He's right. The Mountaineers are peaking at just the right time.

The Charleston Daily Mail Wrote:WVU is playing its best basketball
By Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sportswriter
March 24, 2008

MORGANTOWN - Whether this has come by design or sheer coincidence doesn't matter. People watching or preparing for West Virginia in this NCAA Tournament need only to concern themselves with the fact the Mountaineers are peaking.

Maybe surging.

Whatever adjective, this is the best WVU has played all the season and this, of course, is the best time to be in that kind of a groove.

"We lacked efficiency on offense in the regular season, but this was some of our best play all year," guard Joe Mazzulla said after Saturday's win in Washington, D.C., against Duke.

Maybe it was supposed to happen this way.

The season has been about transition, about getting used to a very different coach and his demands, about learning new styles on offense and defense.

The players were sometimes juggling everything Bob Huggins threw at them. They'd excel in one area and slip in another. They'd learn this quickly and need more time with that. It showed in different forms and resonated with the players, who always seemed to think it would come together.

Eventually, they understood that weaknesses become strengths and triumph grows from disappointment.

The Mountaineers, for example, were quite upset with their exit in the Big East Conference Tournament. It wasn't the loss that bothered them most. It was how they lost.

"Coach got pretty upset because he thought we were satisfied we beat (Connecticut) and that we kind of laid down against Georgetown," Darris Nichols said.

That night, Huggins accused his players of thinking they were too good. The message was different at halftime of Thursday's first-round game against Arizona, when Huggins said the Mountaineers (26-10) were better than they'd displayed.

"We were up one against a good Arizona team and he's in the locker room throwing stuff and yelling," Mazzulla said. "Personally, I stepped back and was like, 'You know what? He's right. We definitely should be up by about 10 or 15 points right now.'"

Ultimately, the Mountaineers adopted the proper mentality and did so right on time. They handled Arizona in the second half and couldn't have cared less about playing Duke or about beating Duke.

They were actually upset people called it an upset and they didn't like the idea the larger news was that Duke lost and not that WVU won.

"There's no reason for anyone to think we can't beat any team in the country," forward Joe Alexander said.

All season long, the Mountaineers have searched for that swagger, an edge that was missing on those really bad nights against Cincinnati and Villanova.

They've got it now and they've gotten over their past failings. The recurring errors that cost them games earlier in the season have been addressed. They make the late free throws. They hold leads. They don't go away.

Even the challenges that developed late in the season have been conquered. There was a notion this could become a one-man gang and if that one man was off, so, too, was the gang.

It was true that WVU needed to adjust somewhat to that Alexander's evolution, yet in the first- and second-round NCAA games, the Mountaineers had two or three or four other people scoring.

"We can be a very dynamic team," Mazzulla said.

The only thing the team hadn't done was come back. They'd been down and made some rallies, but had yet to do enough completely escape the hole. WVU was 0-8 when trailing at the half and 1-6 when falling behind by 10 points or more,

It was an intriguing situation entering the NCAA Tournament.

It's moot now. WVU trailed Duke by 10 points early in the fist half, by five at halftime and then by nine in the second half. The Mountaineers would eventually lead by 14 and acted as if it was no surprise at all, that it was their right to win and there wasn't much Duke could do to change their minds.

They played with that edge and were happy to put it on display, like when Alexander blocked a DeMarcus Nelson shot and decided to let him know about it.

"You," Alexander said, "shouldn't shoot it any more."

The Charleston Daily Mail Wrote:Mazzulla embraces opportunity
By Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sportswriter
March 24, 2008

MORGANTOWN -- The purpose with which he played and the excitement he exuded with the chest thumps and jersey pops indicated Joe Mazzulla was looking forward to Saturday's NCAA Tournament game.

"My whole life," the said the 6-foot-2 sophomore guard from Johnston, R.I. "My whole life. It's Duke. It's the Duke Blue Devils."

In truth, Mazzulla had a little less than 48 hours to prepare for the 73-67 victory Saturday in which he was the most valuable player on the floor. Yet from the moment the Mountaineers beat Arizona last Thursday night, Mazzulla was focused on the next opponent.

"Oh, man," said forward Cam Thoroughman. "He just kept talking about how much he wanted to play against Paulus."

Greg Paulus is Duke's starting point guard and Mazzulla wasn't particularly impressed. He sure wasn't intimidated, either, and wasted no time in getting that point across.

Mazzulla took an inbound pass when he entered the game at the 14:06 mark and Paulus pounced. Mazzulla swung his torso left to right and caught Paulus with an elbow in the face.

