NCAA Tournament Preview
March 19, 2015 02:31 PM | General
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(23-9)
(23-9)COLUMBUS, Ohio – One team making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and another seeking to get back some of its postseason mojo will meet in Columbus, Ohio on Friday afternoon when West Virginia takes on Buffalo in an NCAA Tournament second-round game.
The Bulls, of course, are the team making their first trip to the Big Dance under second-year coach Bobby Hurley, a former Duke star who led the Blue Devils to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1991-92.
Buffalo (23-9) was predicted to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference East Division and its student newspaper was hoping for a .500 finish for their team this year, but Buffalo has obviously exceeded those expectations. Now, many are predicting the 12th-seeded Bulls to continue the recent trend of 12-5 upsets in the NCAA Tournament by defeating West Virginia on Friday (of course, this was before Iowa State and Baylor lost earlier today).
Jay Bilas likes Buffalo. So does basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb, who will be calling the game alongside Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn tomorrow on TNT.
ESPN’s Big 12 expert Fran Fraschilla says he likes the Bulls, too. Even President Barack Obama is picking Buffalo to advance in his tournament bracket revealed on Wednesday.
During Thursday’s news conference players from both teams were asked about Buffalo being the popular upset pick for this year’s tournament.
“We don’t really pay attention to what other people say because if we were to pay attention to that from the very beginning of the season we would not be here right now because all of the expectations (weren’t) positive,” said West Virginia senior guard Gary Browne.
West Virginia guard Juwan Staten said he likes playing the underdog role.
“It keeps us going,” he said. “When people pick against us it gives us that extra feel. Everybody on our team I feel like has been slighted in some way in their career. I feel like they deserved more in some way so this whole season has just been about proving people wrong, and I think we’ve done a good job up until now and I think we’ll keep doing a good job of that.”
“I keep seeing the stuff and I have to keep reminding my players, hey, you guys are not favored here,” said Hurley. “West Virginia is from the Big 12; had a great season. They’re the 5 seed; you’re the 12 and you have a lot of people that think we should win this game or have selected us. And that’s great. I tell our guys, if someone picks against you, use it as motivation. If someone picks you, don’t listen to them and just stay focused on what we’re doing.”
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins says he hasn’t made it a point to talk to his team about it.
“We have to go do what we’re good at doing and try and do what we do better than what they do at what they do,” he explained. “And all of that other stuff it sounds good and it gives you a column to write, but in terms of winning and losing a game, I don’t think it has much to do with anything.”
Buffalo has won eight games in a row to get to this point, beginning with a February 18 victory at Eastern Michigan, and continuing with a MAC Tournament run with victories over Akron and Central Michigan.
Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Justin Moss is averaging 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, while Evans shows averages of 15.4 points and 4.7 assists per game.
The Bulls are shooting 72.2 percent from the free throw line and have a plus-3 advantage on the glass.
“I think the biggest thing is they really try to play downhill,” said Huggins. “They do a great job of pushing tempo. They do a great job of creating numbers but that’s kind of what we do, too.”
West Virginia (23-9), meanwhile, has not won a postseason game since beating Clemson in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins has a long history of success in the tournament through the years, including a run to the Final Four with WVU in 2010 and a Sweet 16 trip in 2008, and he would like to get his team back to that level.
The Mountaineers have bounced back from two straight disappointing seasons in 2013-14 to win 11 games this season in the toughest conference in the country with a roster full of young players and junior college transfers.
They have done it without Staten, the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, for the last four games, and they have done it with Browne out for the last three games.
Both are expected to play on Friday.
“I’m feeling great,” said Staten. “If I wasn’t feeling good I wouldn’t be playing.”
Staten leads the Mountaineers in scoring with an average of 14.5 points per game. Staten scored 20 and made the game-winning shot in West Virginia’s big win over Kansas, and he contributed 22 in a nice road win at Oklahoma State on February 21.
He played 34 minutes in the Texas win before being hobbled by a knee injury that has kept him out of the last four games, including a Big 12 Tournament loss to Baylor.
Browne scored 18 in the Oklahoma State victory and reached double figures in scoring eight times this year, including six in conference play.
Sophomore forward Devin Williams is averaging 11.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and is coming off back-to-back impressive performances in recent games against Oklahoma State and Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament.
Williams scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds against the Cowboys and contributed 18 points and seven rebounds before fouling out in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals against the Bears. Williams has made 11 of his last 15 field goal attempts to boost his shooting percentage to 44.6 percent for the season.
Friday’s game will be the third time West Virginia has faced the Bulls on the hardwood, the last time coming on December 11, 1991 when WVU defeated Buffalo 91-46 in Morgantown.
The game will tip off at 2:10 p.m.
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