WVU Picked Ninth
October 22, 2008 12:18 PM | General
October 22, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia has seen this one before: predicted to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big East race, have no players on the preseason all-league team and then wind up the season making another deep run in the NCAA tournament.
Bob Huggins, for one, is becoming familiar with this scenario.
“I saw something the other day that for the last four or five years we have finished higher than predicted,” Huggins said Monday afternoon.
History bears that out. In each of the last four years West Virginia has finished at least two places higher than its predicted finish. Last year during Huggins’ first season at West Virginia, WVU was predicted to finish 10th and wound up placing fifth and advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Two years ago during John Beilein’s last campaign in 2007, West Virginia was picked to finish 12th. The Mountaineers finished five spots higher at seventh and went on to win the NIT championship.
In 2006, WVU was predicted to finish fifth and wound up placing third and reaching the Sweet 16. And in 2005, the Mountaineers were predicted to finish ninth and finished the year seventh and advanced to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight.
Huggins certainly isn’t losing any sleep over this.
“I just worry about us and getting us better at this point in time,” Huggins said.
One thing Huggins won’t have to worry about is motivating a basketball team that has been to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 three of the last four years – one of just five schools in college basketball to do that. The Big East coaches once again have provided plenty of motivation by picking the Mountaineers to finish ninth in the 16-team league. Selections were announced Wednesday morning in New York City.
“I’d rather be good enough where everyone knows we’re going to win,” Huggins said.
Connecticut was predicted to win the Big East, followed by Louisville, Pitt, Notre Dame and Villanova to round out the top five.
Marquette was predicted to finish sixth, followed by Georgetown and Syracuse.
“We’re still going to rely on making jump shots,” Huggins said. “I think we’re better at driving it to the basket but we don’t have anybody that we can throw it to with their back to the basket.”
Huggins admits that West Virginia is going to be at a big size disadvantage against some of the upper-tier teams in the league.
“We had a guy in the other day that saw Connecticut and Syracuse practice and he said that we were going to have to play so hard, something we already knew,” Huggins said. “We’re just so small and they’re so big and strong.”
After West Virginia in ninth were Providence, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, DePaul and USF.
Connecticut, Louisville, Pitt and Notre Dame each received first-place votes. The coaches did not place their own teams on their respective ballots.
The preseason all-league team was comprised of unanimous picks Luke Harangody of Notre Dame and Sam Young of Pitt. Also on the team were Cincinnati guard Deonta Vaughn, Connecticut’s A.J. price and Hasheem Thabeet, Georgetown’s DaJuan Summers, Louisville’s Terrence Williams, Marquette’s Jerel McNeal, Notre Dame’s Kyle McAlarney, Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn and Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds.
Jeff Adrien of Connecticut, Earl Clark of Louisville and Dominic James of Marquette were honorable mention picks.
Georgetown’s Greg Monroe and Louisville’s Samardo Samuels were named preseason co-rookies of the year.
Briefly:
West Virginia’s game against Miami, Ohio on Dec. 20 and its game against Connecticut on Jan. 6 will be televised on ESPNU, while the Mountaineers’ Dec. 27 clash at Ohio State will be televised on CBS.
An additional national appearance could come at the Las Vegas Invitational Basketball Tournament.
West Virginia will appear three times as the Big East game of the week against Marquette on Jan. 10, against South Florida on Jan. 17 and against Louisville on Jan. 31.
West Virginia’s game at Mississippi on Dec. 3 will be televised on Fox Sports South.
Early season games against Mountain State (exhibition), Elon, Longwood, Cleveland State and Radford will be made available online on a pay-per-view basis at MSNsportsNET.com.