It was no accident.

"I watched film of when they played N.C. State. Second play of the game, Paulus is guarding 94 feet from the basket and the N.C. State guy does the same thing," Mazzulla said. "Paulus didn't guard 94 feet from the basket the rest of the game and he didn't guard me 94 feet from the basket the rest of the game. I don't think he guarded me at all."

Mazzulla went down the floor and scored on a short jumper.

"If I didn't do that, Paulus may have thought he had an advantage on me and that would have given him confidence," Mazzulla said.

It was the beginning of a trend as Mazzulla kept getting past defenders and driving to the basket. He was 3-for-7 from the floor and 7-for-8 at the foul line and finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

The victory sent WVU into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the third time in four seasons. The Mountaineers will meet third-seeded Xavier in a West Regional semifinal on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. in Phoenix.

As Mazzulla dominated the Devils, his teammates happily noted he rarely encountered much resistance.

"After Joe hit him in the mouth, Paulus didn't want anything to do with him," forward Wellington Smith said. "All the guards that came into the game knew it, too. They couldn't stay with him."

WVU Coach Bob Huggins had a hunch Mazzulla could succeed. In fact, as Huggins went over a few things one last time before the team left the locker room, he quickly diagrammed a play for Mazzulla.

"Huggs," Mazzulla said, "what are you doing?"

It was a clear-out play in which Mazzulla got the ball up top and had to beat his defender to get to the basket.

"Most guys would be like, 'Oh, yes, Coach put a play in for me,'" Mazzulla said. "I was thinking to myself, 'If I don't score on the first time he calls this, he's never going to run this play again the next two years.' Luckily, I scored a basket the first time we ran it."

Mazzulla's mastery of Duke's pressure defense was a necessity. The Blue Devils tried to keep the ball away from guard Darris Nichols. They stuck ACC Defensive Player of the Year DeMarcus Nelson on guard Alex Ruoff, and threw a bunch of wrinkles and defenders at forward Joe Alexander.

Every design was intended to prevent a particular player from doing what he likes to do on offense. There was no stopping Mazzulla, though, and his success encouraged his teammates.

"They were a great defensive team, but the fourth or fifth time you get in the lane, you realize it's not what you thought it was," he said.

"Then everyone starts asking questions like, 'Why can't I do that? Why can't I beat my man? Why can't I find back-cuts?' You start to feel more comfortable with everything you do."

Good luck WVU against Xavier. WVU is now my favorite team for rest of the tournament.

SF Husky Wrote:Good luck WVU against Xavier. WVU is now my favorite team for rest of the tournament.

I agree--rooting for WVU and ofcourse UL and Nova. Also rooting for Memphis

TexanMark Wrote:

SF Husky Wrote:Good luck WVU against Xavier. WVU is now my favorite team for rest of the tournament.

I agree--rooting for WVU and ofcourse UL and Nova. Also rooting for Memphis

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Hopefully, the Mountaineers will reward your faith.

Here's a couple of interesting little tidbits from FOX Sports. The red item is of particular interest since it concerns UCLA, WVU's most likely opponent should they reach the Elite 8. All are bold face type, and the blue print relate to WVU...

foxsports.com Wrote:First weekend of tournament offered many lessons
by Jeff Goodman
Updated: March 24, 2008, 7:01 PM EST
Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. He can be reached at GoodmanonFOX@aol.com or check out his blog, Good 'N Plenty.

It's time for my trademark trip recap. This one featured trips to Washington, D.C. and the wildest day in recent memory down in Tampa, Fla. — and what seemed like endless tournament games on television.

Here are 20 things I learned from Week 1 of the NCAA tournament:

Duke really isn't all that different from a year ago. Sure, the addition of Kyle Singler and subtraction of Josh McRoberts helped the Blue Devils' chemistry. However, Coach K's team is too reliant on the 3-pointer and its supposed leader, DeMarcus Nelson, didn't step up when it mattered most. Don't expect a huge change next season from Duke unless Gerald Henderson Jr. and/or Singler make a huge jump in their games because it's not as if the Blue Devils are adding a big-time player on the front line.

Stephen Curry may look like a middle-school kid, but he's a man on the court. Davidson's sophomore shooting guard was overlooked coming out of high school because of his lack of size, but Curry's making many ACC coaches regret their decisions to pass on him.

The freshman class may have been loaded with talent, but it takes more than one guy to advance in the NCAA tournament. Experience is key — just look at the teams that are still alive. Kansas is a junior and senior-laden team, Memphis has veterans, Louisville is led by fifth-year big man David Padgett, Washington State is an older group and even Western Kentucky has three senior guards leading the way.

