I realize that I am a couple days late but consider this your Monday reaction for the Elite Eight games or even just a post about the team. Anyways, here we go with the East regional featuring the only game with a one and a two seed.
West Virginia did the one thing that they weren't able to do all year on Saturday and that was hitting threes like nobody's business. Da'Sean Butler kept them in the game by raining threes in the first half and the Mountaineers needed the three point basket to keep them in the game against Kentucky. If West Virginia doesn't hit three pointers in the first half, they get blown out and we are talking about this pseudo-rivalry of Kentucky-Duke.
A quick note about Kentucky, I had them losing in the Elite Eight even though they had the most talent in the field of 65, why you ask? Simple, John Calipari's teams seem to never be able to seal the deal. He has never won a National Championship, only got to the Final Four twice. I really believe the fact Calipari preaches the "one and done" system and encourages kids to leave after a year (if you think I'm crazy look at an interview he did with Dan Patrick, where he said he would be in a fight with John Wall if he decided to stay). It ruins chemistry, and despite having some great players like Wall/DeMarcus Cousins/Derrick Rose/Marcus Camby/Tyreke Evans it hasn't resulted in a National Championship.
I will admit something to you, I hated... deeply hated Bob Huggins at Cincinnati because he seemed like an asshole and he rolled out a bunch of guys who belonged in community college with their smarts, yet they dominated Marquette for years. Now my mind has changed on Huggins, I mean he has the 'Bobby Knight' fire that is missing somewhat from college basketball and he truly seems to care about his players. I like the idea that he is back coaching at his alma mater even though it was a snake move to bounce from Kansas State. I think these guys get Huggy Bear and that might be reason why they will be able to beat Duke.
Last thoughts on the Mountaineers, I hate the idea of bringing back Truck Bryant for the Final Four. I understand the addition of Bryant would help them for depth reasons and probably not give them the situation of the semi-collapse late on Saturday. But will he be able to keep up with Nolan Smith among others? I don't think so even with a cool new shoe that protects his foot, I think he will be slow and it might hinder the Mountaineers' chances.
-Charlie.
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