Tag: WVU Basketball

Morrisey Petitions NCAA For WVU Player Transfer

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sent a letter Tuesday to the NCAA, urging officials to reverse their decision and grant Battle the opportunity to play. He said the waiver denial “was wrong.”

Efforts to get basketball player RaeQuan Battle a transfer waiver so he can play for West Virginia University continue. 

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sent a letter Tuesday to the NCAA, urging officials to reverse their decision and grant Battle the opportunity to play. He said the waiver denial “was wrong.”

Battle played for two years at the University of Washington and two years at Montana State University. Student athletes are allowed to transfer once to another school and play immediately.

According to the NCAA’s website, if a student wants to transfer to a third four-year school, the transfer is allowed, but with a penalty of sitting out a year. The athlete will not play and possibly not practice with the team for an entire year. 

The rejection of Battle’s “year-in-residence” waiver “conflicts with the NCAA’s own guidelines and principles,” Morrisey wrote. His letter also encouraged the NCAA to take immediate steps to implement a more appropriate system for regulating student-athlete transfers.
 
“There are many exceptions to NCAA’s transfer regulation yet the NCAA failed to consider the circumstances unique to RaeQuan,” Morrisey said. “Real issues are at stake here for the citizens of West Virginia, and they implicate my duties as the state’s chief antitrust officer.”

The Attorney General is asking the NCAA to respond to the letter by Nov. 6. 

Battle’s unique circumstances centered around him growing up on the Tulalip Tribes reservation in Washington state and experiencing the many challenges his life presented, including losing a loved one to suicide and a school shooting that killed four of his classmates.

Gov. Jim Justice also indicated in an administration briefing that he would also write a letter to the NCAA.

Read a copy of Morrisey’s letter: https://bit.ly/3QlJ5XJ.

WVU Coach Bob Huggins Criticized After Saying Homophobic Slur On Radio

West Virginia University basketball coach Bob Huggins is being widely criticized for his use of a homophobic slur twice while discussing Xavier University fans on Cincinnati radio station 700WLW’s “The Bill Cunningham Show” Monday afternoon.

West Virginia University basketball coach Bob Huggins is being widely criticized for his use of a homophobic slur twice while discussing Xavier University fans on Cincinnati radio station 700WLW’s “The Bill Cunningham Show” Monday afternoon.

After one of the show’s guests referred to an incident at a Cincinnati Crosstown Shootout – an annual basketball game between Xavier and the University of Cincinnati – where inflatable penises were thrown onto the court, the show’s host Cunningham said, “I’ll bet it was transgender night.”

“What it was was all those f–s, those Catholic f–s, they were envious they didn’t have one,” Huggins replied.

Audio of the show was not available on 700WLW’s website Tuesday morning, nor was Monday’s episode posted to the station’s podcast feed.

Huggins, who was previously head coach at University of Cincinnati, issued a statement that evening calling his own language “completely insensitive and abhorrent” and vowed to accept any consequences.

The statement was also shared on WVU Men’s Basketball social media accounts.

Several individuals and groups are calling for Huggins’ termination, including Morgantown Pride, who said that at a minimum the entire coaching staff should undergo Safe Zone training.

The ACLU of West Virginia did not call for termination, but stated Huggins’ comments have “opened the floodgates” to more hate. They went on to point out that Huggins is the state’s highest-paid public employee and called on him to make a donation to The Trevor Project or the Appalachian Queer Youth Summit.

WVU Athletics also issued a statement Monday evening that said “the situation is under review and will be addressed by the university and its athletic department.”

New ESPN Deal with Big 12 Lands 3 Football Title Games

The Big 12 has agreed to a deal that gives ESPN the rights to all football championship game through 2024 and makes the league the first Power Five conference to provide exclusive content to ESPN+, the cable giant’s online subscription streaming service.

Sports Business Journal Daily first reported ESPN will pay the conference about $40 million more for these new rights from 2019-24 on top of what it pays for existing deals. A person with direct knowledge of the contract confirmed the value to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the network and conference were not speaking publicly about financial terms.

The new agreement calls for Big 12 content on ESPN+ to be branded specifically for the conference, creating a de facto digital conference network.

The deal calls for each school, except Texas and Oklahoma, to have one football game per season exclusively shown on ESPN+, starting in 2020. Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State will have football games on ESPN+ starting this season and Iowa State, West Virginia. TCU and Texas Tech will join them in 2020.

Texas was excluded because it has a deal with ESPN’s Longhorn Network for rights to at least one football game per season. Oklahoma had a local television agreement for at least one game per season.

