Postgame Analysis…WVU:62 DePaul:46

It wasn’t pretty at all times and WVU (16-3, 5-2 Big East) did play DePaul (8-12, 1-7) to an even 42-42 score for the last 31:42 after getting up 20-4, but it’s a third straight win nonetheless.

• The Mountaineers will be a tough team to beat when four players score 14 points in a game, which is what happened, as Da’Sean Butler, Wellington Smith, Devin Ebanks and Truck Bryant led the charge. Each of the four seemed to control the game at different points as Butler and Smith began with three consecutive 3-pointers, and Smith connected on a pair from deep to start the second half. Ebanks asserted himself more as the game went on and was one rebound shy of a double-double, while Bryant played aggressively and hit 8-of-11 free throws.

• However, it was ugly at times and six points from the rest of the team, including two from the bench- which finished without a field goal- is cause for disaster. Here’s what WVU head coach Bob Huggins had to say about the lack of production from his reserves following the 16-point win over the Blue Demons. “Go in and be soft with the ball, and go in and play with not really great intensity, they’re not going to get in,” Huggins said. “We’ll continue to shorten the bench if they’re not going to be productive.”

• West Virginia’s defense is regaining the form we’re accustom to seeing under Huggins. Sure DePaul is woeful for the most part on the offensive end, but the Mountaineers held the Blue Demons to their second lowest scoring total of the season. It was also the fourth time WVU has held its opponent to 60 points or fewer in their last five wins.

• DePaul ended a 24-game Big East regular season losing streak with last week’s one-point win over Marquette, but that hasn’t put an end to the unhappiness in the student section. Check out this piece from Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail to hear just how upset Blue Demons fans get over the course of a typical loss.

• WVU sophomore forward Kevin Jones has been in a scoring funk of late. Over the last four games, Jones is just 13-for-41 with 32 points, but it hasn’t been because of a lack of effort or poor shot selection. Expect Jones to break out of his scoring slump soon, as long as he continues to play within himself and get good looks.

• At the end of the day, West Virginia won a league game on the road by 16 points, making it hard to complain. “We did what we had to do to win. Let’s just win and get out of here,” Huggins said.

• Check back this weekend for more on Saturday’s contest against Louisville. Tipoff at the WVU Coliseum is set for noon.

Helpful Sources

Take a look at what’s been added to the Last Stop’s blogroll. I’ve updated it with 10 helpful sports blogs, some of which I check daily, the others weekly. Here’s a little bit of information about each of these blogs and how they can benefit the Last Stop.

1. CFT – CollegeFootballTalk has recently been picked up by NBC Sports and is a great college football blog that keeps readers informed on the latest breaking news, coaching changes, injuries, arrests, etc… around the landscape of college football. CFT can help this particular blog because it is a great way to acquire new information about any school with major college football.
2. DA Sports Blog – Affiliated through WVU, the Daily Athenaeum’s Sports Blog (which I am an active part of) generally does live blogging from each WVU football and men’s and women’s basketball game. Other important WVU sports news is also posted here.
3. Deadspin – One of the more highly regarded and mainstream sports blogs of today, Deadspin combines humor with quality journalistic skills to form a strong sports blog.
4. ESPN Big East Football Blog – Formerly of the Courier-Journal in Louisville, K.y.,  Brian Bennett currently runs a blog focused on everything Big East football related. Needless to say, there are often posts about WVU.
5. PFT – Before there was ever a CFT, ProFootballTalk was making its way up the ladder as a reputable football blog. PFT’s editor- Mike Florio- is a WVU grad, and although this website is more about professional football, Florio finds ways to tie the college aspect in too.
6. SmokingMusket – One of the first WVU sports blogs I ever discovered, The SmokingMusket also does a good job combining humor with the latest WVU sports news. Or as its slogan says, “The WVU Blog that never leaves its wingman.” You may have heard similar lines about wingmen from WVU head football coach Bill Stewart.
7. WeMustIgniteThisCouch – Another WVU sports blog that combines humor and relevant Mountaineer sports coverage. This one is named after the infamous couch burning incidents following notable WVU sports wins.
8. WVU PressBox – A more direct and informative WVU sports blog.
9. WVU Sports Blog with Mike Casazza –  Another WVU grad, Mike Casazaa, runs his WVU Sports Blog through the Charleston Daily Mail.
10. Dr. Saturday’s Yahoo College Football Blog – More along the lines of CFT, this blog nearly covers it all in terms of big-time college football.

