WVU’s NIT run ‘special’

WVU’s NIT run ‘special’

Team’s surge doesn’t surprise Beilein

By Mickey Furfari
For The Register-Herald

MORGANTOWN — Are you surprised that West Virginia is in the Final Four of the 70th National Invitation Tournament?

John Beilein certainly isn’t.

“I thought they had something special left in them,” the veteran coach said of his youthful team. “And this is special.”

If there’s one player most responsible for WVU (25-9) facing next Tuesday night’s semifinal clash with Mississippi State (21-13) in New York, it has to be Frank Young.

The talented 6-foot-5 senior forward from Tallahassee, Fla., has averaged 24.3 points in NIT victories over Delaware State, Massachusetts and North Carolina State.

What’s more, he has made 26 of 38 field-goal attempts for a phenomenal percentage of 68.4.

Young tallied 17 points against Delaware State, a career-high 31 against UMass and 25 points in Tuesday night’s exciting 71-66 victory over N.C. State.

For those three triumphs, he made 26 of 38 shots, including 14 of 20 from behind the arc. His 107 three-point goals are a WVU single-season record.

“I can’t remember playing a game that went back-and-forth so much,” Young said after Tuesday’s thriller at the Coliseum. “We led, then they did, then we did. ... People just kept hitting big shots.”

He thought it was a lot of fun for the fans, but a lot of headaches for players on both teams.

“I knew if we kept scoring we could finally get that one key stop,” Young said. “The thing was, we just had to keep scoring.”

And it was he who provided a major portion of the point production when needed most. He had a string of 14 straight going down the stretch.

This is just the sixth time that a Mountaineer team has won as many as 25 games in a season. It’s also the first since a 26-5 record in 1988-89.

WVU, which last reached the NIT semifinals in 1981, is 10-3 in the NCAA and NIT tournaments under Beilein in four years.

“I think our kids are playing at a level right now, even if we are on the road, that we can win this type of game,” Beilein said after the N.C. State win.

“Just like tonight, the bounce of the ball has got to go your way to win.”

He and his players certainly are happy to be going back to Madison Square Garden, where WVU has performed well in past appearances.

Beilein pointed out that for many years it was a premier palace for college basketball, including as many as two doubleheaders each week.

“Now the tradition continues,” he said. “Our kids know what the Garden is, and they love it. Now they have a chance to be back on the national stage.”

Indeed, it was in old Madison Square Garden that WVU, then coached by the late R.A. “Dyke” Raese, captured the school’s only national championship in basketball.

That was the 1942 Cinderella team. Seeded last in an eight-team field, it posted three totally unexpected triumphs.

Those were over top-seeded Long Island University 58-49 in overtime, Toledo 51-39 and Western Kentucky 47-45.

In all, WVU has appeared in the NIT 15 times and has a 19-15 record. Young’s 31-point outburst was the highest ever by a Mountaineer player in that tourney.

The disappointment over not being selected for the NCAA tournament has completely disappeared from the WVU locker room. Even if it had gotten in, Beilein figured his team would have been a No. 12 seed.

That hardly would have afforded much chance of advancing against the higher seeded clubs.

But both West Virginia and Mississippi State are No. 1 seeds from the East and South, respectively, that gained berths in the NIT Final Four.

Players and coaches alike appear very content.

“By the time we play again, there are only going to be eight teams left playing in the country,” Beilein noted. “That’s pretty good, and we’re pleased to be one of those eight.”

The NCAA field also will be down to four by that time.