Post by elp525 on Mar 14, 2011 8:06:03 GMT -5
March 13, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - How's this for a twist? West Virginia's basketball team waited four days to find out where it was going and who it would play in the NCAA tournament.
And then when the time came, the Mountaineers discovered only half the equation.
The where is cut and dried. West Virginia (20-11) was made a fifth seed and sent to Tampa, Fla., as part of the East Regional.
But WVU's opponent in a Thursday afternoon game at the St. Pete Times Forum won't be determined until late Tuesday night.
That's when Clemson (21-11) and Alabama-Birmingham (22-8) play a first-round game in Dayton for the right to enter the regular 64-team bracket. The winner of that game moves on to face the Mountaineers at 12:15 p.m. Thursday in the first game of the regular bracket.
So what are the pros and cons of not knowing?
"No pros or cons,'' West Virginia guard Truck Bryant said. "We all have to compete against each other.''
In the first year of the NCAA's new 68-team field, here's why West Virginia is forced to wait until roughly 48 hours before game time to know the opponent. There are now four play-in games, two of which determine two of the four No. 16 seeds and two more that determine the final No. 11 seed and the first No. 12. The idea is to allow four teams from the smaller automatic qualifying conferences to play their way into the bracket and the last four at-large teams to do the same.
Bob Huggins wasn't particularly thrilled with the turn of events, but there's not much he can do about it.
"It takes a day of preparation away,'' the West Virginia coach said shortly after the pairings were announced. "Now we're not even going to know who we're playing until Tuesday night. It seems like if you play a team like that [the next game] the next game should probably be on Friday."
Well, two of them are. Two of the play-in games are scheduled for Tuesday, with the winners jumping into the bracket with Thursday games (the other Tuesday game is UNC-Asheville against Arkansas-Little Rock for the right to meet Southeast No. 1 seed Pitt). The other two play-in games are on Wednesday, with the winners advancing to Friday games.
Still, despite the uncertainty regarding the opponent, no one involved with the Mountaineers was complaining about much else. They got the site they wanted and a better seed than most expected.
"I think we all thought we were going to be a six seed. Now we're a five, so that's good,'' said forward Cam Thoroughman. "And we all said we wanted to go to Tampa, so that worked out.''
Indeed, there had been discussions about the site because in the past two seasons, the Mountaineers encountered very little warm weather. Last year's first-round games were in Buffalo, N.Y., and the regional games were in Syracuse. The year before that, a first-round loss was in Minneapolis.
"The last two years we've gone to places that were kind of cold and dreary,'' forward Kevin Jones said. "To get somewhere in the sun is good. I think Tampa will be a pretty special place to play.''
West Virginia has played once in the arena where these games (now called second- and third-rounders because of the play-in games) are scheduled. In 2008, Huggins' first season, the Mountaineers' game with South Florida was moved to the St. Pete Times Forum from USF's Sun Dome because officials there wanted a game to prepare for hosting the NCAA women's Final Four there 21/2 months later.
Three current Mountaineers - John Flowers, Joe Mazzulla and Jonnie West - played in the building in a 69-52 win.
Nearly as intriguing as the wait-and-see opening game for the Mountaineers is the potential next game. If both teams win on Thursday, West Virginia would face No. 4 seed Kentucky on Saturday for the right to go to the Sweet 16 the following week in Newark, N.J. WVU beat top-seeded Kentucky in Syracuse last March for the right to go to the Final Four.
It would be another matchup between old friends Huggins and UK's John Calipari.
"Cal texted me at 6:01 [just before the pairings were released] and said, 'You know we're going to be playing each other again,'" Huggins said. "I didn't think there was any chance.''
First, though, both teams have to win (Kentucky faces No. 13 seed Princeton on Thursday). For the Mountaineers, that means winning either against a UAB team that won the Conference USA regular-season title before losing its first league tournament game to East Carolina in overtime, or a Clemson team that was tied for fourth in the ACC and played its way this far by trouncing Boston College in the ACC tournament opener and then taking North Carolina to overtime.
West Virginia is 1-2 all-time against UAB, all the games coming between 1987 and 1991. WVU is 3-1 against Clemson, including a win in the NIT championship game at Madison Square Garden in 2007.
