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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

WVU is Dancin

WVU is Dancin
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
March 13, 2007

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will be making its second trip in 15 years to the NCAA Women’s Basketball championships when it takes on No. 6-seeded Xavier on Saturday, March 17, at 8 pm ET at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

Coach Mike Carey talks to reporters after his team received a bid to play Xavier in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

The Mountaineers (20-10) are seeded 11th in the Fresno Regional. Saturday’s game against the Musketeers will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

“I’m proud of the players,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey, who guided WVU to an NCAA berth in 2004. “The way we started out the season -- and not only did we start out the season without Meg Bulger -- we started out the season and really had some rough games early.”

West Virginia got into the tournament by getting key road wins against DePaul, Pitt and Louisville – three of a record eight Big East teams in this year’s tournament. West Virginia has won 12 of its last 15 games after dropping to 8-7 after a double-overtime road loss at Villanova back on Jan. 6.

“We fought back and down the stretch we were able to win several games in a row,” said Carey.

West Virginia’s NCAA tournament history is not an extensive one. This year will be just the fourth time the women have made the national tournament, joining the 1989, the 1992 and the 2004 teams. The Mountaineers are 2-3 all-time in NCAA tournament play.

“They deserve this and it’s important for our program but we also need to go out and win a game or two,” Carey said. “We cannot be satisfied that we’re in. We need to stay focused and try and win some games.”

That task won’t be easy facing Atlantic 10 tournament champion Xavier, which brings a 26-7 record into this year’s tournament. The Musketeers knocked off St. Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 tournament finals to claim the league’s automatic NCAA berth.

Xavier shows out-of-conference wins against Florida, Auburn, Kansas, N.C. State and Cincinnati and was 11-3 in the A-10 this year.

Six-one forward Joei Clyburn had 19 points and 13 rebounds against St. Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 championship game to earn tournament MVP honors. Mountaineer fans may remember Clyburn, who played one year in Carey’s WVU program before opting to transfer.

“It just didn’t work out for her here,” Carey said. “She went to Xavier, sat out, and was the MVP of their conference tournament so that shows you how smart I am.”

Clyburn was used primarily coming off the bench, averaging 11.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Six-five freshman forward Amber Harris leads Xavier with averages of 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. The former “Miss Indiana Basketball” was considered by some to be the nation’s No. 1 recruit a year ago, turning down offers from LSU, Rutgers and Tennessee to play at Xavier.

Harris has tried 55 3-point field goal attempts and has blocked a team-best 133 shots this year, showing her versatility.

“She’s very active,” said Carey of Harris. “She reminds me a little bit of Tina Charles from Connecticut, but she is probably not as strong and probably not as skilled at this point in her career.”

Overall, Carey is extremely impressed with Xavier’s overall athleticism.

“They get up and down the floor and their guards are athletic,” he said. “They play like we do a little bit. We’re going to play a team that gets up and down the floor and a team that plays a lot of man with some zone.”

The last time West Virginia made the NCAA tournament in 2004 the Mountaineers had to face Ohio State on its home floor. West Virginia lost by six, 73-67.

“We’ve played a pretty tough non-conference schedule so I feel very comfortable going there and playing on a neutral floor,” Carey said.

The winner of the West Virginia-Xavier game will face the winner of LSU-UNC Asheville on Monday, March 19. LSU is embroiled in a controversy concerning its former coach Pokey Chatman who recently stepped down after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a former player.

The Lady Tigers have made three straight trips to the Final Four. West Virginia lost at LSU, 64-25 to open the 2006-07 season back on Nov. 12.

“I think we’ve got to worry about Xavier – they have won a lot of basketball games this year,” said Carey in response to a possible second-round rematch with the Lady Tigers. “If we got to LSU in the second round there is no doubt we won’t be overconfident. Hopefully, they will be overconfident after what they did to us earlier this season.”

West Virginia tentatively plans on leaving Thursday for Austin, Texas, to arrive in time for a Friday afternoon workout.

“It would have been nice to stay closer but we’ll go where they want us to go,” Carey said. “We could have easily met halfway in Parkersburg (W.Va.) and played this game. It would have been a lot closer.”

Briefly:

  • With the exception of Meg Bulger, West Virginia doesn’t have a single player on its roster that played in its last NCAA tournament appearance against Ohio State in 2004.
  • The Mountaineers have been to post-season play in three of the last four years under Carey, going to the NCAA tournament in 2004 and reaching the WNIT finals in 2005. The Mountaineers were seven points away from upsetting Connecticut on its home floor in last year’s Big East tournament finals in 2006.
  • Carey was a little disappointed in his team’s No. 11 seeding despite finishing fourth in the Big East, which sent eight teams to this year’s tournament.

