Tournament Notebook

Tournament Notebook

By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
March 7, 2007

NEW YORK – West Virginia had a couple of hours to celebrate its 92-79 victory over Providence before getting back to work preparing for No. 12-ranked Louisville Thursday night in the Big East tournament quarterfinals. The two teams did not play each other this year.

	West Virginia's Frank Young (21) goes to the basket against Providence's Weyeinmi Efejuku (13) during the second half of basketball action in the first round of the Big East conference tournament Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at Madison Square Garden in New York. AP photo/Mary Altaffer

“In 20 hours or so we are back playing again,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “When Frank (Young) and Darris (Nichols) were freshman and sophomores, we got it all the way to Saturday night one time (2005). But I thought Thursday night where you’re down to eight teams -- I think it’s one of the best nights.”

Beilein says all of his focus has been on Providence. Assistant coach Matt Brown has the Louisville scout and Beilein will now turn his full attention to the Cardinals, 22-8 and seeded No. 2 in the tournament.

“My assistant coaches have seen them several times,” Beilein said. “We have played Louisville before. I think they still have some of the guys that we played in the NCAA tournament.”

The last time the two teams met in Morgantown in 2006, West Virginia held on for a 68-64 victory. Six-eight junior forward Juan Palacious scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Cardinals in the loss. Guards Brandon Jenkins and Terrence Williams combined to score 13 points; Andre Magee and Terrence Farley came off the bench to play against the Mountaineers.

Williams is Louisville’s top scorer averaging 12.2 points per game. However, the 6-6 forward is shooting just 36.2 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from 3-point distance. Six-one freshman guard Edgar Sosa is averaging 10.8 points per game and is shooting 40.9 percent. Six Louisville players average between 8.2 and 12.2 points per game.

Nine players average more than 13.8 minutes per game.

The Cardinals have won six straight heading into Thursday night’s game against West Virginia and are comfortably in the NCAA tournament. Louisville has only lost four times in conference play this year at Notre Dame, at home to Marquette, at Villanova and at home against Georgetown.

West Virginia, despite a 22-8 overall record, still has some work to do to get into the tournament, according to those who project the NCAA field of 65. RealTimeRPI.com has West Virginia up five spots to 52 after Wednesday night’s win over Providence.

“I think the best idea for everybody in the country is just to try and keep winning,” Beilein said. “The NCAA – I know the NCAA selection committee just does a terrific job, but we just need to keep winning and not worry about any of that.”

ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb believes a win over Louisville still might not be enough for the Mountaineers, which have an updated strength of schedule rating of 98th.

Briefly:

West Virginia and Louisville are shaping up to be natural rivals in the new Big East. The two schools have the top two football programs in the Big East, and West Virginia’s women’s team owned three straight wins over the Cardinals before Louisville knocked the Mountaineers out of this year’s Big East tournament. In 2005 West Virginia and Louisville played for the right to go to the Final Four. “I think our fans both travel well,” Beilein said. “Both sports are very important (football and men’s basketball). You have some schools that are basketball schools or football schools. I think Louisville and West Virginia are very similar in that both of them are contending nationally. “It’s an honor to be playing against them, especially in the Big East tournament.” West Virginia’s 92 points were a season-high for the Mountaineers against the Big East this year; it was the most points scored in a Big East tournament game since Boston College scored 93 against Villanova on March 8, 2001. West Virginia’s 17 3-pointers established a Big East tournament record previously held by Seton Hall, which made 14 against Boston College on March 9, 1995. Senior forward Frank Young is one 3-point field goal shy of tying Kevin Pittsnogle for second in single-season 3-point field goals made. Pittsnogle made 91 3s last year. The school record for 3-pointers in a season is 101 by Chris Leonard in 1992. Alex Ruoff has found his shooting stroke after going 2 for 8 in a 14-point road loss at Pitt on Feb. 27. In his last two games, Ruoff has made 16 of its last 26 shot attempts including 10 of 17 from 3-point range in wins against Cincinnati and Providence. Ruoff scored 23 against Cincinnati and had 21 Wednesday night against Providence. Freshman Wellington Smith’s performance against Providence was reminiscent of Frank Young’s memorable relief effort in the 2005 Big East tournament against Boston College when starter Tyrone Sally couldn’t go. Young, then a sophomore, came in and scored a season-high 14 points, hitting three key 3-pointers. Wednesday night, foul trouble forced Beilein to use Smith for 10 minutes against Providence. The 6-7 freshman responded with 10 points on 3 of 4 shooting, hitting a key 3-point basket with 1:21 left and making all three of his free throws. It was the third time Smith has scored double figures this season, connecting for 12 against Maryland Eastern Shore and 11 against Western Michigan. “I mentioned on the television broadcast that he was like Frank Young. Two years ago when Frank came in here and lit this place up, I turned to everybody and said, ‘Who is the coach that has not been playing Frank Young?’ And I said the same thing about Wellington,” Beilein said. “That was quite a performance for a kid from New Jersey, to come in here off the bench when we were in foul trouble and play the way that he ended up playing.” West Virginia improves to 5-11 in Big East tournament play; Beilein is now 4-4 in the tournament. This year marks just the third time West Virginia has advanced past the first round. Beilein is one victory shy of earning his 100th at West Virginia. In five years Beilein is now 99-59. All of the higher-seeded teams except for No. 9 Villanova advanced Wednesday in the Big East tournament. Print View Email [View Category Article List]