Also, all Big 12 men’s basketball games not appearing on an ESPN television network — expected to be at least 75 per season — will be shown on ESPN+.

Fox and ESPN share television rights to Big 12 games and are in the middle of 13-year deal worth $2.6 billion signed in 2012. Three years ago the Big 12 brought back its football championship game, and while ESPN paid for the rights to the even-year games, Fox declined to buy the rights to the 2019, ‘21 and ‘23 editions.

WVU Has Short Tournament Turnaround to Get Ahead of Storm

For the second straight year, a major winter storm has scrambled West Virginia’s travel plans for the NCAA Tournament.

About 20 hours after arriving back on campus from the West Coast, the Mountaineers left Tuesday to begin preparations for Friday’s Sweet 16 appearance in Boston against old Big East foe Villanova.

The Mountaineers had returned to Morgantown, West Virginia, on Monday night from a 2,500-mile trip to San Diego, only to find out a few hours later they’d be leaving a day early for the regional semifinals. The storm was already churning through West Virginia and was heading toward New England, where up to a foot of snow was expected. It’s the fourth nor’easter in three weeks set to smack the East Coast.

For good measure, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins threw in an early morning practice Tuesday before leaving.

“It’s been tough,” Huggins said. “It would have been nice to be able to stay in town for another day.”

The storm isn’t causing other teams in the East Regional much consternation. Purdue moved up its scheduled departure time by six hours to Wednesday morning. Villanova and Texas Tech’s haven’t changed their travel plans to Boston.

The fifth-seeded Mountaineers (26-10) and top-seeded Villanova (32-4) meet Friday night at TD Garden, followed by second-seeded Purdue (30-6) against third-seeded Texas Tech (26-9). A win would give Huggins his fifth berth in the regional finals.

West Virginia also saw tournament weather challenges in the NCAA Tournament last March when the Mountaineers left a day early on a bus for a four-hour trip to Buffalo, New York, ahead of a snowstorm rather than risk flight delays. They won twice and advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to Gonzaga.

West Virginia’s travel issues are well documented in the Big 12 with trips of 1,000 miles or more every year to play Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The shortest trip is 870 miles to play Iowa State.

“You look at it one of two ways — either we’re prepared because we do travel more than virtually every team in the country, or we’re going to be worn out,” Huggins said. “So hopefully it’s not we’re worn out.”

One player Huggins won’t have to worry about is senior guard Jevon Carter, who is known for his focus and work ethic and wants to get the Mountaineers back to the Final Four for the first time since 2010.

Carter typically is the first player working on his jumper and free throws two hours before games. And when Huggins showed up 45 minutes before the start of Tuesday’s practice, Carter was already on the court.

“He had been in there already for who knows how long getting shots up,” Huggins said.

Winter Storm Forces Altered Travel Plans for NCAA Tournament

A winter storm expected to hit the Northeast is forcing at least one college basketball team to alter its travel plans for the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

West Virginia’s athletic department announced Monday night the Mountaineers will leave a day early for Boston. WVU says it will depart Morgantown on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.

Fifth-seeded West Virginia meets top-seeded Villanova in the East Region semifinals at TD Garden on Friday night.

The National Weather Service says the bulk of the wind-driven snow and sleet is expected to hit New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and parts of eastern Pennsylvania before heading off to Massachusetts early Thursday.

A winter storm in the East during the 2017 tournament also prompted teams to scramble their travel plans.

West Virginia’s Bob Huggins Gets 4-year Contract Extension

West Virginia’s Bob Huggins has agreed to a four-year contract extension that includes the option for him to step aside or continue coaching after the 2021-’22 season.

Under the agreement announced Monday, Huggins, 64, will earn $3.75 million this season, including a base salary of $250,000. He’ll get $100,000 raises each year.

“I want Bob Huggins leading our basketball program for many years to come,” WVU athletic director Shane Lyons said in a statement. “Bob is a future Hall of Famer, who cares about his players and this university. His teams have been highly successful on the court and in the classroom.”

Starting with the 2022-’23 season, Huggins can assume a five-year appointment in public relations and development along with other duties within the athletic department, ending in June 2027. Or he can continue coaching.

The arrangement is similar to a 2012 contract extension for Huggins.

“I am very lucky to be able to coach in the state and at the university that I love so much,” Huggins said.

Huggins is entering his 36th season as a head coach. His 819 career wins are the third most among active Division I coaches. The Mountaineers have gone to the NCAA Tournament in eight of Huggins’ 10 seasons.

No. 11 West Virginia opens play Friday night against No. 25 Texas A&M at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

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