MORGANTOWN — It would have been easy to start here by writing, “Say it ain’t so, Joe,” but c’mon, we all knew what Joe Alexander was going to do.
He’s leaving West Virginia and going to the NBA.
Wouldn’t you?
Like who wins the lottery and turns it down? Who says “I’m sorry, but I have an exam to study for” when Jennifer Garner asks him to join her for dinner?
Joe Alexander had no choice once he worked out for the NBA’s top honchos.
They saw a 6-foot-8 kid who can bang his head on the rim, an intelligent, hard-working, honest, engaging, Adonis of an athlete who can win basketball games and bring fans into their arenas.
Now the only question is if he’ll be Broadway Joe or Joe Buck.
See, just as he was down the stretch as the Mountaineers made their run into the NCAA Tournament and to the Sweet 16, he was a can’t miss.
Ladies and gentleman, we’re going to have an NBA player from West Virginia University.
The “Curse of Catlett” is over.
As hard as it is to imagine, Catlett coached a quarter of a century at WVU and never recruited a player who played in an NBA game. Oh, he had players drafted, but none of them made the grade.
You have to go back to Lowes Moore to find the last NBA player to come out of West Virginia. The NBA could find players in Croatia and China but they couldn’t find one at a major program in the Atlantic 10, and then, the Big East.
Rest assured, there’s nothing that’s going to keep Alexander out of the NBA.
Not as driven as he is.
It is difficult to imagine what kind of year Joe Alexander has had.
Go back to the final days of the Mountaineers’ 2006-07 season, when West Virginia won the NIT with Alexander a virtual non-contributor.
He scored two field goals in the final three games, scored only five points. He did not score in double figures in the final nine games of the season. He scored 20 points in a game only once all year.
Then his coach, John Beilein, left. He did not ask to join him, such was their relationship.
As much as Beilein did right while he was at WVU, he never could figure a way to reach Alexander and after a while pretty much gave up trying.
A new coach, Bob Huggins, was coming to town and he had no idea what to expect. Thoughts of transferring crossed his mind, but from the moment he met Huggins, he knew he was the man who could offer him what he wanted.
Huggins challenged Alexander.
He pushed him.
He drove him.
And Alexander responded.
Huggins wanted him to get stronger, he became a weight room warrior. He wanted him to rebound, he crashed the boards. He wanted him to play defense, he became a shot-blocking sensation.
It didn’t come easily. Early on, if you will recall, Huggins talked more of what Alexander did wrong than what he did right and the truth was, he was doing more wrong than right.
There were some really tough times. Alexander had only one field goal and six points against Tennessee. He shot 1 for 9 against Radford.
It seemed NBA stood not for National Basketball Association but for No Baskets Anymore.
Then, in mid-season, he suffered a groin injury and his game suffered badly. He missed the South Florida game. He had trouble reaching double figures.
As February turned to March, the NBA seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind and Alexander was the furthest thing from NBA scouts’ minds.
And then Huggins broke through to Alexander, and the kid responded like few before him have. He put the Mountaineers on his back and propelled them into the national spotlight. He scored 32 in consecutive games against two of the best defensive teams in the Big East in UConn and Pitt, added 29 against St. John’s, 34 against Providence.
He took WVU to the NCAA Tournament, helped them beat Arizona and Duke — yes, remember, they beat Arizona and Duke in the first two rounds — before he fouled out and WVU lost in overtime to Xavier.
If he had returned, West Virginia would have been richer but Alexander would have been about a million, maybe more, dollars poorer. If his absence hurts WVU next year, his presence in the NBA will help them recruit players in future years.
So, all I can say is, Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me, oh, my-oh.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
Alexander’s decision an easy one
- Bob Herzel
-
-
HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win
Perhaps it is what has kept him going through a West Virginia basketball career with as many turns as a trip to Pineville down in Wyoming County, but Truck Bryant enjoys being Truck Bryant.
-
WVU finds a way, wins in overtime
Truck Bryant made the headline plays, including a 3-point shot with 3.3 seconds left to play, as West Virginia saved its season with an 87-84 overtime victory at Providence, but the subheads had to be reserved for Deniz Kilicli and a pair of freshman guards.
-
Mountaineers face critical test today at Providence
The schedule tells you it’s another game in the marathon run that is the Big East season, a trip to Providence to play a team with only two conference victories, but somehow everyone connected with the West Virginia University program knows today’s noon meeting with the Friars is much more than that.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Jones on the brink of WVU history
On the one hand there is yesterday’s Warren Baker, who entered the WVU Athletic Hall of Fame in the latest class for the work he did from 1973 to 1976, and on the other hand there is today’s star Kevin Jones, who has emerged from the shadows of the likes of Joe Alexander and Da’Sean Butler this year to carve his own niche in Mountaineer basketball history.
-
WVU backs out of Florida State game
West Virginia University has canceled its Sept. 8 football game at Florida State.
Once again, as they have done with virtually everything since announcing they planned to move from the Big East to the Big 12, they did it behind closed doors, without any announcement or statement. -
WVU women upset Louisville
It is foolhardy to put it up there with the Baylors and Notre Dames of the women’s world just yet, but really if you look closely and see potential, much of which came out Saturday afternoon when the Mountaineers upset No. 12/14 Louisville, 66-50, you realize that this team is closer to greatness than it is to mediocrity.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Nothing guaranteed with recruits
Signing day has come and gone, and here is something to think about.
Scout, one of the most popular online rating services, has raised West Virginia University’s crop of football recruits to No. 25 in the nation and No. 1 in the Big East. -
Who really pays WVU’s medical bills?
A couple of weeks back, West Virginia University released a post-season list of injuries to its football team, and it was a lengthy list of some injuries that required surgery and rehabilitation.
-
Louisville next test for WVU women
The last time out, the West Virginia University women’s basketball team played its usual game.
It was at South Florida, facing a pretty good team. It built the big lead it normally builds, then struggled to hold on at the end, turning the ball over and missing free throws, but somehow managed. -
Smith won’t coach WVU, to stay with Jets
A couple of days ago, coach Dana Holgorsen, knowing he was going to be changing the defensive schemes West Virginia University runs, was wondering if he would have enough quality defensive linemen.
A day after recruiting letters were returned and his first recruiting class was on hand, that worry was alleviated.
But immediately a new worry cropped up. - More Bob Herzel Headlines
-
HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win
