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Campus Connection: A Deep NCAA Run is Possible
March 13, 2016 08:07 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - There are lots of deliciously interesting potential matchups in this year’s NCAA tournament.
If Kentucky and Indiana advance, the two long-time rivals could meet in a third-round game in Des Moines, Iowa instead of Lexington, Kentucky or Bloomington, Indiana.
The same deal with Texas and Texas A&M, as well as Villanova and Temple.
West Virginia has a series of intriguing possible matchups, beginning with its second-round game on Friday night when teacher faces pupil in Brooklyn, New York at 7:10 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin coach Brad Underwood worked on Huggins’ staff at Kansas State and his Lumberjack team employs a similar aggressive defensive style that saw them run the table in the Southland Conference and defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in their league championship game.
Naturally, that game will feature strength against strength.
If the Mountaineers are fortunate enough to get past Stephen F. Austin, then there is a potential contest looming against Michigan at the Barclays Center.
The Wolverines must first get past Tulsa in a first-four game in Dayton, Ohio, and then defeat Notre Dame in second-round matchup in New York, but one-time WVU coach John Beilein facing his replacement Bob Huggins down the line would create a lot of interest and excitement in the Mountain State.
Heading further down the line, if West Virginia can continue to advance and Pitt gets hot - with its immediate bracket showing a second-round game against Wisconsin on Friday and a possible third-round matchup against Xavier, there is the potential for a Backyard Brawl revival in the City of Brotherly Love in the Sweet 16 on March 25.
There is also a possible Bob Huggins-Xavier game there as well, which would get blood boiling over in Huggins’ old stomping grounds in the Queen City.
Of course, that’s getting way ahead of ourselves, but that’s why this tournament has always been so captivating anyway.
At any rate, a deep tournament run for the Mountaineers this year is a strong possibility - if they can make shots.
West Virginia (26-8) reached the Big 12 tournament championship game on Saturday where it lost to the overall NCAA tournament No. 1 seed Kansas by 10, 81-71.
WVU led by six early and came back from eight points down midway through the first half to take a one-point lead into the locker room at the break. Then, Kansas went on a 7-0 run to begin the second half and led by as many 14 points deep in the second half.
Again, West Virginia made a run to get back into the game and the Mountaineers had a chance to reduce the Jayhawks’ lead to two, but Tarik Phillip couldn’t get a pair of free throws to go down, and Landon Lucas turned a possible one-possession game into a five-point swing when he converted a conventional three-point play. That sequence helped power KU to its seventh Big 12 tournament title under Bill Self.
Guard Devonte’ Graham was tremendous, making five of six from three and all 10 of his free throw attempts to match his career high with 27 points. Wayne Seldon Jr. was also tremendous, making eight of his 13 field goal attempts and finishing with 21 points.
And while the Kansas tandem had considerable success against West Virginia’s press on Saturday, both believe the Mountaineers could be a problem for teams in the NCAA tournament because of their unusual style of play.
“It’s a dangerous group,” said Seldon Jr. “You know, the way they press, it’s really unconventional, but it works for them and they could be really dangerous in the tournament. I feel like we had an advantage because we’ve seen them so many times.”
The teams West Virginia are going to face in the NCAA tournament won’t have that luxury, especially those same-site, second-game opponents.
“For a team that hasn’t experienced that in their conference, a pressing team like that, it can cause a lot of trouble, and I think they’ll do pretty well in the tournament,” said Graham.
If CBS college basketball expert Seth Davis is correct, that could mean a lot of damage. Davis is predicting a Final Four run for the Mountaineers.
“I love what they can do,” he said. “To have one day to prepare for that press is awfully tough.”
Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger, whose Sooner team finished a game behind West Virginia in the regular season and lost to the Mountaineers in the Big 12 semifinals but got a better seeding than WVU in the NCAA tournament, saw his best player, Buddy Hield, get completely taken out of the game on Friday night.
Hield, who scored 39 points against Iowa State in the Big 12 quarterfinals and is a national player of the year candidate, scored a season-low six points on one-of-eight shooting against "Press" Virginia.
Kruger said it was a matter of West Virginia sending waves of players against Hield.
“They did a good job of staying up into him,” Kruger said. “And then when he did get it, they had another guy ready to help. They did a good job, made it tough on Buddy to get looks, and obviously the fewest looks he’s had on the year, for sure.”
Devin Williams scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Saturday's Big 12 tournament championship loss to top-ranked Kansas (Big 12 Conference photo).
Kruger said the key to attacking West Virginia’s press is how the other four offensive players without the basketball react to it.
“West Virginia is going to be up into you, you know that,” he said. “You just have to work a little harder away from the ball and work – as a group you have to work harder to get open. It’s a combination of doing things with a little more conviction and staying after it.”
For Huggins, who has taken two teams to the Final Four, this is easily the best West Virginia squad he’s had since the Mountaineers’ Final Four run in 2010.
That year, WVU had three down-to-the-wire, difficult games in the Big East tournament against Cincinnati, Notre Dame and Georgetown to win the league championship and earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
WVU faced another grueling week in Kansas City, particularly on Friday and Saturday with back-to-back emotional games against two great basketball teams, but Huggins believes there is plenty of time for his guys to refill their tanks.
He recalled the resiliency his Mountaineer team displayed during its great run in 2010.
“I was a little concerned that we were pretty spent after three straight days and three hard games,” he said. “But we came out and played pretty well in the NCAA tournament and went to the Final Four. The same thing happened at Cincinnati in ’92, so I don’t know.
“I hear people say you’re better off if you get rested and all that, but the truth of the matter is probably when you were 18-, 19-years-old, and somebody gave you a day off, you probably didn’t rest.
"And they probably don’t either.”
Interesting times, for sure.
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
Ross Hodge | College Basketball Crown Preview
Monday, March 30
