The Times West Virginian

WVU Sports

March 30, 2010

WVU fans prefer to play Duke

By John Veasey Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT —  

With about five or six minutes remaining in the Duke-Baylor NCAA Elite Eight game on Sunday, the following question was raised of this West Virginia fan. Would you rather see Duke or Baylor win this game? At the time the score was tied.

Well considering that coach Mike Krzyzewski would be entering his 11th Final Four if his Blue Devils won, and Baylor would be making its first, the obvious answer might be the Baylor Bears. This would be Baylor’s maiden journey into this grandest of basketball tournaments. Coach Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers might have a better edge against Baylor in the semi-finals of the NCAA Tournament.

But then we thought: how many basketball fans know anything about Baylor. Duke has a storied reputation in the sport. Even though the Blue Devils haven’t qualified for the Final Four since 2004, when people think of Duke, they think of Coach K and Blue Devil basketball.

Of course, Coach K might have taken Duke to the Final Four back in 2008 — when coach Huggins’ was in his first year at helm of the Mountaineers and they were matched with the Blue Devils after winning their first three games in the NCAA Tournament. But West Virginia proved the master of the Blue Devils that day, upsetting them with Joe Alexander having a great game along with Joe Mazzulla. 

The guard from Rhode Island probably played his best game as a Mountaineer that day — at least until the tremendous all-around effort he turned in Saturday night against Kentucky that brought him Most Valuable Player honors in the Eastern Regional of the NCAA.

So Duke it is in Saturday night’s second semi-final round game following the clash between Michigan State and Butler. We think that’s the way most WVU fans wanted it.

Next week at this time, we will all know who the new national champion is. Until then, the suspense will be escalating greatly until Saturday evening finally rolls around.

THIS AND THAT: West Virginia wore its new black uniforms for the Saturday night game with Kentucky. We still hold to the fact that WVU’s colors are Gold and Blue, but anytime the Mountaineers can chalk up a victory over Kentucky, they can wear any color they might choose. We would look for the black “unis” again Saturday night against Duke. ...

The Michigan State Spartans defeated Tennessee on Sunday on a free throw by Raymar Morgan with 1.8 seconds left. The Spartans had won their second NCAA Tournament game over Maryland with .5 

seconds left. That’s one-half of a second. And they have won four games by 13 points...

Mountaineer coach Huggins has been quite lavish with his praise for Da’Sean Butler. 

“He’s good at everything,” Hugs said of his No. 1 star. “He can do more things well than any player I have ever had.” 

Hugs says that Joe Mazzulla was “unbelievable” with his great all-around game against Kentucky that enabled the Mountaineers to upset the Wildcats. ...

Let’s hope that the foot experts can come up with a specially designed shoe that will enable Darryl (Truck) Bryant to play in the NCAA’s Final Four. The shoe would shift the weight away from the fractured fifth metatarsal. ...

“They got me to a Final Four finally,’ Coach K said jokingly about his Blue Devil basketball team. Then he said, “It’s not about the moments I have been in. It’s the moments that your players put you in right now.” ... Duke has three senior starters — Joe Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas. ...

“I don’t think it’s just another Final Four for him,” the 7-0 Zoubek said of Coach K... “He has been right there with the senior class. He has had to deal with all the criticism, the hatred that comes with struggling.” 

That hatred and struggling must not have come this season. The Blue Devils will take a 33-5 record into Saturday’s game. WVU is a best-ever 31-6. ...

Many WVU fans around the Mountaineer State are scurrying for tickets and rooms in Indianapolis this weekend. One ticket plan we learned about includes tickets and four nights lodging for $1,800. There’s a four-night minimum for most of the hotels. ...

We imagine most of you have had your brackets wasted way back when, with Georgetown and Kansas being the biggest bracket-busters. But there is one young fellow out in Minneapolis who still has West Virginia AND Butler in his final four. And reference is not to our “big guy” but our big guy’s son, Leo. Leo is 3 years old.

E-mail John Veasey at jcveasey@timeswv.com.

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