On Campus
Change in three-point arc hardly noticed College basketball season seems to creep up on the calendar more and more each year. The season slightly expands like the notches on your belt after never missing a football tailgate party.
The bulked up schedules feature a few games using a free-throw lane and a 3-point arc that are also inching wider thanks to experimental rules used during the certified preseason tournaments.
The stripes for the lane are extended one foot on each side and the 3-point line is an extra foot making it 20 feet, 9 inches from the hoop.
But does it really matter?
We take this question to West Virginia where the Mountaineer men’s basketball team hosted a regional round of the Guardians Classic last weekend.
West Virginia is the twine-tickling team that delighted college basketball fans last March by advancing deep into the NCAA tournament behind a barrage of 3-pointers.
If any team will be affected by such a marginal experiment it’s the Mountaineers, who attempted a school-record 885 shots from downtown last year.
Patrick Beilein was already shaking his head once the subject was brought up before practice yesterday.
“Nope,” the senior guard said quite matter-of-factly. “I didn’t even notice.”
The Mountaineers (2-0) made 19 of 58 (32.8 percent) 3-pointers in two wins over Louisiana-Monroe and Wofford. The next round is at Kansas City next week where WVU can potentially play nationally-ranked Texas, Iowa and Kentucky.
Beilein says he never looks down at his toes to see if they are behind the new distance.
“I don’t even know where I am half the time anyway,” Beilein added. “It all feels the same to me. I guess that’s a good thing.”
Fair enough. How about you, Kevin Pittsnogle?
“No, not too much,” said the 6-foot-11 center whose knack for draining treys made his surname a verb last year. “If you’re making shots, you’re making shots. It doesn’t matter if it’s a foot back.”
Pittsnogle did, however, say he likes the idea because it expands offenses and puts a premium on good 3-point shooters.
So there’s at least one question answered.
Now, if we can only find nutritional value in tailgating.
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Kevin “Boo” McLee has been named Big East Defensive Player of the Week. The Uniontown native was one of two local football players who had impressive outings for West Virginia when the Mountaineers beat Cincinnati, 38-0, on Nov. 9.
McLee, a junior “will” linebacker, had seven tackles, a forced fumble and an interception, which he returned 30 yards to setup a touchdown.
Carmichaels graduate Bobby Hathaway, a sophomore “sam” linebacker, made his most notable play of the season when he buried his face into the chest of Bearcat quarterback Dustin Grutza on a first-and-10 play to record a sack for a six-yard loss.
McLee’s interception was the first of his career, while Hathaway’s sack was his second of the season and second of his career. Together the two linebackers contributed to a WVU defense that limited Cincinnati to just 62 rushing yards.
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Quote of the week: “The one thing about Boo is you don’t have to tell him to go ‘sick ’em,'” said WVU coach Rich Rodriguez on how ferocious of a linebacker McLee is. Rodriguez continues to praise McLee for his play every week.
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Another Carmichaels graduate had a big game last week. Jono Menhart, a junior defensive back for Carnegie Mellon, played a big part in the most thrilling and significant small college game in the region on Saturday.
Menhart was the Tartans’ second-leading tackler with seven stops and he also had an interception and two forced fumbles as Carnegie Mellon nearly upset 18th-ranked Thiel, 50-48, in double overtime. The Tomcats, PAC champions this year and headed to NCAA Division III playoffs, preserved a perfect record to finish the regular season 10-0.
Menhart’s play early in the game set the tempo for the upset-minded Tartans (5-5). He recovered a fumble on punt coverage at the Tomcat 32-yard line, which later set up CMU’s first score. His interception came on the next series stopping a Thiel drive at the CMU 35-yard line.
Menhart finished the season as the Tartans’ third-leading tackler with 43 to go with a second-leading five interceptions.
Teammate Greg Klinefelter, a senior linebacker from Waynesburg Central, is CMU’s fourth-leading tackler on the year with 41.
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California (Pa.), the newly-crowned PSAC volleyball champions, plays today in the NCAA Atlantic Regional, hosted by top-seeded Lock Haven. This year marks the fifth appearance in the NCAA playoffs for the Vulcans (33-2) in the last six years.
Second-seeded Cal U. plays Lees-McRae (24-10) at 2:30 p.m., with regional semifinals slated for tomorrow at 5 p.m. and finals set for Saturday at 7 p.m.
The winner advances to the NCAA Elite Eight round on Dec. 1-3. The furthest the Vulcans have ever advanced in the tournament was to the national semifinals in 2000.
Justin Zackal may be contacted online at jzackal@hotmail.com.