Da'Sean Butler continues to prove himself one of the best ever to play basketball in Morgantown. It's been a pleasure watching him play these last 4 years...

Enjoy...

BlueGoldNews.com Wrote:Butler Passes Milestone
By The Sports Xchange
Posted: Feb 1, 2010



All of a sudden the numbers are starting to mount for West Virginia senior forward Da'Sean Butler.

Come to think of it, it hasn't been so much all of a sudden, considering that by the time Butler leaves WVU he may be the all-time leader in games played, needing 13 games played to tie former guard Darris Nichols with 141.

Butler did something neither Jerry West nor Hot Rod Hundley ever did when he scored 27 points, including the final four points of the game as West Virginia beat Louisville, 77-74, on Jan. 30.

That was his 93rd career double-figure game, a school record.

The 27 points moved him to within 229 of becoming just the third 2,000-point scorer in WVU history, the other two being the Hall of Famers West and Hundley. He had 10 regular-season games left after the Louisville game and at least two tournament games ... perhaps as many as nine postseason games.

It isn't, however, so much how many points he scores but when. If West was Mr. Clutch, Butler is as smooth as an automatic transmission at crunch time.

"That's just Da'Sean," said forward Devin Ebanks. "He's our leader. He comes up with big shots."

Coach Bob Huggins couldn't have agreed more, especially after Butler clinched the Louisville game with his late burst.

"I just wish he wouldn't wait until the end," Huggins said.

NOTES, QUOTES

Fun note of the season from West Virginia: Jerry West's son, Jonnie, is a junior and has not had a turnover in almost three years. Used sparingly, West committed two turnovers in the same game during his freshman year and hasn't turned the ball over since. He has gone 44 games and more than 100 minutes without a turnover.

F Wellington Smith continues to amaze with his outside shooting, scoring in double figures for the third straight game with 12 points against Louisville, hitting 2 of 3 3-pointers. He has hit nine of his past 12 3-pointers.

G Truck Bryant had a box score line against Louisville that may never be duplicated, 0-for-6 shooting, all of them from 3-point range, but 8-for-8 from the free throw line with five assists and five steals.

ON THE SPOT: Freshman Deniz Kilicli, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound inside player who has been sitting out a 20-game suspension for playing on a team in his native Turkey that included a professional player, becomes eligible for the Pitt game. "I've been working hard for this moment," Kilicli said. "I know I am going to be very nervous." How much Kilicli plays at first is uncertain as he isn't in game shape and F Wellington Smith, whom he would replace, has been playing the best basketball of his career. Rest assured, coach Bob Huggins will work him into the rotation.

"He gives us size and girth we haven't had," Huggins said. "Because of our lack of size it's been difficult for us to score around the rim."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We've kind of struggled to get out of the gate. We've really finished strong." -- Coach Bob Huggins, on the Mountaineers' penchant for falling behind at the half, something they have done seven times, and then fighting back to win or make a game of it.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

SEASON RECAP: West Virginia rolled through its early schedule, winning its first 11 games, before being blown away in Purdue. It also lost a tough one-point decision to then No. 5 Syracuse at home and fell at Notre Dame. In that game, however, it put on one of its trademark rallies, coming back from 20-down at the half to lose by 10. Falling behind at the half has become a Mountaineer trademark, trailing seven times in 20 games but coming back to win four of them.

GAME REVIEW:

West Virginia 71, Ohio State 65
West Virginia 62, DePaul 46
West Virginia 77, Louisville 74

GAME PREVIEW:

vs. Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Feb. 3
at St. John's, Saturday, Feb. 6
vs. Villanova, Monday, Feb. 8
at Pittsburgh, Friday, Feb. 12
at Providence, Wednesday, Feb. 17

IN FOCUS: The Mountaineers find out if they are for real over a nine-day span. They play home-and-home with a surprising Pitt team that is among the Big East's best, and then play Villanova at home in a Big Monday showdown at their Coliseum. The Mountaineers and Villanova were preseason No. 1 and 2 in the Big East, Villanova being the No. 1 selection. How WVU's tight, switching man-to-man handles Villanova's speed will probably be the deciding factor.

I keep telling people that thinking is a dangerous habit. Why do you keep ignoring that...