A Friday collection of fact, fun and folderol:

Who did well in the recent NBA Draft? Well, teams aside, how about West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins?

The one-season development of Joe Alexander from a borderline NBA prospect into a lottery pick (No. 8, Milwaukee) is undoubtedly a recruiting selling point that West Virginia's staff will add to Huggins' security in a 10-year contract.

There's more, too. Huggins also coached second-round pick and Huntington native Bill Walker at Kansas State, and recruited No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley from K-State - even if he didn't get to coach him.

Alexander and Walker make for 15 Huggins-coached picks in the last 16 NBA Drafts, including six first-rounders and four lottery selections. Alexander is the third-highest Huggins-coached pick, after former Cincinnati stars Kenyon Martin (No. 1) and DerMarr Johnson (No. 6).

*In or out? -- West Virginia football Coach Bill Stewart said Thursday that two 2008 recruits won't be joining the Mountaineers.

Stewart said Florida defensive back Jerome Swinton and Phoenix (Junior) College defensive lineman Tevita Finau didn't get the academic credits needed.

The WVU coach said Finau is expected to go to another Arizona junior college this school year. Swinton was released by the Mountaineers.

Among others in the West Virginia signing class who have been on the qualifying edge --  running back Terence Kerns and kicker Tyler Bitancurt -- are "still on the bubble," Stewart said.

Defensive lineman Chris Palmer of Philadelphia also won't join the August reporting players. There are no academic issues there. Palmer had shoulder surgery and will grayshirt and join the WVU program in January.

*Coal Bowl future -- Now that the Michigan payment pipeline to WVU has been established, it's time to focus on the Coal Bowl and whether the WVU-Marshall football series will be extended past 2012. To that point ...

If former state senator Russ Weeks wants to make some headway in the gubernatorial race against incumbent Gov. Joe Manchin (who forged the state teams' seven-year deal), maybe he should come out and say if elected, he'll end the Coal Bowl series.

There are still so many Mountaineers that don't want to play the Herd that Weeks is bound to land some votes, right?

A Friday collection of fact, fun and folderol:

Who did well in the recent NBA Draft? Well, teams aside, how about West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins?

The one-season development of Joe Alexander from a borderline NBA prospect into a lottery pick (No. 8, Milwaukee) is undoubtedly a recruiting selling point that West Virginia's staff will add to Huggins' security in a 10-year contract.

There's more, too. Huggins also coached second-round pick and Huntington native Bill Walker at Kansas State, and recruited No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley from K-State - even if he didn't get to coach him.

Alexander and Walker make for 15 Huggins-coached picks in the last 16 NBA Drafts, including six first-rounders and four lottery selections. Alexander is the third-highest Huggins-coached pick, after former Cincinnati stars Kenyon Martin (No. 1) and DerMarr Johnson (No. 6).

*In or out? -- West Virginia football Coach Bill Stewart said Thursday that two 2008 recruits won't be joining the Mountaineers.

Stewart said Florida defensive back Jerome Swinton and Phoenix (Junior) College defensive lineman Tevita Finau didn't get the academic credits needed.

The WVU coach said Finau is expected to go to another Arizona junior college this school year. Swinton was released by the Mountaineers.

Among others in the West Virginia signing class who have been on the qualifying edge --  running back Terence Kerns and kicker Tyler Bitancurt -- are "still on the bubble," Stewart said.

Defensive lineman Chris Palmer of Philadelphia also won't join the August reporting players. There are no academic issues there. Palmer had shoulder surgery and will grayshirt and join the WVU program in January.

*Coal Bowl future -- Now that the Michigan payment pipeline to WVU has been established, it's time to focus on the Coal Bowl and whether the WVU-Marshall football series will be extended past 2012. To that point ...

If former state senator Russ Weeks wants to make some headway in the gubernatorial race against incumbent Gov. Joe Manchin (who forged the state teams' seven-year deal), maybe he should come out and say if elected, he'll end the Coal Bowl series.

There are still so many Mountaineers that don't want to play the Herd that Weeks is bound to land some votes, right?

*Donnie gets it -- You have to be impressed with the job second-year Marshall basketball coach Donnie Jones has done with a moribund program. Not only has he landed players the Herd wouldn't have gotten in the past, but he's building interest with scheduling, too.

Playing in exempt events with quality foes (like this season's Wilkes Classic) and adding regional (and respectable) programs like Dayton and Ohio U. will only enhance Marshall's chances of making headway in hoops.

*On schedule -- Kudos (and no coaches' complaints this time, please) should go to the Big East administrative trio of Tom Odjakjian, Dan Gavitt and Shawn Murphy for their work in putting together the conference men's basketball matchups for 2008-09.

It's a superb job, the most equality I've seen the schedules since the league went to unbalanced schedules at 16 or 18 games. The top teams, even with telecast desires and contractual obligations, aren't overloaded as compared to the middle or bottom teams this time.

The double matchups (three for each team) are not overwhelmingly weighted in degree of difficulty for the top few teams.

*Leftovers -- When WVU announced its non-conference basketball schedule recently, there was one team absent that was expected to appear as a road game.

The Mountaineers still have home-and-home dates left with The Citadel from a 2-for-1 deal made during Coach John Beilein's years at WVU. The Citadel asked to postpone the two remaining games until after 2008-09.

Those dates, worked out with St. Albans native and recently retired Citadel Athletic Director Les Robinson, are the only two WVU games under contract left from the Beilein years.

And while Huggins still wants to get together for neutral-site games with former Cincinnati rival Xavier, it couldn't be worked out for this season. The Musketeers do have a big neutral-site date, however -- against Duke on Dec. 20 (and CBS) at East Rutherford, N.J.

*Division II, too -- A reader inquired after a recent story on West Virginia's school record finish of 30th in the annual Directors' Cup standings for overall sports excellence. The question was whether West Virginia Conference schools are ranked, too.

The answer is yes ... but the WVC programs didn't fare too well. Among 231 NCAA Division II schools that scored in the 2007-08 Cup were 11 of the 16 state conference programs.

The best from the WVC was new member Pitt Johnstown, at no. 102, followed by West Virginia Wesleyan (125), Shepherd (134), West Liberty (147), West Virginia State (170), Fairmont State (181), Alderson-Broaddus (187), Charleston (201), Wheeling Jesuit (206) and Concord (209) and Ohio Valley (212).

In the NAIA standings, WVU Tech was tied for 223rd place (last among scoring schools), and received points only for its 12th place (second last) finish in the NAIA Region 11 men's golf championship.