Nine League Teams Ranked
January 05, 2009 03:11 PM | General
January 5, 2009
BOB HUGGINS AUDIO
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - And now there are nine. In 1985 the Big East Conference made history by having three teams in the Final Four.
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| West Virginia coach Bob Huggins shares a laugh with Ohio State coach Thad Matta during the Mountaineers' game at Ohio State on Saturday, December 27, 2008.
AP photo |
This week, the conference is making more history by getting nine teams into the top 25. West Virginia is in this week at No. 22 in the coaches’ poll, and sneaks in at No. 25 in the AP poll.
The Mountaineers (11-2) join eight others in the rankings this week, including No. 1 Pitt which is making its first appearance at the top spot in the polls in school history.
“It’s the best league in the history of college basketball,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “I really believe at the end you could have like the Big East had at one point in time - three teams in the Final Four. Tell me we don’t have three teams capable of going to the Final Four? We probably have five or six capable of going to the Final Four and some other ones given the right match ups and a couple bounces may have a chance.”
The Big East has four teams in the top 10 in the coaches’ poll (No. 1 Pitt, No. 5 Connecticut, No. 9 Syracuse and No. 10 Georgetown).
Three Big East teams are in the AP top 10 this week (No. 1 Pitt, No. 5 Connecticut and No. 9 Georgetown) with Syracuse just outside the top 10 at No. 11.
Notre Dame is 13th in both polls; Marquette is 15th in the coaches’ poll and 18th in the writer’s poll while both Villanova and Louisville remain in the rankings.
The Wildcats are 17th in the coaches’ poll and 18th in the AP poll while Louisville is 21st in the coaches’ and 23rd in the writer’s polls.
“I was in Conference-USA and it was pretty good then,” Huggins said. “We still had Marquette, DePaul, Louisville and Memphis and all those people. Then you say, ‘Well, (the Big East) not that much better than our league.’
“Yeah, it really is. I was in the Big 12. Most leagues have two or three teams that are very good. This league has nine or 10. It’s brutal.”
West Virginia has little time to celebrate its return to the rankings. The Mountaineers entertain Connecticut Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Tip off is set for 7 pm.
