Tournament Notebook
March 08, 2007 12:59 AM | General
March 7, 2007
NEW YORK – West Virginia had a couple of hours to celebrate its 92-79 victory over Providence before getting back to work preparing for No. 12-ranked Louisville Thursday night in the Big East tournament quarterfinals. The two teams did not play each other this year.
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| West Virginia's Frank Young (21) goes to the basket against Providence's Weyeinmi Efejuku (13) during the second half of basketball action in the first round of the Big East conference tournament Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
AP photo/Mary Altaffer |
“In 20 hours or so we are back playing again,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “When Frank (Young) and Darris (Nichols) were freshman and sophomores, we got it all the way to Saturday night one time (2005). But I thought Thursday night where you’re down to eight teams -- I think it’s one of the best nights.”
Beilein says all of his focus has been on Providence. Assistant coach Matt Brown has the Louisville scout and Beilein will now turn his full attention to the Cardinals, 22-8 and seeded No. 2 in the tournament.
“My assistant coaches have seen them several times,” Beilein said. “We have played Louisville before. I think they still have some of the guys that we played in the NCAA tournament.”
The last time the two teams met in Morgantown in 2006, West Virginia held on for a 68-64 victory. Six-eight junior forward Juan Palacious scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Cardinals in the loss. Guards Brandon Jenkins and Terrence Williams combined to score 13 points; Andre Magee and Terrence Farley came off the bench to play against the Mountaineers.
Williams is Louisville’s top scorer averaging 12.2 points per game. However, the 6-6 forward is shooting just 36.2 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from 3-point distance. Six-one freshman guard Edgar Sosa is averaging 10.8 points per game and is shooting 40.9 percent. Six Louisville players average between 8.2 and 12.2 points per game.
Nine players average more than 13.8 minutes per game.
The Cardinals have won six straight heading into Thursday night’s game against West Virginia and are comfortably in the NCAA tournament. Louisville has only lost four times in conference play this year at Notre Dame, at home to Marquette, at Villanova and at home against Georgetown.
West Virginia, despite a 22-8 overall record, still has some work to do to get into the tournament, according to those who project the NCAA field of 65. RealTimeRPI.com has West Virginia up five spots to 52 after Wednesday night’s win over Providence.
“I think the best idea for everybody in the country is just to try and keep winning,” Beilein said. “The NCAA – I know the NCAA selection committee just does a terrific job, but we just need to keep winning and not worry about any of that.”
ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb believes a win over Louisville still might not be enough for the Mountaineers, which have an updated strength of schedule rating of 98th.
Briefly:
“I think our fans both travel well,” Beilein said. “Both sports are very important (football and men’s basketball). You have some schools that are basketball schools or football schools. I think Louisville and West Virginia are very similar in that both of them are contending nationally.
“It’s an honor to be playing against them, especially in the Big East tournament.”
Wednesday night, foul trouble forced Beilein to use Smith for 10 minutes against Providence. The 6-7 freshman responded with 10 points on 3 of 4 shooting, hitting a key 3-point basket with 1:21 left and making all three of his free throws.
It was the third time Smith has scored double figures this season, connecting for 12 against Maryland Eastern Shore and 11 against Western Michigan.
“I mentioned on the television broadcast that he was like Frank Young. Two years ago when Frank came in here and lit this place up, I turned to everybody and said, ‘Who is the coach that has not been playing Frank Young?’ And I said the same thing about Wellington,” Beilein said. “That was quite a performance for a kid from New Jersey, to come in here off the bench when we were in foul trouble and play the way that he ended up playing.”
Beilein is one victory shy of earning his 100th at West Virginia. In five years Beilein is now 99-59.
