3 Guys Before The Game

Some of the most talented WVU basketball players over the last decade are teaming together to take a shot at winning two million dollars next month. Known as Best Virginia, this group of familiar names and faces are beginning to practice in Morgantown. They'll play a series of exhibition games in West Virginia before opening tournament play in Richmond, VA.

On this episode, team general manager John Flowers is joined by Kevin Jones to detail the story of Best Virginia. How was the team assembled? What are the biggest challenges facing them as they make their debut in the wildly popular winner-take-all tournament.

Join Brad Howe and Tony Caridi as the talk hoops and much more on episode 120 of Three Guys Before The Game.

How did WVU's Alek Manoah go from a high school junior without a single college offer to the 11th overall pick in last week's MLB draft? It's a question that only Alek can reveal.

On this episode of Three Guys Before The Game, Alek tells Brad Howe and Tony Caridi about an improbable journey from South Florida to Morgantown. You'll learn how a combination of faith, determination, and confidence led Manoah to the pinnacle of the college game.

How did it happen and how will he approach his professional career? The answers to those questions and many more come your way on episode 119.

The journey Teyvon Myers took to become a Mountaineer and now a professional basketball player is one of the most circuitous you'll ever hear.

He attended six different schools in a span of seven years. His aggressive attitude, which today is his greatest asset, also was his greatest weakness as he grew up.

In an in-depth conversation with Brad Howe and Tony Caridi, Myers tells his mercurial story that led him to Morgantown where he matured under an unrelenting Mountaineer coaching staff that refused to let him lose.

In a world that lives on self-promotion, Mike Joseph is an outlier.

West Virginia’s Head Coach for Football Strength and Conditioning admits he’s much more comfortable in the background. He’s happiest when the athletes he trains are in the spotlight performing at a level they would have never imagined.

He was hired by Bill Stewart and retained by Dana Holgorsen and Neal Brown. That’s not the way it normally works. A new head coach normally means an entirely new staff. But the Fairmont native has gained a national reputation of success. After producing 25 All Americans and over 100 players that have either been drafted or signed as free agents, it only made sense to keep Mike Joseph in Morgantown.

In this episode, Brad Howe and Tony Caridi get a rare glimpse into Joseph’s mindset. It’s the story of how the talented undersized kid from Fairmont succeeded as an athlete and now as a coach.

She was too young and too naive to know any better. Nikki Izzo Brown admits starting the WVU women's soccer program in 1995 was done more by bravado than blueprint. Her ultra competitive nature spread quickly, and in its inaugural season WVU defied the odds and finished with a winning record. That was simply an indication of things to come.

The Mountaineers have become a perennial top-25 program appearing in 19 consecutive NCAA tournaments including an appearance in the national championship game in 2016.
She'll enter next season just 10 wins from 350 in her WVU career.

The longest tenured and only female head coach within the WVU athletic department, reflects on her career with Brad Howe and Tony Caridi and looks ahead to capturing the one prize that's always been her goal.

Devastated is the word Larry Harrison uses to describe his emotions after learning his college basketball career was being cut short. Instead of stepping back Harrison pushed forward. His love for the game launched a coaching career that includes conference championships, NCAA tournament bids and two trips to the Final Four.

West Virginia's current associate head coach provides the details of a career that illustrate the importance of relationships, decision making and timing.

Join Harrison as he looks back on more than 30 years of coaching and ahead to what next season will bring to West Virginia University basketball.

West Virginia University Director of Player Personnel Brian Bennett may be a newcomer to West Virginia, but he saw Pat White in action long before any Mountaineer fan.

Bennett, a native of Mobile, Alabama, watched White play in high school and played for White’s high school coach.  He has multiple connections in the football world that eventually led him to WVU.

Today Bennett is entrusted with overseeing the lifeblood of the Mountaineer program - recruiting.

On this episode of Three Guys Before The Game, Bennett shares how he rose to his current position and why his first-ever meeting with Neal Brown was all he needed to sign on.

What grade does WVU basketball player Jordan McCabe give himself after a tumultuous freshman season? A solid "F" according to the popular Mountaineer, who quickly offers the grade with no desire for sympathy.

McCabe's harsh personal assessment is just one of many topics discussed during his first ever visit with Brad Howe and Tony Caridi. From his days as a nationally known dribbling phenom to his current role as a rising sophomore, Jordan McCabe provides insight into what drives him and why he thinks the Mountaineers are primed for a successful season in 2020.

Gary Jennings' ascension into an NFL wide receiver is the story of goal setting and determination. Many kids dream about becoming a professional athlete, but Jennings reverse engineered the process starting in elementary school.

The perfect combination of athleticism and intelligence has allowed him to become one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2019 draft. Brad Howe and Tony Caridi go deep with Gary Jennings to learn about his development and borderline obsession to succeed at the highest level of the sport.

You may know David Long as a ferocious hitting linebacker that concluded his career at West Virginia as the Big 12 Conference Defensive Player of the Year. However, there's so much more to his story which includes living with his high school football coach from ninth grade until his graduation.

In this episode, Brad Howe and Tony Caridi learn how Long's upbringing fueled his determination to overcome obstacles that could have ended his career prematurely.
Instead, Long left WVU as one of its all-time leading performers and is on the verge of being chosen in the NFL draft.

The story of David Long revealed on Three Guys Before The Game.