39):
being the shooting guard or point guard and how it
depends on how he develops. I think they really want
to develop Brody Barnes into the point guard role for
next year.

Speaker 5 (01:17:48):
A J.

Speaker 4 (01:17:48):
Bart looked good in that role at times this season
as well, but I fear with Aiden Rice, You're really
going to have to depend on aj Bart next year
to be in the post play and depend on him.
And then you have Aidan Rice's brother, Connor, who was
really good defensively. I think the JV level, him and
guys like cade Riley are going to be ones that

(01:18:10):
really look forward to defensively next year to fill in
that role in the post play. So there's still a
lot more questions for Lincoln after their run. They finished
on a sixteen game skid with the lost to RCB
and which really was a really good showing for them.
In that first round of the regional, they played very well,
got within six points after being down early at the

(01:18:32):
bird Cage. They managed to come back and play a
very good second half and almost was able to pull
off the comeback, just not enough scoring support behind Aidan Rice.
I think next year you're really gonna have to see
maybe at least two or three consistency scores for Lincoln
to merge. One of those will definitely be Cole Vincent.

(01:18:53):
I really think Luke Joyce could be one of those
as well. And Brody Barnes when he lights it up,
usually Lincoln has a lot of success if Barnes is
able to stay consistent and get into double digits and
pull up the numbers and assist. I think that work
really well for Lincoln next year. And then their biggest
question is who's going to play down in the post.

(01:19:13):
You lose the quiet Finch and Aidan Rice the seniors
this year, and that's going to be the biggest question.
But it may be one of those for coach Toath
and his staff that they may just go to all
guard play and that may end up being a successful
setup for them in the seasons to come.

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
Craig really appreciate all you do for us all year.
You play a lot of you wear a lot of
different hats. Obviously we an addition everything you do with Lincoln.
You were our bracketologist at times this year. You do,
you do a lot. You keep your ear to the
ground on a lot of these big stories. We talked
about the legal side of what happened with high school
sports this year, way more than I ever anticipated we

(01:19:50):
were going to. So I just wanted to say thanks.
You did a great job this year, and I'm sure
we'll be in touch soon. But even if we don't
have you back on here during the spring, I know
we'll be talking in junior July once we start sniffing
the hopeful air of football season in the summer.

Speaker 4 (01:20:05):
As long as you don't replace me as a bracketologist
with Bubba Cunningham, I think will be okay.

Speaker 2 (01:20:10):
I think I think I would be. I think i'd be.
I think there'd be an angry crowd storming the studio
if I tried to do that. So yeah, I don't
think Bubba Cunningham is in the running for your job
anytime soon. Craig, much appreciated man.

Speaker 5 (01:20:23):
Thank you, Alex. You all have wonderful morning.

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
All Right, we are gonna go ahead and take a break.
This is the Friday Free for All, brought to you
by Dan cavatout to Buick GMC. This is our final
show with actual basketball going on at the state high
school tournament level. We'll be back to talk more about
it coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:20:41):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
cavatoryo Wick GMC Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:20:46):
Free for All and for the second week in a row,
we're gonna wrap the show with Chris john I think
we wrapped the show with Chris Johnson last week. I'm
pretty sure that's what we did. I don't know. This
time of year, everything kind of runs together everyone at
the end. We're about to run through the finish line here,
So I can't remember what I ate for breakfast, but
I can certainly remember Chris Johnson's name and who's playing today.

Speaker 6 (01:21:08):
Chris. Good morning man, Good morning Alex. How are you.

Speaker 2 (01:21:11):
I'm good. I'm doing well. You are You are at
ground zero right now for the best basketball in the
state of West Virginia. Uh there, it's gonna be twelve
hours of great, great basketball.

Speaker 5 (01:21:22):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:21:22):
Yeah. Uh, you know, I've said this many times throughout
the years. You know, Semifinal Friday at the State Arms
maybe my favorite sports day of the year. I wish
there was a way we could fit in all four
classes in semifinals, but you know, they're just isn't enough Tom,

(01:21:45):
you know, so we had two uh you know, decided yesterday,
you know, in Class double A. But yeah, a big one,
you know for our audience coming up at at one pm.
You know, bridgporton Pharma Senior for the third time this year.