Why you should read this blog!

This may appear to be another routine blog, but over time it’s sure to be far from one. For all you avid Mountaineer fans, The Last Stop will provide you the latest breaking news and updates about everything WVU sports related.

As a sports writer for the Daily Athenaeum, I am already present at many West Virginia football and men’s basketball media gatherings.

I am currently a WVU men’s basketball beat writer for the DA, and it’s safe to say not many days pass by without an interesting tidbit or two to pass along.

Continue to check back here in the near future for all of the latest that WVU head coach Bob Huggins and his players have to say.

You can also check out this blog after basketball games for analysis and thoughts on the Mountaineers and their opponent.

While there isn’t much going on in the world of Mountaineer football at the moment, national signing day is right around the corner (Feb. 3). Any avid college football knows just how hectic and crazy signing day can be for certain coaches and programs. There is nothing quite like hearing the final decisions of teenagers who have wavered back and forth between prestigious universities over the last six months.

Before you know it , spring football will have started and every college football “expert” will begin making their predictions for the 2011 season.

While the popularity of sports blogs continues to increase, not many of them revolve around the beats that writers specifically cover. That is part of what will separate The Last Stop, as it is sure to become your one and only stop for all the latest on WVU basketball and football!

What Blogging Means for the Future of Journalism

Blogging certainly has a major impact on the current and present fates of journalism. While the popularity of blogs continues to soar, many younger journalists would be wise to know the specifics of how to blog.

In the professional world, one is much more marketable when skilled in different areas, such as writing, blogging, multimedia and photography.

20 years ago, you could get hired off being a great writer when it came to certain subjects. While that still holds true to this day, you are now more likely to be required to be skilled in other areas.

To keep up with all of the competition, blogs are a necessary form of news. Say you are a writer in a major city and most, if not all other competing writers have blogs on the same subject you cover. It’s almost guaranteed that your boss will require you to have a blog so that readers are gaining valuable new information from your competitors.

Here is an example of this from the two most mainstream newspapers in Minnesota, both of which have blogs that cover the Minnesota Vikings.

One can be found here. The other can be found here.

Neither wants to be outdone by the other in terms of providing up to the minute updates on the Vikings.

Blogs also give writers more freedom. Things that can be published in a blog may not be able to be printed in a newspaper. Writers have more of their own say in blogs and can even abbreviate words or use acronyms that can be understood.

While blogging is not likely to be the most important aspect of a job requirement, it’s certainly a good area to have knowledge of.

We live in a world of constant change and updates, which are pretty much the gist of why blogs exist. Nobody wants their competition to be the one offering breaking news and updates on a subject of great importance.

As technology continues to grow, blogs will only become a more accepted and general source of news. Although it is perceived as something the younger generation understands better, nearly all generations have come to understand what blogs mean to the journalism field.

They are only likely to mean more in the future.

Why Blogging is bad for Journalism

Although the popularity of blogs continues to increase, not everyone is a firm believer in them.

Simply because anybody can start a blog (as we have all done for this class), people are skeptical to trust much of what they publish.

Many people start a blog to share thoughts on a specific topic and see what type of feedback they’re able to create, but that doesn’t necessarily make those blogs great sources of news.

Avid readers from older generations generally prefer a newspaper in front of them on a daily basis over sitting at a computer dealing with technology they may not have the best understanding of.

While this is certainly understandable, it also touches on the fact that these people believe what they’re reading in newspapers to be more accurate.

To right for a newspaper, one already is likely to have some type of background in writing, where as blogs can be started by people who have little to no experience in the journalism field.

