There will be a liveblog today.
The game is on Fox Sports Pittsburgh, MSG, MASN and the Full Court Package.
Plan accordingly.
This isn’t just a sellout. It’s an “impossible ticket.”
No disagreement. Not even the UConn game will come close (in part because the game will be in Hartford rather than Storrs).
Duquesne coach Ron Everhart seems like he wants to give WVU the edge. For whatever that’s worth.
A Longtime West Virginia sports writer posits that this is the best Pitt team ever. Bob Huggins plays along in building up Pitt.
“It’s great to have that many people. Rutgers played terrific against them at the RAC and really was doing a good job. Then (Brad) Wanamaker comes in and hits a couple threes. Ashton Gibbs comes in and hits another big three.
“And those are guys who really are coming off the bench. You can’t prepare for their starters because they’ve got so many people that can hurt you.â€
Huggins said he had yet to find any weaknesses in this powerhouse.
But he intended to keep looking until the game gets under way.
This will be only the fourth time in this ancient rivalry that Pitt has played in Morgantown when ranked among the nation’s Top 5. It won all three of such previous situations — 70-64 on Dec. 12, 1987, when ranked No. 2, 80-61 on Jan. 14, 2003, when No. 3 and 67-58 on Feb. 21. 2004, when No. 5.
WVU stopped being a finesse team the minute Huggins took over last year. They got tougher and better on defense last year. It’s not like anyone figured they’d regress. So, it seems repetitive to have a story pointing out that they are in Huggins image on being a tough defensive team that gets after rebounds.
A defensive struggle is expected between the two. They have good size all over, but no one particularly big. And not as much strength as Pitt.
The truth is, if the Mountaineers are going to beat Pitt, they’re going to have to find a different way.
“We can’t play like Louisville did. We don’t have that size,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said Saturday. “Louisville’s throwing 6-9s and 6-11s at them and bringing people off the bench with good size. We can’t play like that.”
Instead, expect West Virginia (14-4, 3-2 Big East) to do what it does best, what it did in handing No. 12 Georgetown a 17-point defeat Thursday night in Washington – play in-your-face defense, rebound hard and hope more than a few shots find the mark.
DeJuan Blair has some fondness for “Huggy-bear” from his AAU days.
The connection is J.O. Stright, one of Huggins’ best friends, who runs the Pittsburgh JOTS AAU basketball team and coached Blair.
“I know coach Huggins real well,” Blair said. “When I was in high school, he would go to J.O.’s house when I was up there. We’d watch football games on Sunday and everything like that. He’s a real cool dude. He’s a cool coach.”
Huggins tried to recruit Blair to K-State, but Blair had little interest in Manhattan, Kansas.
Wellington Smith hasn’t forgotten giving up the game-winning three to Ronald Ramon.
Smith took the blame at the moment, as he does now, but there has always been a lingering question as what Smith, a 6-foot-7 forward and inside player, was doing on Ramon, a slick guard, at that moment.
“One of our guys missed a switch,†Smith revealed.
He didn’t say it hatefully. He didn’t say it as if it were an excuse, just a matter of fact.
He had to pick up Ramon and stay with him, and he failed to do that, dropping off to help inside when the only thing that could beat WVU was a 3-point shot.
But he swears he’s over it.
