MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — While the first game of Arizona’s initial Big 12 road trip took equipment manager Brian Brigger back to his hometown of Cincinnati, the second game did the same for athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie.
Almost.
Kokoskie grew up just over an hour away in suburban Pittsburgh, attending West Allegheny High School and becoming intimately familiar with West Virginia’s campus, athletic facilities and culture.
“I had family members that went to West Virginia, so I grew up going to Pittsburgh and West Virginia basketball and football games,” Kokoskie said. “It’s a normal little college town, but what I appreciate about the West Virginia fans is they are die-hard. I mean, they feel like they’re on the team. They refer to it as `we’, — you know, we this, we that, whether it’s going to football or basketball.
“There’s nothing like growing up going to a West Virginia football game. When there’s a West Virginia football game and you get those fans, that’s the biggest population in the state at one time.”
Kokoskie even compared the Mountaineers’ fans to those of the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose presence famously prompts churches to schedule Sunday services around game times.
Kokoskie
Despite all that, Kokoskie wound up graduating instead from the University of Pittsburgh because, well, finances.
“I would have gone to West Virginia if it wasn’t out of state,” Kokoskie said. “I really liked that campus. I thought it was cool. But I didn’t want to pay out of state tuition.”
Kokoskie got an undergraduate degree in Sports Medicine from Pitt in 2000, arrived at UA later that year and then completed a master’s degree at UA in 2002.
Maniac chill
Standing outside or camping in the 20-degree temperatures wasn’t required for West Virginia’s “Mountaineer Maniac” student fans Tuesday. In fact, seniors Marleigh Davis and James McCay just walked right in and took seats in the first row 90 minutes before Tuesday’s game.
Since West Virginia is on winter break this week, student ticket demand was lower than normal. But Davis and McCay said they normally still only have to show up 2½ hours before games to make sure they get the best seats.
“It’s not that extreme,” McCay said.
No love for Caleb
McCay said it was good to see Arizona join the Big 12 because “it’s a great basketball school,” and the Maniacs who were on hand were given some reasons to jeer at the Wildcats via their “Musings” sheet left on every student section seat.
Love was featured in the “Bum of the Game” section, with a “profile” of sorts.
“With Armani Beauty in his corner, he’s mastered the art of looking flawless postgame, even when the scoreboard disagrees,” the Musings said of Love.
In adding breakdowns for supporting UA players, it noted that Anthony Dell’Orso “went from being a Fighting Camel (at Campbell) to fighting for points — and the transition hasn’t been kind,” while saying Trey Townsend’s aim “isn’t quite as sharp” as when he threw out the opening pitch at a Detroit Tigers game.
Tough deal
Ryan Hansen got to enjoy the Bahamas while working as the radio analyst during Arizona’s first matchup with West Virginia this season, in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Reggie Geary was assigned to analyze the rematch in snowy Morgantown.
That’s just how it works.
“Exactly,” Geary said, smiling.
Actually, it was nothing against Geary but just because Hansen covers road games when he can miss only minimal work time — and he was escorting traveling fans in the Bahamas in his day job as Bon Voyage’s COO — while Geary covers the remaining road games while working his UA development job remotely.
As it turned out, Geary said before Tuesday’s game that the trip went well. He said visiting Cincinnati was enjoyable while “work and the gym” occupied his time in Morgantown.
Honoring Dad
Accompanying the Wildcats on both games this week, Tucson businessman Paul Volpe took a detour to pay homage to his father.
Volpe was born in Tucson but his father, James, was a high school sports star in Powhatan Point, Ohio, and chose to be buried there. So Paul rented a car and made the snowy 90-mile drive in a vehicle that was fortunately all-wheel drive to visit the gravesite.
Red-eye
Arizona timed its flights well throughout the trip — flying from Cincinnati to Morgantown just before a storm hit and not leaving Morgantown until after it subsided — but the Wildcats did have to make one tiring concession.
Their scheduled flight out of nearby Clarksburg was moved to Pittsburgh late Tuesday night, meaning the Wildcats would need a 90-minute drive to the airport and four-hour flight after that. Arizona’s expected arrival time was about 3 a.m. Wednesday.
However, the Wildcats were expected to able to sleep in. They were scheduled to have Wednesday off from practice and aren’t in school, either.
Big 12 vibe
While the Pac-12 occasionally sent its teams on extended trips where they would play two games with two full days between each — usually Wednesday and Saturday, or Thursday and Sunday — the two-game Big 12 version assigned to Arizona this week wasn’t the same to point guard Jaden Bradley.
“It’s definitely a different environment,” Bradley said. “For a lot of our guys, it’s different seeing these arenas. I never thought I’d be at Cincinnati. I like that arena. And West Virginia’s, I didn’t know it was that big an arena. And for some of our guys, it’s the first time seeing the snow.”
Legendary spirit
Not only does West Virginia have two obligatory display cases dedicated to legendary former Mountaineer star Jerry West, but the team also featured him in its pregame video.
“I competed for the state and people (at West Virginia), not just the university,” West said.
Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jerry West, representing the 1960 USA Olympic Team, is seen Aug. 13, 2010. West Virginia has two obligatory display cases dedicated to the legendary former Mountaineer star.
The big number
8 — Inches of new snow around WVU Coliseum since the Mountaineers played Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Quotable
“I think the biggest thing is we went from 80 degrees to 20 degrees. That’s a big adjustment,” – West Virginia coach Darian DeVries, on the difference between facing Arizona in the Bahamas on Nov. 29 and Tuesday in Morgantown.