Speaker 2 (01:22:04):
Do you subscribe to the idea that it's tough to
be the team three times? I?

Speaker 6 (01:22:12):
Yeah, I I I think under normal circumstances, that's definitely
the case. I think it's only amplified when you talk
about your two teams like Bridgeport and Fairmont Senior, that
are you know, seemingly right now rivals in every single
you know sports that there is.

Speaker 8 (01:22:33):
You know, I.

Speaker 6 (01:22:38):
You know, Dave Marshall hesitated to say that that was
a concern, as did you know coach day Rett and
the Fairmont Senior. But I do know if if you
were making a list of schools you wouldn't want to
face for the third time in a season on this court,
Fairmont Senior will probably be at the top of a

(01:22:58):
lot of coaches lift if my mass is correct, And
believe me, there's a good chance that I might be
off a game, but I believe this game today will
be the thirtieth game coach Rehtten has coached on this
floor since twenty thirteen. Wow, yeah, that's now. You know,

(01:23:19):
obviously he's had a lot of players go through the years.
But I mean that's pretty impressive.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
That is unbelievable. Actually when you when you when you
break down and think about that, I mean, this is
the matchup. I feel like in a lot of ways,
you know, it's not even just the matchup. This is
the top four that I feel like everybody was hoping
for in Class Triple A. I don't think there's a
bad combination. I was talking about this with Travis earlier.
I don't know that, you know, outside of obviously Bridgeport

(01:23:47):
and Shady Spring did not play this year, but I
think everybody would be excited to see that. But every
combination of game essentially is one that we've already seen
this year, and I think everybody would say I'd like
to see I'd like another helping of that. Please.

Speaker 6 (01:24:00):
Yeah, no, you know, you're you're exactly right. You know,
there there's you know, you look at a potential Bridgeport
Shady game. I feel like, you know, I mean that's
you know, the top two seeds. Uh, but you know,
Nitro being the only team that's defeated Bridgeport this year,
I'm sure there would be some intrigue if that would

(01:24:22):
be you the matchup, you know, if it was Shady
Spring and Fairmount Senior. I mean it seems like they've
played for the state title, you know, each year for
the past decade, you know. So yeah, a lot of
great possible matchups. And it really applies to you to
the other three classes too. It's like, hey, I'm sure

(01:24:43):
you guys probably mentioned this when you when you're talking
to Travis. But I mean, I mean the tournament thus
far has been nothing to chalk. I mean, every game
is won by the higher seat, you know. I mean
the closest we got was that four or five double
a game between Logan and Wyman East, you know, you know,

(01:25:05):
went down to the buzzer, you know, But I mean
at that point, I mean it's a four or five.
I mean, you know, those are kind of your toss
up games anyway. So but yeah, I mean every semi
final game is you know, one versus four and two
versus three the entire.

Speaker 2 (01:25:23):
Tournament, and that could be I get that that can
be a little bit boring, But at the same time,
it also means that the voters did their job when
they were ranking these opponents, So I don't look at
it the same way. And again, this isn't This isn't
March madness, where like you know, a five twelve is
legitimately exciting and and you know we live for that.
I don't know that this is true with the high

(01:25:43):
school tournament because the levels are usually not quite the same.
Now again, when you get to this point, I don't
think anybody's going to be surprised if Fairmount Senior beats Bridgeport,
even though Bridgeport beat him twice this year. You know,
if East Hardy were to upset Tucker Can. This is
now the part of the tournament where I think I'd
be I'd be shocked if we saw Chalk exiting today.

(01:26:05):
I think there we're gonna get at least one lower
seed winning a game today. And I don't think that's
that hot of a take, honestly.