The types of blogs that have a good reputation are ones that can be accessed from the website of a newspaper that are run by professional journalists. While beat writers are often focused on writing all different types of stories, many have begun to start their own blogs to keep people updated throughout each day.

This blog of a pro football team is a perfect example of a more reputable blog, as two beat writers of the Minnesota Vikings for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune started this to keep readers updated between 3-7 times per day during the season.

However, a blog that is more opinionated than newsworthy is frowned upon by those who believe they will be the main source of media for years to come. An example of one can be found here. If one has strong knowledge of the internet, they can start their own blog, because there are no limitations as to who can start them.

While there is no argument that blogs have changed the face of journalism, not everybody believes it is for the better.

Until most are deemed newsworthy and not just anyone has the ability to create one, this may continue to be the case.

Why Blogging is good for Journalism

Blogging is constantly becoming a more popular source of media in the new age of technology. So what makes blogs so well-liked and a good source of information? Well, there are several reasons.

For one, blogs provide readers with much quicker updates on whatever it is they are reading about. Instead of either having to wait for a newspaper to come out the next day or for television coverage, a strong blog will provide several posts throughout the day.

For example, you can see that a blog I read daily, profootballtalk, usually has between 25-50 updates per day during the NFL season. Even when it’s the off-season, PFT still generally updates between 10-20 times each day.

As an avid sports fan, I enjoy reading blogs about all of my favorite teams. Blogs are the quickest and most simple way to find out the latest news on your favorite team and/or the opponent, injuries, matchups, and all that’s important to know leading up to a game.  Even if it’s a slow day in terms of breaking news, blogs will find a way to keep readers interested by coming up with out of the ordinary statistics or facts that you would not see included in a normal story.

To me, the reason blogs have become so accepted is because they are generally short and to the point. Although blog posts (such as this one), can be a similar length to stories, you are more likely to see a blog post that discusses the general facts and events that make stories newsworthy.

Although some people enjoy longer stories that give more details, the general public is becoming lazier as a society. In turn, the popularity of a blog increases because people understand that they can receive the information they need in a shorter duration.

Blogs are also benefitting journalism because they are a good way for readers to share their feedback on topics and in some instances get direct questions answered by whoever is controlling the blog.

As a reader, this makes you feel like the writer actually considers the opinions of his/her audience and cares about their responses.

The WVU sports blog run by Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail is a good example of readers being able to share their opinions and sometimes receiving feedback from Casazza.

One final point on why blogs help the constantly changing journalism field is because they are comical. There is plenty that can be printed on a blog that would never make it into a newspaper, book or magazine, and everyone enjoys reading about an interesting topic that makes you smile and laugh.

Though a blog post needs to have some relevant information to make it readable, adding to it a twist of comedy provides diversity.

Background Information and a Welcoming to the Last Stop

Welcome to the Last Stop, the newest blog for the latest breaking sports news at West Virginia University.

I’m trying this blog out for a new class called Print Journalism 493A (Blogging and Interactive Journalism).

It’s extremely exciting to have the chance to test out what it’s like to be in control of everyone’s new favorite source of media- blogs! Although blogs are a quicker and easier way to pass along information, I’m certain it takes a lot of work to keep the information coming at a satisfying rate.

I hope to provide readers with up-to-date facts and breaking news on everything involved with Mountaineer athletics. As we settle into winter it’s quite a busy time for many sports teams at WVU. Remember you can access this blog from the popular search engine, google.

Hello world!

Hello everyone! My name is Greg Carey and I am a senior news-editorial journalism major at West Virginia University.

I have just opened up a new blog, The Last Stop, and hope to keep readers up to date on the latest about WVU sports. Sports have always been a major part of my life.

I grew up in a house where everyone had a lot of passion for sports, and I played basketball through high school. Since enrolling at West Virginia, my passion for sports has only become greater.

I hope that through my constant following of Mountaineer athletics, I am able to keep readers interested and fascinated as to what I have to offer.