Either Memphis coach John Calipari isn't telling the truth or he doesn't understand the importance of making free throws. Because he maintains that he's not worried about his team's inept foul shooting. We're going with the "not telling the truth" theory on this one.

Coaching can be somewhat overrated. Players win games. Stanford got past Marquette in the second half with its coach, Trent Johnson, in the locker room after getting tossed in the first half for arguing with the referees. Assistant Doug Oliver took over and the Cardinal wound up knocking off the Golden Eagles in overtime.

Don't go against Tom Izzo in the NCAA tournament. I knew this prior to the start of the Big Dance as I took the Spartans to get to the Final Four, but Izzo's track record (26-9) when the games mean the most is impressive. He's a fixture to go deep in the tourney and is one of the elite big-game coaches in America.

Arizona's players didn't like playing for interim coach Kevin O'Neill and were somewhat relieved when the season ended. You could see it on their faces that they will welcome back Hall-of-Famer Lute Olson.

West Virginia's Joe Alexander isn't just a great quote. The kid can play, too. The Mountaineers forward has done a terrific job — as have his teammates — making the adjustment from John Beilein's cerebral approach to Bob Huggins' physical mindset. Alexander has been on a mission the second half of the season.

It's not essential to have quality point guard play to advance. The Tennessee Volunteers have made the Sweet 16 despite having sub-par floor leadership. Ramar Smith is an enigma and backup Jordan Howell is, well, a backup. However, Bruce Pearl's club is athletic, plays extremely hard and has all the other pieces — shooter Chris Lofton, versatile forward Tyler Smith, an underrated shooting guard in JaJuan Smith and solid big guys with Wayne Chism and Duke Crews.

The ACC was down this year. I've said it all season and now it's proven to be true as just one team from the league — North Carolina — is left standing. Duke looked better than it actually was, partially because the rest of the conference was just average.

Indiana interim coach Dan Dakich won't be getting the gig on a permanent basis, not after the Hoosiers were ousted in the first round by an Arkansas team that was subsequently embarrassed by No. 1 North Carolina. Look for guys like Washington State's Tony Bennett and maybe even Xavier's Sean Miller or Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings to be in the mix to replace Kelvin Sampson at IU.

Ty Lawson is back. The North Carolina sophomore point guard appears to be fully recovered from the ankle injury that forced him to miss six games late in the regular season. Forty points, 11 assists and no turnovers in two wins for Lawson. Without him, there's no way that the Tar Heels go for 100-plus points in their first two games.

Even good teams are just one injury away from going home. Just ask UConn coach Jim Calhoun, who lost his top player, A.J. Price, with a torn ACL in the first half against San Diego. The Huskies were bounced by the Toreros and Calhoun was one-and-done for the first time since arriving in Storrs. That's what makes Roy Williams' decision to leave his starters in the game late in a blowout against Arkansas so puzzling.

Don't pick against Bo Ryan. There are plenty of underrated coaches throughout the country, but the Wisconsin head man is near or at the top of the list. I wasn't even sure the Badgers would make the tournament this season, never mind win the Big Ten and advance to the Sweet 16.

Bob Huggins has done a masterful job this year, his first back at his alma mater. Think about this: Alex Ruoff helped shut down Jerryd Bayless, one of the most explosive guards in the country. Huggins has no big men, little depth and he still managed to get the Mountaineers to the Sweet 16.

Purdue is going to be very good for the next two years. Matt Painter's team bowed out in the second round to an Xavier team that has tons of experience and talent. The Boilermakers freshmen got a taste of the NCAA tournament and will add a big-time point guard next year.

The Pac-10 and Big East each have three teams remaining in the Sweet 16. The Pac-10's top three teams are still alive while the Big East has a pair of surprises in Villanova and West Virginia to go along with Louisville, a team that was expected to be there since the start of the season.

The zebras really must like UCLA coach Ben Howland because the Bruins continue to get the benefit of the whistle late in games. The latest was a no-call on a defensive play late in the game against Texas A&M in which Josh Shipp and Darren Collison both appeared to commit a foul.

Anything can happen in this event. Just when I thought I had seen it all, I watched as four upsets occurred in succession in front of my eyes in Tampa. A pair of No. 12s and two more No. 13s advanced on Friday — one on a buzzer-beater, the next on a last-second shot, then came a rout and a shocking comeback.

Don't pick so many first-round upsets in my bracket. Someone please remind me next March.