Relishing WVU’s historic win at Kansas — and rating it all-time

Most WVU sports fanatics are sharp.
They follow the Mountaineers closely. They follow football, basketball, etc., closely. They get that wins over Kansas, Gonzaga and Arizona, like those posted by WVU this season, are special.
Yet as a former sports writer and columnist, I might have a special appreciation for the accomplishments. You see, I’ve been to Kansas. I’ve been to Gonzaga. I’ve seen intimidation close up.
And that’s why I can tell you unequivocally that what WVU pulled off on New Year’s Eve, beating Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse without Tucker DeVries and Amani Hansberry, must be the most impressive regular season Mountaineer victory of all time.
I know I wrote something similar last season when a decimated West Virginia team stunned Kansas at the Coliseum.
“If you’re like me you thought, ‘Are you kidding? After the implosion surrounding Bob Huggins’ departure? With a potential Final Four roster, including Tre Mitchell (now at Kentucky), Joe Toussaint (Texas Tech), Jose Perez (Arizona State), Mo Wague (Alabama) and James Okonkwo (North Carolina), shattered? After the earlier suspension of Kerr Kriisa, the health issue of Akok Akok, the late start by RaeQuan Battle and the injury to Jesse Edwards?’”
It was mind-blowing. That was Morgantown though. Winning at the Phog, with the historical setting, with the fans and, yes, with the officials, is akin to conquering Pythagorean theorems and Euclidian geometry. It’s like solving the laws of motion and harnessing electricity.
OK, maybe I’ve gone a BIT too far. But the atmosphere at Kansas, with the students passing beach balls hours before the game, with the “Pay Heed All Who Enter/Beware of the Phog” banner in the north end of the Fieldhouse (and yes, it is a fieldhouse), with Dr. Naismith’s original rules of basketball encased in the arena’s passageway, is something fans, announcers and, again, yes, officials get caught up in. The Mountaineers had been 0-11 vs. Kansas in Lawrence prior to Tuesday. The Jayhawks had won 33 consecutive conference openers. Bill Self’s record at Allen Fieldhouse entering the game was 321-18.
That’s special. WVU historian John Antonik said the win “approaches WVU’s win at Kentucky in the KIT with the late Jerry West on the floor for the Mountaineers.”
The KIT, as it was known back then, was considered college basketball’s premier holiday tournament and getting an invitation from Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp was a big deal. To beat the Wildcats, as WVU did in 1957 at Memorial Coliseum when Jerry West was a sophomore, was a very big deal.
It’s just different winning against those teams. I remember covering WVU and Kentucky in 2008 in Las Vegas over the Thanksgiving holiday. The place was packed with Wildcat fans. To heck with Thanksgiving. For them it was “Go Big Blue.”
I submit WVU’s win at No. 18 UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in 2006 was special. I was there – as was the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden, perhaps the greatest coach of all time. He’d retired, but was watching with interest as Mike Gansey stole the ball and hit two free throws to seal a Mountaineer win with seven seconds left.
Keep in mind, the topic is regular season wins.
The greatest WVU game overall, at least that I’ve seen, is the 2010 NCAA Elite Eight win over a Kentucky team that could have been an NBA all-star team. And there are a ton of others in the tournaments, like the 2005 win over Wake Forest and Chris Paul, the 1998 Jarrod West miracle shot that stunned No. 2 seed Cincinnati – and Huggins. Of course, there was the run to the national championship with West.
Re regular season wins, you could point to Feb. 27, 1983, when WVU beat No. 1 UNLV at the Coliseum. But Jerry Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels had just lost and were only technically No. 1.
After last season’s home win over Kansas, I pointed to the Mountaineers’ victory over No. 8 Florida at the Charleston Civic Center. It was set up as a 2002 homecoming party for St. Albans native and Florida guard Brett Nelson after new Mountaineer coach John Beilein had taken over after a disastrous 8-20 season.
But that was in West Virginia.
James Naismith’s rules weren’t in the Civic Center. There wasn’t a “Phog” hovering. Bill Self wasn’t coaching the other team.
I was blessed to visit many places in my former sports writing career. Gonzaga’s small, 6,000-seat arena may have been the neatest.
But nowhere is as intimidating as Allen Fieldhouse.
Nowhere is as historic.
Just like WVU’s New Year’s Eve victory there.
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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.