Ye olde notebook:
n When West Virginia hosts Kansas State in Big 12 football play on Saturday, it will do so as a slight favorite, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.
The Mountaineers should be a favorite, just as they should have been last season. They lost to a physically inferior Wildcat team in Manhattan, which should provide motivation for WVU this time around.
Yet the WVU coaches should be even more eager to win.
First, there was that play call last December that had a gimpy Skyler Howard running on a fourth-and-2 situation instead of handing the ball to Wendell Smallwood, who finished with 144 yards rushing. That play sent the Mountaineers to a 24-23 loss and kicked up calls for Dana Holgorsen's job.
Then, of course, there's Holgorsen's 0-4 record against K-State coach Bill Snyder, now 79 years young. Beating Snyder has to be a goal in the name of pride for the Mountaineer coach.
n We've reported that WVU's basketball practice begins this coming Sunday. Well, Marshall's practice begins at 3 p.m. on Monday, and the Thundering Herd roster has a distinctive Mountain State flavor.
Eight of the 17 players (including walk-ons) listed on the current MU roster are from West Virginia. The scholarship players are Stevie Browning (Logan), C.J. Burks (Martinsburg), Jon Elmore (Charleston), Rondale Watson (Lewisburg) and Phil Bledsoe (Wheeling). Jacob Kilgore (Huntington), Ot Elmore (Charleston) and Noah Frampton (Poca) are listed as walk-ons.
"If you look at our entire roster, if it isn't West Virginia, it's close," said MU coach Dan D'Antoni. "Louisville is about the furthest away. If you do that, we're probably at 12. I just feel there's enough talent here that we can be very competitive in Conference USA with a good chance to get in the NCAA tournament and be a top team.
"I came back [to the state] with that in mind. I believe in the West Virginia kids and I'll give it my best to see if we can pull this off."
D'Antoni also has a commitment from Clarksburg Notre Dame's Jarrod West for 2017 and Mingo Central's Jeremy Dillon for 2018. D'Antoni just missed on Poca's Luke Frampton, who committed to Davidson. Also, D'Antoni considers walk-on Ky're Allison of Portsmouth, Ohio, a local.
"I'm making an all-out effort to get the best we can out of the state of West Virginia - and I think they're good enough to take us where we want to go," said the coach. "We'll supplement with others as we can and see what happens."
Athlon magazine, by the way, predicted MU to finish fourth in C-USA.
"That's nose-bleed section," D'Antoni said. "I'll probably have a headache all night now."
n While on the subject of basketball recruiting, WVU's Bob Huggins touched on the subject this past Wednesday. He spoke on Villanova, specifically, which won an NCAA title this past March.
"They had a couple McDonald's All-Americans," he said, "but the guy that made the shot [Kris Jenkins] a lot of people didn't recruit."
He paused.
"I've always kind of thought I should take the guys I like and not the ones the [recruiting analysts] with the out-of-date sneakers and pants like," Huggins said. "[Former Cincinnati and NBA player] Jason Maxiell wasn't a Top 200 player until one of those guys said, 'Why are you recruiting him?' I said, 'Watch him.' All of a sudden he became a Top 100 player.
"[Sagaba Konate] wasn't a Top 100 player. But wait until you see some of the things he can do. I don't really care what those guys say. I don't get caught up in all that stuff."
Huggins, by the way, is at 791 victories with No. 800 looming. So how many is enough?
"I don't want to think about it because then I think about how damn old I am," he said. "I honestly don't pay attention to that stuff. If [assistant] Billy [Hahn] wouldn't tell me, I wouldn't have any idea. I pay attention to how many we win in a year."
Huggins is 63.
n A tip of the cap to West Virginia's SSAC and the way it's worked on the organization's website. Now you can go there and not only check out a football team's ranking, but its wins and losses and bonus points.
Very nice, folks.
n It was interesting to see how USA Today characterized the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team by comparing it to Morgantown native (University High) and ex-WVU player Jedd Gyorko.
"The Cardinals merely sit back and hit homers, with infielder Jeff Gyorko epitomizing the team's offense," said the paper on Wednesday. "He has 27 home runs and 55 RBI but has produced only 12 RBI in the 358 at-bats in which he hasn't hit a homer."
n And finally ...
In the Who Knew? Department, an email hit my inbox that took me back a bit.
In case you didn't know, yes, there still is a Lambert Trophy given out to football teams in the East. And currently in first place is West Virginia University.
The Mountaineers lead Navy, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, Penn State, Connecticut and Army in voting.
So now you know.
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.