Basketball Notebook
December 15, 2009 10:46 PM | General
December 15, 2009
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| Coach Bob Huggins gives instruction to guard Truck Bryant during West Virginia's 69-43 victory over Coppin State last Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum.
AP photo |
SYRACUSE JUMPS WVU IN BOTH POLLS
It wasn’t a surprise that Syracuse jumped West Virginia in both men’s basketball polls this week.
The Orange, ranked No. 5 both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ polls, were just two points behind No. 6 West Virginia in last week’s AP poll before knocking off then-11th-ranked Florida in Tampa last Thursday night.
Syracuse also has neutral court victories over Cal and North Carolina, and could very well be 17-0 when it comes to Morgantown to play the Mountaineers on Jan. 16 in a game to be televised on ESPN.
Providing road blocks for the Orange are games at Seton Hall on Dec. 29, at home against Pitt on Jan. 2 and a game against Memphis on Jan. 6.
West Virginia has a difficult nine-day stretch from Dec. 23-Jan. 1 when it plays Ole Miss, Seton Hall, Marquette and Purdue in succession. Three of those four games (Ole Miss on ESPN2, Seton Hall on CBS and Purdue on ESPN) are on national television.
The combined record of those four teams is 32-4 as of Tuesday evening.
MOUNTAINEERS BACK IN ACTION ON SATURDAY
West Virginia has produced back-to-back 20-point + victories over Duquesne and Coppin State without getting a great deal of offense. Against the Eagles last Saturday, the Mountaineers shot a pedestrian 39.7 percent without key contributors Devin Ebanks (hand) and Casey Mitchell (knee) in the lineup.
Coach Bob Huggins was able to rest his ailing starters in the 69-43 victory and that gives them 10 days between games before facing Cleveland State this Saturday afternoon in the John McLendon Classic that also features a women’s game against Indiana immediately following the men’s game.
Cleveland State Coach Gary Waters had won 15 of his last 16 games at home before Tuesday night’s loss to Robert Morris.
Why a trip to Cleveland State this weekend?
Huggins has always had a strong presence in Northeastern Ohio and recruits that area heavily. While at Cincinnati, Huggins landed Cleveland standouts Ruben Patterson and Steve Logan.
Huggins has also taken Cincinnati teams to Cleveland in the past to play neutral-site games at Gund Arena. The Vikings will return to Morgantown next year to complete a 2-for-1 agreement.
SELLOUTS GALORE
West Virginia is one of four Big East teams to average more than 10,000 fans so far this season. Through four dates , the Mountaineers are averaging 10,155 with a high of 12,348 for The Citadel on Nov. 24.
Six of the Mountaineers’ remaining 11 home games have already sold out, with the latest sellout being Seton Hall on Feb. 20.
Tickets still remain for these four games: Ole Miss (Dec. 23), Marquette (Dec. 29), Rutgers (Jan. 6) and Georgetown (March 1).
GETTING DEFENSIVE
The top two defensive teams in the Big East, West Virginia and Georgetown, have not allowed an opponent to score more than 66 points this year. The Mountaineers are No. 1 in the conference in scoring defense (55.1) while the Hoyas are second, allowing just 56.2 points per game.
Speaking of Georgetown, the Hoyas are off to an 8-0 start that includes an impressive 74-66 victory over 16th-rated Washington in the Wooden Classic. The Hoyas could be 13-0 when they face Connecticut on Jan. 9 in Washington, D.C.
ODDBALL
Can you figure this one out?
West Virginia is first in the Big East in scoring defense, but is 15th out of 16 teams in the conference in field goal percentage defense allowing teams to shoot 43.0 percent from the field through seven games this year.
The three areas the Mountaineers have been able to make up ground are rebounding defense, rebounding margin and turnover margin where they are either tops or near the top of the league in those categories.
Another strong area has been offensive rebounding where West Virginia is second to Providence, pulling down an average of 17 offensive boards per game.
I know it’s early, but who would have guessed Providence and West Virginia would be the two top offensive rebounding teams in the Big East through the first five weeks of the college basketball season?
WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE ‘VILLE?
After going 4-0 to start the season, including a 30-point win over Arkansas in its season opener, Louisville has lost three of its last four games, including back-to-back losses to Charlotte and Western Carolina.
The Cardinals have given up 178 points in their last two games.
SETON HALL PUTS UP 134 ON VMI
Seton Hall eclipsed a 48-year school scoring record when it poured in 134 points on VMI in a 27-pointy victory last Saturday. Jamel Jackson scored 40 points on 12-of-15 shooting from 3-point range. He scored only 1 point in his previous game against UMass five days earlier.
Six-eight transfer Herb Pope has been as good as advertised, scoring 15 points and pulling down 20 rebounds against VMI – his sixth double-double of the season. Pope is averaging 14.6 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, giving Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez the inside presence his Pirate teams have lacked during his three previous seasons there.
West Virginia will be at a slight disadvantage when it travels to New Jersey to face the Pirates on Saturday, Dec. 26, having just two days of prep on the 24th and Christmas Day after playing Ole Miss on the 23rd in Morgantown.
Seton Hall will play Navy on the 22nd.
BACK IN THE POLLS FOR THE WVU WOMEN
The West Virginia women’s team made its first appearance in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll this week at No. 23 after a 9-1 start that has seen WVU register blowout victories against Nevada-Reno, Radford, Maine, Eastern Kentucky and Longwood in its last five games.
Despite having a young team, veteran Mountaineer coach Mike Carey has said repeatedly that he likes the makeup and character of this year's squad.
WVU will have a much stiffer challenge this Saturday against a 7-3 Fresno State team that has won five straight, including an 18-point victory against UNLV last Saturday.
West Virginia’s poll history in women’s basketball is not extensive, particularly in the AP poll where the Mountaineers garnered 22 votes this week to put them four spots out of the Top 25.
Prior to this year, WVU has spent only 28 weeks in the AP Top 25, with 20 of those weeks coming during the 2007-08 season when it went wire-to-wire in the rankings.
The other eight weeks in the AP Top 25 came during the 1992 season when West Virginia reach the NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16."