    “Where we finished in the Big East I thought we would be a little higher,” he said. “I’m sure losing our first game in the Big East tournament didn’t help.”

    The Big East got a No. 1 seed in Connecticut, which lost the conference tournament final to Rutgers on its home floor. Rutgers was a No. 4 seed. Other Big East teams in this year’s field of 64 are Notre Dame, DePaul, Pitt and Louisville.

  • When West Virginia faces Xavier this Saturday it will be exactly two weeks since the last time the Mountaineers have played. Will it be a matter of rust or rest?

    “I’ll tell you after about 10 minutes into the game,” Carey said. “We definitely needed to get some people healed up. We had some people sick at the Big East tournament and we’re pretty healthy right now. Hopefully we’ll stay healthy.”

  • Junior LaQuita Owens has scored 58 points and grabbed 22 rebounds in her last two games – both against Louisville. The guard is now averaging 14 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

    Junior center Olayinka Sanni is West Virginia’s leader in both scoring and rebounding, posting averages of 14.1 and 6.8 per game.

    Junior forward Chakhia Cole is the Mountaineers’ other double-digit scorer averaging 11.7 points per game.

  • West Virginia and Xavier last faced on the hardwood in 1993 with Xavier running away with a 99-68 victory. Xavier made a run to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight as a No. 4 seed in 2001. Xavier’s last NCAA bid came in 2003.
    WVU to Play in NIT
    By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
    March 11, 2007

    2007 MASTERCARD NIT BRACKET

    MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – John Beilein’s first win at West Virginia came against Delaware State on Nov. 22, 2002. Tuesday night in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament, the fifth-year coach could get his 100th at WVU.

    The No. 1-seeded Mountaineers take on the MEAC regular-season champion Delaware State in a game that will tip off at 7 pm.

    The Hornets were edged at the buzzer of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships by Florida A&M on Saturday, March 10.

    Delaware State shows non-conference losses this year to Wisconsin, Pitt, North Carolina State, Purdue, Marquette and Michigan. The Hornets were 16-2 in the MEAC this season.

    Roy Bright (15. 9 ppg.) and Jahsha Bluntt (15.4), both 6-6, each average double figures for Delaware State.

    The winner of the West Virginia-Delaware State game will play the winner of the Massachusetts-Alabama game on Thursday, March 15, at 9 pm on ESPNU at the home arena of the higher seeded team.

    “I’ve tried to prepare them for this by talking about the NIT,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “Coach (Jerry) Dunn has been to the NIT Final Four twice and I’ve been there once. Aside from our ‘Elite Eight’ run and last year’s ‘Sweet 16’ it’s been the best experience ever in my life in coaching to be able to make it back to Madison Square Garden and have three heart-stopping wins to get there.”

    The Mountaineers in the East are one of four top-seeded teams in the NIT, joining Mississippi State in the North, Air Force in the West, and Clemson in the South.

    Other Big East teams in this year’s 32-team NIT field include 18-12 Providence in the North, 18-13 DePaul in the West, and 22-10 Syracuse in the South. The Orange, considered by some to be an NCAA tournament lock, is a number two seed in the NIT.

    “I’m surprised about Syracuse (not getting into the NCAA) but the people that are on this committee are very efficient,” Beilein said. “They know what they’re doing and I support what they have done. I feel bad for Syracuse because they had a great year but they must have felt that there were better teams out there.”

    The NIT quarterfinals are scheduled for March 20-21 at the home site of the higher-seeded team; the NIT Final Four will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 27. Both games will be televised on ESPN2. The NIT championship game will take place on March 29 at 7 pm on ESPN.

    West Virginia last played in the NIT in 2004, knocking off Kent State and Rhode Island before falling in the second round at Rutgers. This is West Virginia’s 15th appearance in the National Invitational Tournament. WVU last went to the NIT Final Four in 1982 and won the tournament in 1942.

    “We’re happy to just be playing,” Beilein said. “By Wednesday and Thursday or next weekend there will still only be about 24 teams playing anywhere. We just want to play as long as we can play. This team still has something special in them and I know West Virginia fans would love to see this team keep on winning.”

    Tickets for Tuesday’s game will go on sale at 10 am at the Mountaineer Ticket Office in the WVU Coliseum. Season ticket holders have until 6 pm on Monday to purchase their reserved seats. Fans can also order by calling 1-800-WVU GAME.

    Tickets are priced at $20 for lower level seating and $12 for seats in the upper deck. Non-season ticket holders can also purchase upper level tickets at WVUGAME.com.

    Student tickets go on sale at 10 am Tuesday for $4. The first 500 WVU students will receive a ticket for free admission, courtesy of Coca-Cola. Children under 18 can purchase tickets at the game only on game day for $4.

    Student tickets will not be sold on Monday.




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