CNNSI.com - 2002 NCAA Men's Preview - West Virginia pins hopes on star recruit Hargett - Friday November 02, 2001 06:06 PM

You can still follow all the happenings of the mythical national championship tournament in my Fox Sports Blog (scroll down for link) and the Marshall Plan guaranteed point spread winners, I will now take a few posts and go retro about subjects that really interest me yet I know nothing about.

I will be providing quotes from some of America's great sportswriters.
Today we take a look at the phenom known as Jonathan Hargett.

Jonathan Hargett, the Mountaineers' electric, 6-foot point guard, was selected as the Big East's preseason rookie of the year in a vote of the league's coaches.

17. Jonathan Hargett
6-0
National Christian (Md.)
West Virginia

28.5 mpg, 14.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.9 spg, 29% FG, 91% FT

Super-talented freshman Jonathan Hargett became disinterested with the game after he failed to receive a foul call when driving to the basket. Hargett decided to stay seated on the court while Pitt scored a basket and would not get up until referees stopped the game believing he was hurt. Hargett refused a helping hand from Pitt’s Julius Page earning him boos from the raucous crowd every time he touched the basketball for the rest of the evening.

Hargett also decided to put in as little effort as possible for the final 12 minutes of the game.

Sometime during his first week on the job, Dakich discovered a serious rules infraction within the West Virginia team. Although freshman guard Jonathan Hargett has denied any wrongdoing, the violation is believed to involve him. If you believe the street talk, Hargett had signed with an agent at some point during -- if not before -- the start of the recently concluded season.

For every Garnett or Anthony, however, there is a Lenny Cooke, an Ousmane Cisse or a Jonathan Hargett—players who bolted for the draft too early and wound up being left behind.

Freshman guards Jonathan Hargett and Drew Schifino led the Mountaineers with 15 points a piece, but interim coach Drew Catlett was not pleased with Hargett's performance in his match-up with Thomas.

"Jon thinks he can score and play against anybody," Catlett said. "One problem Jon has had all year is that it's five-on-five. He needs to get his teammates involved. I think he got caught up in [the match-up with Thomas]."

Former West Virginia star baller Jonathan Hargett will apparently now be playing ball in an orange jumpsuit for one year and two days after he reportedly pleaded guilty of marijuana possession in exchange for having a second felony charge dropped. Hopefully he can recover and get back on his feet

On Raymond Felton:
"The kid's good. The kid's VERY good. He might be the best all-around guard this side of Dajuan Wagner -- although Jonathan Hargett would certainly have something to say about that."

Did you see what Jonathan Hargett tried to pull while his West Virginia squad was getting plowed by Uconn? He had the rock at the top of the key when he decided to pull a T-Mac All-Star move, tossing the ball off the backboard. Except he did it from behind the 3-point line. And he missed. Badly

The findings of the self-investigation resulted in the end of Jonathan Hargett's one-year stay at WVU. Hargett, although not named in the report, was found to have been in direct violation of NCAA amateurism rules and will not be eligible to participate in athletics at WVU henceforth.


-n