West Virginia men’s NCAA college basketball coach Darian DeVries talks with fans after an introductory news conference Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/John Raby)
MORGANTOWN — While we have already become hardened to the changes that have been brought about by the evolution of the Big 12 into what has become a new era of college athletics, the announcement on Wednesday of the first conference basketball schedule under new coach Darian DeVries still carried a jolt with it.
While the departure of Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 created both a historical and financial effect upon the conference, at WVU, it was simply a sign of the times.
But the reality of the new scheduling for what now is a 16-team league that spreads from the Rocky Mountains and the desert of Arizona to Appalachia and the heart of Florida is driven home with the realization that Kansas will not make its annual visit to the Coliseum.
Kansas, of course, has been the standard by which all Big 12 teams were judged, and its journey to Morgantown each year was considered a highlight to gain near Backyard Brawl status, especially since WVU and its raucous home court atmosphere historically rattled the Jayhawks.
The Mountaineers have played 28 games against Kansas since joining the Big 12 and stand a rather dismal 7-21 in head-to-head meetings.
But their visits to the Coliseum have brought out the best in both the team and the WVU faithful, the Mountaineers having built a 7-5 record at home that began with an amazing 61-56 upset in 2013 when the Jayhawks came to town with a No. 2 national ranking.
It was a joyous crowd that spilled out of the stands and onto the court that day and set the tone for the series that made it not only a game circled as must-see basketball in West Virginia, but that the networks enjoyed broadcasting.
It was almost always a box office boffo for WVU, the 10 games played without either COVID or a severe winter storm averaging 13,360 fans.
The COVID game had an estimated attendance of 1,500 while the classic that was played on Feb. 16, 2015, in the midst of a winter storm that brought up to 18 inches of snow in parts of West Virginia drew just 7,083 brave fans.
That was too bad as they missed what may well have been the best basketball game played in the series with No. 23 WVU stunning No, 8 Kansas, 62-61, as guard Juwan Staten’s layup with four seconds left gave WVU the lead.
They still had to survive a last-second shot from Perry Ellis that rimmed out of the basket at the buzzer.
The new scheduling format with a 16-team Big 12 has men’s teams playing five opponents home and home; five only on the road and five only at home, jumping each team from 18 to 20 league games.
Previously, with a 10-team conference, the Big 12 prided itself in playing each opponent home and home, which gave it a true regular-season champion.
This has taken away some freedom from non-conference scheduling for each team.
“Now that you have a 20-game league schedule, you don’t have a lot of flexibility to do a lot of creative things,” DeVries said. “You have to or want to play a certain amount of games just to get your home games.
“You want to challenge yourself, whether it be a home, road or neutral game and then find a good (Thanksgiving tournament) to get into.”
One of WVU’s is that Pitt Backyard Brawl game, a series that continues with alternating home games through the 2027-28 season and is expected to be extended.
Then there is the Big East-Big 12 Challenge game, WVU playing Georgetown at home on Dec. 6. That conference challenge series runs out this year but it’s expected to be renewed. If not, the Big 12 is almost certain to get into an arrangement with another Power Four conference.
Then there is that Thanksgiving Tournament. WVU is entered in the Battle 4 Atlantis, which is played in the Bahamas. The field includes Arizona, which gives the Mountaineers an early look at a team that is always in contention for the national title and is new to the Big 12, and against Oklahoma.
There is, too, the possibility in that tournament of playing either Gonzaga or Indiana, which will give DeVries a pretty good idea of just where the team he has recruited stands early on.
“It was like, welcome to Morgantown, here’s your tournament,” DeVries said. “I think overall it’s a pretty good schedule. You’ve got a nice balance of home games with a challenging road game with Pitt and a good tournament we’ve been put into.”
After a 9-23 season last year under interim coach Josh Eilert, the entire state is eager to see where the team stands, too, hoping maybe to even be able to turn its post-victory singing of “Country Roads” into a concert, following it up with “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
WVU vs. the new Big 12 all-time: Arizona 2-3, Arizona State 0-0, Baylor 8-17, BYU 1-2, Cincinnati 11-12, Colorado 0-0, Houston 0-1, Iowa State 14-10, Kansas 7-21, Kansas State 16-12, Oklahoma State 12-13, TCU 18-7, Texas Tech 18-10, UCF 2-1, Utah 0-6.
