Big East Conference report

SportsLine.com Report
April 14, 2000

No West Virginia basketball season has ever ended on a more ironic note than the past one.

After spending all year on the road because of an asbestos problem that forced the closing of the West Virginia Coliseum on campus, the travel-weary Mountaineers were finally told to go home following their first-round Big East Tournament loss to Georgetown.

Problem was, they weren't quite ready to. Not after a hard-fought 14-14 season.

They wanted an NIT bid, something they felt they'd earned with their .500 finish.

But when the NIT took a pass, West Virginia became only the second non-probation Big East team in the last 16 years to finish .500 or better and not make the postseason.

So the Mountaineers finally packed up for good and headed home. Grudgingly and reluctantly.

"It was up to us to play our games and get our wins," said senior Marcus Goree, "and we didn't get them when we needed them."

At one point in the season, despite the absence of a true home court, this was the Big East's biggest surprise at 12-6 overall and 4-3 in league play. Picked for an 11th place finish in the coaches' preseason poll, the Mountaineers had defied all logic and common sense.

They wound up playing nine home games in the Charleston, a 160-mile trip from campus, and six more in the Wheeling, a 70-mile trek from Morgantown.

They survived suspensions or disciplinary action to more than half the players on their roster, for a variety of reasons, and had to get by with the combination of a senior walkon (Jason D'Alesio) and a freshman (Tim Lyles) at point guard.

At the point they were 12-6, all they needed to do was win three of their final nine regular-season games to guarantee a winning record, regardless of what happened in the Big East Tournament and beyond.

Didn't happen.

The crusher for West Virginia was an 80-76 "home" loss to Boston College, the Big East's worst team, on Feb. 19.

That came in the middle of a stretch that saw West Virginia lose seven of eight games before righting itself by beating Rutgers in the regular-season finale.

That was enough for coach Gale Catlett, a 28-year veteran, to avoid back-to-back losing seasons for the first time in his career. But not enough to convince the NIT selection committee that the Mountaineers belonged in their field of 32 -- even though they twice beat Rutgers, which finished 15-15 and did go to the NIT.

Since the Big East was formed in 1979, only three non-probation teams -- 14-13 Seton Hall in 1980; 15-14 Providence in 1984 and 15-13 Miami in 1996 -- had finished .500 or better and not been invited to a postseason tournament. West Virginia became the fourth to do so.

A Glance at 2001

West Virginia should be able to absorb the loss of part-time point guard starter Jason D'Alesio. Tim Lyles returns off a solid freshman year and Jay Hewett, the state of West Virginia's High School Player of the Year, is due to arrive in the fall and contend for the job. But how does it go about replacing the do-everything Marcus Goree? It will have to be by committee, since the Mountaineers return nine of their top 11 players and four starters.

Lyles and Hewett will have to provide more stability at the point than the Mountaineers had last season. And junior-to-be Chris Moss, a talented-but-erratic forward, will have to finally play to his potential. But there is talent and depth, since eight of last year's players were either freshmen or sophomores.

West Virginia is also hoping to finally get a full season out of 6-9, 270-pound center Jamar Gaither, who has missed most of the past two years with broken bones in his feet.

The Coach

With a 540-293 record for 28 years -- 414-249 for 22 seasons at West Virginia -- Gale Catlett will probably be able to coach as long as he wants to at the school. But there are some rumblings that his best years may be behind him. In the past six seasons, West Virginia has had as many 20-win seasons (two) as losing ones.

The Mountaineers have also been exactly .500 twice during that time. His record over the past six years, five of them spent in the ultra-competitive Big East, is just 94-80. It didn't quiet his critics that a 10-19 season in '98-99 was followed by a .500 finish last year -- regardless of the circumstances.

Who'll Be Back

West Virginia will return eight players who started two games or more last season and five who started 10 or more. Since D'Alesio split the point guard spot with the oft-troubled Lyles, the Mountaineers really return four of the five players who were starters by year's end: Lyles, shooting guard Lionel Armstead, center Calvin Bowman and Moss. Forward Brooks Berry, a 16-game starter, guards Keith Kincaide and Kent Dennis and reserve forward Josh Yeager also return. If Jamar Gaither makes a successful comeback from a broken foot that sidelined him from Dec. 20 on, West Virginia will have depth at center as well.

Who's Gone

How do you replace one of the best players in school history? That's what the Mountaineers have to do now that Goree has graduated. A third-team All-Big East selection, the 6-8 forward led the Mountaineers last year in minutes played (34.6), field goal percentage (53.4), 3-point shooting (37 percent), scoring (14.6), rebounding (8.3) and blocks (2.5). He finished second on the school's career list for blocks, 18th in rebounding and 22nd in scoring. D'Alesio, a former walkon, proved valuable as a stopgap at point guard, but Catlett has already recruited well at the position. The only other senior last year was seldom-used guard Brad McMillan.

Key Newcomers

With only two scholarships available (assuming all 10 underclassmen from last year return, as well as injured center Jamar Gaither), West Virginia wasn't going to have a dramatic impact on the recruiting trail.

But the Mountaineers did get help where they need it, at point guard, during the fall signing period with their only signee.

PG Jay Hewett (6-0, 180, Fr.): A classic penetrating point guard from Richwood High School in West Virginia, Hewett was named the State's Player of the Year as a senior. He'll battle Lyles for the starting point guard spot immediately.