MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University is recognizing the 20th anniversary of coach John Beilein’s unforgettable 2004-05 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight team this weekend with a private reception on Friday night and a public recognition during Saturday’s football game against Kansas.
Most of the players, coaches, staff members and managers will be in Morgantown to celebrate the reunion, including Beilein, now retired and living part of the year in Naples, Florida.
“There will be a private reception (Friday) night and then a private pregame tailgate tent for the team before the game Saturday,” Matt Wells, deputy athletics director for external affairs, said. “We will recognize the team on the field during the first time out of the second quarter during the game.”
Beilein resurrected Mountaineer basketball following a successful five-year tenure at Richmond that included an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1998 and two trips to the NIT in 2001 and 2002.
Beilein took over a struggling WVU program coming off an 8-20 record in 2002 that included Dan Dakich’s one-week coaching tenure before choosing to return to Bowling Green.
Beilein led the Mountaineers to a six-win improvement in 2003, including an upset victory over Florida in the Charleston Civic Center, and then to a 17-win campaign in 2004 that featured NIT victories over Kent State and Rhode Island.
During the 2004-05 season, the Mountaineers came alive soon after the calendar turned to February. Four days after their 12-point road loss to fifth-ranked Boston College in Conte Forum, the Mountaineers rallied to outlast 16th-ranked Pitt 83-78 in overtime at the Coliseum on Feb. 5.
Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia’s 3-point shooting center, scored a game-high 27 points starting in place of an ill D’Or Fischer, senior forward Tyrone Sally contributed 19 and Patrick Beilein came off the bench to add 14 in what turned out to be a season-turning performance.
From that point on, the Mountaineers won five of their remaining seven regular season games, including WVU’s first-ever victory at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, to put themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Despite enduring weather delays, faulty equipment on the team’s charter plane and a chemical spill on the highway during the bus ride into New York City, West Virginia easily got past Providence in the opening round of the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden to set the stage for a rematch against seventh-ranked Boston College in the tournament quarterfinals.
West Virginia was seeking its 20th victory of the season against the top-seeded Eagles, who were leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference at the conclusion of the season.
Sophomore Frank Young came out of the bullpen to replace an ill Sally, tallying 15 points, while forward Mike Gansey led the way with 21, but the Mountaineers had to hold on for dear life at the end after taking a 25-point lead with 19 seconds gone in the second half.
BC used a couple of runs to trim West Virginia’s lead to 62-48 with 4:41 left. Then, Pittsnogle answered with his third 3 of the afternoon, and the Mountaineers scored the next two baskets to push their lead back to 11 and prompt a chorus of “A-C-C! A-C-C!” chants in the Garden. It was only the fourth time an eighth- or ninth-seeded team upset the top-seed in Big East Tournament history.
The following night, Mountaineers removed any doubt about their postseason status in the Big East semifinals against 19th-rated Villanova. Gansey was once again the star with 22 points and 10 rebounds, including two free throws with 0.2 seconds left to give West Virginia a 78-76 victory. A picture of Gansey pointing to the sky behind the bold headline “Mountain Do” adorned the back cover of the New York Daily News the following morning.
WVU’s unlikely run ended in the Big East Tournament finals on Saturday night against 16th-ranked Syracuse, but not its season.
The magic continued the following weekend in Cleveland’s Wolstein Center when No. 7-seeded West Virginia clipped 10-seeded Creighton 63-61 on Sally’s breakaway dunk. During the play, the ball never hit the floor from Pittsnogle’s rebound to his outlet pass to Gansey, to Gansey hitting Sally in stride on his way to the basket.
Two days later, West Virginia put more madness into March by upsetting fifth-ranked and tournament No. 2-seed Wake Forest 111-105 in double overtime.
The Demon Deacons’ Chris Paul may have been the best player in the game, but Gansey was the best player on the floor that night by scoring 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including a couple of critical 3s.
WVU rallied from 13 points down in the second half and took control of the game in the second overtime once Paul fouled out. After Wake’s Trent Strickland missed a 3 with 29 seconds left, guard Johannes Herber’s fastbreak layup with 13 seconds left sealed the victory. Patrick Beilein threw the ball the length of the court in jubilation when the buzzer sounded.
Five days later, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Pittsnogle did most of the damage with 22 points and eight rebounds in the Mountaineers’ 65-60 Sweet 16 triumph over coach Bob Knight’s Texas Tech Red Raiders.
WVU made 9-of-22 from 3-point distance.
Afterward, Knight paid Beilein and his players a big compliment by saying the Mountaineers play the game “the right way.”
The school’s quest for only its second-ever trip to the Final Four against Louisville came down to one possession at the end of regulation after the Mountaineers were unable to hold on to their 20-point lead. However, the ball didn’t bounce West Virginia’s way, and the Cardinals doubled up the Mountaineers 16-8 in overtime to pull out a dramatic 93-85 victory.
Pittsnogle once again put his 3-point shooting on display by making 6-of-9 from behind the arc and finishing with 25 points. It was during the 2005 NCAA Tournament when the country became familiar with the phrase “You Just Got Pittsnogled!”
West Virginians everywhere were captivated by the heart and desire of this team and its unexpected postseason run. Beilein’s Mountaineers finished the season with a 24-11 record and returned to the national rankings for the first time in seven years.
It was the beginning of an outstanding 19-year run that continued with Bob Huggins featuring 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, seven to at least the Sweet 16, and 12 20-win campaigns.
The stretch from 2004 to 2023 ranks among the longest sustained periods of success in Mountaineer basketball history, and it all began with John Beilein’s 2004-05 squad.
WVU greatly benefitted from Beilein’s successes on the hardwood, and in turn, Beilein’s profile while at West Virginia competing in the Big East Conference was raised significantly beyond just the hardcore hoop followers.
Most of the living team members, staffers and coaches will be in town this weekend, including regulars Gansey, now general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Pittsnogle, principal at Martinsburg Middle School, Sally, boy’s basketball coach at Alexandria City High in Alexandria, Virginia, Patrick Beilein, boy’s basketball coach at Baldwinsville High in Baldwinsville, New York, Herber, living and working in his native Germany, and guard JD Collins, player developer at the Shot Institute in Houston, Texas.
Guard Darris Nichols, head basketball coach at Radford University, center Rob Summers, assistant coach at Missouri, forward Frank Young, assistant coach at Appalachian State, forward B.J. Byerson and guards Ted Talkington and Nick Patella are expected to be here this weekend as well.
“The reason we are doing the reunion at this time of year during a football game is because a lot of these guys are involved in basketball, and we thought it would be too difficult to get the entire group back on campus during basketball season,” Wells explained. “This date worked best for the entire group.”
Assistant coaches Jerry Dunn and Jeff Neubauer, staffers Bill Lilly and Josh Merkel and a handful of student managers have also committed to attend this year’s reunion. Athletic trainer Randy Meador and sports information director Bryan Messerly are still involved with the Mountaineer program and will also be attending.
A prior coaching commitment in China is forcing center D’or Fischer to miss this weekend’s activities.
Sadly, two members of the squad, player Duriel Price and strength and conditioning staffer Jeff Giosi, are deceased.
Veteran radio play-by-play man Tony Caridi will serve as master of ceremonies and Wren Baker, WVU vice president and director of athletics, will make remarks on Friday night. The private event is being organized by the Mountaineer Athletic Club.