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - How's this for a twist? West Virginia's basketball team waited four days to find out where it was going and who it would play in the NCAA tournament.
And then when the time came, the Mountaineers discovered only half the equation.
The where is cut and dried. West Virginia (20-11) was made a fifth seed and sent to Tampa, Fla., as part of the East Regional.
But WVU's opponent in a Thursday afternoon game at the St. Pete Times Forum won't be determined until late Tuesday night.
That's when Clemson (21-11) and Alabama-Birmingham (22-8) play a first-round game in Dayton for the right to enter the regular 64-team bracket. The winner of that game moves on to face the Mountaineers at 12:15 p.m. Thursday in the first game of the regular bracket.
So what are the pros and cons of not knowing?
"No pros or cons,'' West Virginia guard Truck Bryant said. "We all have to compete against each other.''
In the first year of the NCAA's new 68-team field, here's why West Virginia is forced to wait until roughly 48 hours before game time to know the opponent. There are now four play-in games, two of which determine two of the four No. 16 seeds and two more that determine the final No. 11 seed and the first No. 12. The idea is to allow four teams from the smaller automatic qualifying conferences to play their way into the bracket and the last four at-large teams to do the same.
Bob Huggins wasn't particularly thrilled with the turn of events, but there's not much he can do about it.
"It takes a day of preparation away,'' the West Virginia coach said shortly after the pairings were announced. "Now we're not even going to know who we're playing until Tuesday night. It seems like if you play a team like that [the next game] the next game should probably be on Friday."
Well, two of them are. Two of the play-in games are scheduled for Tuesday, with the winners jumping into the bracket with Thursday games (the other Tuesday game is UNC-Asheville against Arkansas-Little Rock for the right to meet Southeast No. 1 seed Pitt). The other two play-in games are on Wednesday, with the winners advancing to Friday games.
Still, despite the uncertainty regarding the opponent, no one involved with the Mountaineers was complaining about much else. They got the site they wanted and a better seed than most expected.
"I think we all thought we were going to be a six seed. Now we're a five, so that's good,'' said forward Cam Thoroughman. "And we all said we wanted to go to Tampa, so that worked out.''
Indeed, there had been discussions about the site because in the past two seasons, the Mountaineers encountered very little warm weather. Last year's first-round games were in Buffalo, N.Y., and the regional games were in Syracuse. The year before that, a first-round loss was in Minneapolis.
"The last two years we've gone to places that were kind of cold and dreary,'' forward Kevin Jones said. "To get somewhere in the sun is good. I think Tampa will be a pretty special place to play.''
West Virginia has played once in the arena where these games (now called second- and third-rounders because of the play-in games) are scheduled. In 2008, Huggins' first season, the Mountaineers' game with South Florida was moved to the St. Pete Times Forum from USF's Sun Dome because officials there wanted a game to prepare for hosting the NCAA women's Final Four there 21/2 months later.
Three current Mountaineers - John Flowers, Joe Mazzulla and Jonnie West - played in the building in a 69-52 win.
Nearly as intriguing as the wait-and-see opening game for the Mountaineers is the potential next game. If both teams win on Thursday, West Virginia would face No. 4 seed Kentucky on Saturday for the right to go to the Sweet 16 the following week in Newark, N.J. WVU beat top-seeded Kentucky in Syracuse last March for the right to go to the Final Four.
It would be another matchup between old friends Huggins and UK's John Calipari.
"Cal texted me at 6:01 [just before the pairings were released] and said, 'You know we're going to be playing each other again,'" Huggins said. "I didn't think there was any chance.''
First, though, both teams have to win (Kentucky faces No. 13 seed Princeton on Thursday). For the Mountaineers, that means winning either against a UAB team that won the Conference USA regular-season title before losing its first league tournament game to East Carolina in overtime, or a Clemson team that was tied for fourth in the ACC and played its way this far by trouncing Boston College in the ACC tournament opener and then taking North Carolina to overtime.
West Virginia is 1-2 all-time against UAB, all the games coming between 1987 and 1991. WVU is 3-1 against Clemson, including a win in the NIT championship game at Madison Square Garden in 2007.