Speaker 6 (01:26:11):
No, No, I agree with you on that. You know,
and you know, unfortunately for Tug you mentioned Tucker County
and they're going to be without one of their star players.
And Gary will followers got hurt yesterday. I mean it
was only I mean, if he ends up playing and
it'll be some sort of medical mirror miracle, because I
mean he was on crutches in you in post game yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:26:33):
Yeah, that Chris George mentioned that that's going to be
potentially a huge loss for them if he's not able
to not able to go looking down the schedule today. Actually,
you know, we haven't gone through the full schedule. It's
been mentioned in bits and pieces. So I'm gonna do
this for folks right now, and then I'm gonna go
down each game with you as quickly as possible. But
so the first game coming up at nine to thirty
Nitro Shady Spring that's the two to three in Class

(01:26:55):
Triple A, in Class quade Spring Mills Spring Valley is
the second game, that's the one war with spring Mills.
Is the one Fairmont Senior Bridgeport, the one four and
Triple A Bridgeport, of course, the one that's at one o'clock.
Then in the second session of the day, the evening session,
Class Single A leads things off with Tug Valley and
Greater Beckley Christian at five thirty. Tug is the one
Morgantown GW in a very intriguing two to three game

(01:27:16):
this evening, and then the nightcap the two three in
Single A Tucker County in East Tardy. So will Fong
with as much of an opportunity as possible to get healthy,
but obviously not a big turnaround time for him. It's
a lot of really really good games there. Obviously, Bridgeport
Fairmont Senior is going to be the most intriguing for
a lot of reasons for us and our listeners, and
because this is you know, sort of the pre eminent

(01:27:38):
local game remaining on the schedule for for us. What
else on that schedule has really got you intrigued and
excited to.

Speaker 6 (01:27:46):
Watch all of them. If I had to pick one
other game, I'm really really excited to see. I'm probably
probably lean intoward Morgantown in George Wash, Uh, Morgantown is
just I mean, they are so balanced. I mean, like
you people think British Porter is balanced, I mean I ain't.

(01:28:07):
Morgantown may even you know, have them beaten that department.
But uh, you know, George Washington has you know, a
player in Noah Lewis who just put on an absolute
show in his first round matchup, and he's definitely uh
you know, good enough to you put his team on
the back and h you know again, you know it's

(01:28:31):
it would be an upset technically if you GW has
beat Morgantown. But like I said, when you get to
this day, I mean, I think we're at the point.
You know, it is a really good three beating a
really good two that much of an upset anymore, And
you know, I you know, I don't think so so,
but uh yeah, I'm really looking forward to that game.
You know. You know, uh Spring Valley you know versus

(01:28:56):
you know, Spring Mills is you know, kind of the
favor to to win in quade being in the number
one seed. Uh you know, all their starters, you know,
back from last year's state title game appearance. But I
was really impressed by by Spring Valley. It was a
team I wasn't all that familiar with until us all
play in the first round and another team just I
mean they've got five or six guys they can score,

(01:29:18):
you know, getting the state tournament game, you don't have
to have all your guys, you know, scoring when you've
got that much depth. So uh uh, it's tough matchup
for him. You know, Spring Mills is just I mean
that there their experienced or athletic you know, and you
know they got to get some depth of their own.

(01:29:40):
But uh uh, that has potential to be an interesting
you know game as well, you know, and much like
you you know the rest of the schedule today.

Speaker 2 (01:29:47):
So how's your how's your bracket? How's your bracket looking
in the in the college college ranks.

Speaker 6 (01:29:54):
I'll be one hundred percent honest, I've been so it
wasn't that I wasn't aware that the tournament was starting,
but I was kind of unaware. I didn't even feel
one out. Uh not because I'm like, you know, you
know mad that wus looking for another for any anything
like that. I just it just completely slipped my mind.

(01:30:15):
I didn't even feel one out this year. I was
telling you a couple of my colleagues and I got
here this morn because you know, that's what they asked me.
He's like, how was your bracket every day? One? And like,
I don't want to be that guy. You'd be like, yeah,
I'll go and throw out one now and I can
slip in. And he's like, oh, yeah, I think McNee
steak can be Clemson. Uh, you know, because i'd be

(01:30:35):
you kind of cheating, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:30:37):
Yeah, Well the reason the reason.

