Nationally Ranked
December 18, 2007 09:14 PM | General
December 18, 2007
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For the first time this year West Virginia will play a men's basketball game as a nationally ranked team. The No. 24-rated Mountaineers face Radford Wednesday night at the Dedmon Center.
 |
||
| Forward Joe Alexander is averaging 16.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
AP photo |
Being ranked is old news to Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins whose Cincinnati teams from 1992-2002 were ranked each year during that span.
“I think (rankings) are great at the end of the year,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “A good thing about it is you get your highlights on ESPN and I think it’s a good recruiting tool.”
Huggins’ Kansas State team last year didn’t crack the polls despite posting a 23-12 record.
“We went through a period when we weren’t very good,” Huggins said. “We went to New Mexico and lost bad. We went to Cal and lost bad and when you do that as far as that kind of respect you put yourself in a heck of a hole even though we came back and beat New Mexico by 25 three weeks later.”
West Virginia was ranked for five weeks last year under former coach John Beilein, and for the majority of the 2005-06 season. Huggins says the last three years of success has probably kept West Virginia on the minds of voters.
“I think they have respect nationally. I’m not sure if there was any lack of respect before,” Huggins said. “When coaches watch us play I think they understand that we’ve got some guys that can play. I don’t get into that stuff very much. We just try and come in and try to get better and be the best that we can be.”
Huggins isn’t sure if reaching the rankings serves as a motivational tool for his players.
“Some guys it probably motivates more and other guys it doesn’t motivate as much,” Huggins said. “It’s different here because of what has happened the last three years. The first time we got into the Top 25 at Cincinnati they were ready to have a ticker tape parade downtown because it had been so long. I think these guys expect to be good and they want to be good.”
For the first time this year, West Virginia plays a true road game at Radford in a hostile gym. West Virginia’s game at Canisius will be played at HSBC Arena in downtown Buffalo.
“Going to Radford is for (senior guard) Darris Nichols,” said Huggins. “I’ve always tried to get back to arenas where our guys have family so they can see them play. We generally try to do it where it is involved with television.”
West Virginia (8-1) is coming off an 86-62 victory over UMBC last Saturday. Joe Alexander scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to earn Big East player of the week honors.
“I think that is a great honor when you’re in a league as good as what the Big East is and when you are in a league that has 16 teams,” Huggins said. “It’s a tremendous honor for Joe.”
Alexander has boosted his season scoring average to 16.2 points per game. The 6-8 junior is also grabbing a team best 7.1 rebounds per game. He is expected to be joined by 7-foot senior Jamie Smalligan and 6-7 sophomore Da’Sean Butler in West Virginia’s starting frontcourt. Butler is averaging 13 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
In the starting backcourt is 6-6 junior Alex Ruoff, averaging 15.5 points per game, and 6-1 senior Darris Nichols who averaged 10.3 points per contest.
Radford, 4-8 after an 85-74 loss to James Madison on Monday night, has four players averaging double figures led by 6-4 guard Martell McDuffy’s 14.7 points per game.
First-year Highlanders coach Brad Greenberg is expected to start a pair of 6-8 forwards up front.
Radford announced earlier today that the game is a sell out. It is the first time a Big East school has ever played at the 5,000-seat Dedmon Center.
Air time for MSN radio is 6:30 and fans can watch live streaming of the game for $4.95 through The Edge at BigSouthSports.com.