Speaker 6 (01:30:39):
I ask you, But I can tell you, uh, you know,
in the past, I don't know ten years, you know,
my bracket was trashed.

Speaker 2 (01:30:46):
Sure one anyway, Yeah, no, no, no, I I will,
but but you know the reason I just thinking about
in honor of the state high school basketball tournament to
two absolute West Virginia greats are in action today to
north central West Virginia greats Sharon Young Akron Arizona. That's
gonna be at seven thirty five. I doubt you'll be
able to get to see that one, though. I wonder
if they might have it on and a TV somewhere

(01:31:08):
in the in the Charleston Coliseum.

Speaker 6 (01:31:10):
And then, of course I can promise you it will
be on a TV somewhere in here, and it will
probably be on someone's computer on Press Ross yes.

Speaker 2 (01:31:19):
Yeah. And then Cayden Athene for Liberty. That's the last
gamed tip tonight Liberty and Oregon, and I assure you
I will be watching that game because this is this
is again these are two of the best sports days
of the year. But just a nice little added twist
there as well with some some great North central West

(01:31:39):
Virginia players in action today in the NAA tournament.

Speaker 6 (01:31:44):
Yeah, I mean, one of my best memories of being
at the Boys Stay Tournament is when you know Marshall,
you know, got a first round win a few years
ago when they had Jared West and John Elmore and uh,
you know Elijah Burkes, you know, a couple other uh

(01:32:06):
in state players. You know, you know Jared obviously being
someone very very close to. But I remember we were
in between sessions and they had a TV out like
where you come into you by the press gate, and
it was me and uh you like a couple of
parking a lot of attendants and Dave rettin the Fairmont

(01:32:27):
Senior coach, and a couple of players. We're all just
huddled around the TV watching you and Jared West and
John Elboard just drained threes, you know, and and you
and everyone's just going nuts. And it was, uh that
that's as many memories as I have about the actual
high school games, that's something you know that really stands
out as a memory, if you know, from being in

(01:32:48):
this building and you're at this of that.

Speaker 2 (01:32:50):
Yeah, No, that's that's I love that. That's fantastic, And
that's what sports does. It brings brings people together. Chris.
We got to go because I gotta get I gotta
get them set to actually brought cast these things pregame
coverage coming up in mere minutes.

Speaker 8 (01:33:02):
Here.

Speaker 2 (01:33:03):
I will talk with you next week and hopefully we'll
see in the studio.

Speaker 6 (01:33:06):
Sounds good man, less like we can find another basketball
tournament somewhere.

Speaker 2 (01:33:10):
Yeah, exactly, thanks Chris.

Speaker 6 (01:33:13):
All right, man, say you bet?

Speaker 2 (01:33:14):
All right. That's Chris Johnson, my co host of the
Friday Free for All, and he is on location right now.
All right, folks, we gotta go, gotta get out of here.
I gotta get you set up for the tournament. Here.
Pregame coverage coming up in mere moments. Travis Jones will
be at the top of the hour with coverage again
that first game Shady Spring and Nightro in Class Triple A.

(01:33:36):
Check out the full schedule over at wvmetronews dot com,
and then, of course, you can watch the championship games
tomorrow on the Metro News TV app. And hopefully you
will be like me and have lots of free time
to watch basketball. This weekend should be a good one.
And cheer on a couple of these North Central kids
that are in the tournament. Citing for them. Gotta go, folks,

(01:33:57):
enjoy the rest of the high school tourny today. Hey,
this naa tournay, my brackets busted already, talk to you
next week.

Speaker 1 (01:34:13):
You've been listening to the Dan cavatoyot of you at
GMC Friday three for all. Be sure to tune in
every Friday as we review and preview local high school sports.
This has been a special presentation of WVRC Media and
one O three three WKMZ

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