BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Pittsburgh vs West Virginia

March 9, 2006


The two bitter rivals will meet for a third time this season. After splitting their first two games, with both teams winning on their home courts, the Panthers and Mountaineers will settle things under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.

Here are the pregame stories and previews from the internet:


Seniors Lead WVU into Quarterfinals (Beaver County Times)
WVU Enters Tournament After Loss - Again (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
WVU Relies Heavily on Three-Pointers
WVU Sits Back, Gets Pittsburgh Tonight (Charleston Gazette)
WVU Men Prep for Another Big East Run (Register-Herald)
Its More Than a New York Minute (Daily Mail)
Pitt Players Back in the City (Beaver County Times)

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West Virginia got to kick back and relax last night and watch some Big East basketball as they were one of four teams with a bye in the Big East Conference Toournament. With their lack of depth, a night off was probably a welcomed relief. For the first 25 minutes or so of last night's Louisville/Pittsburgh 1st round match-up, it looked as though the Panthers had the night off, running out to leads of 16-0, 35-7 and 43-16 with about 16 minutes left. Then, in fact, it did seem like they took the rest of th egame off as Louisville whittled down the lead to 3 at 59-56, but Pittsburgh prevailed for the victory, having to use a little more effort than you would have thought when they got out to their big lead.

Pittsburgh is a team that can play 10 or 11 guys, so they are deep, last night they used 8 players at least 18 minutes, so fatigue probably will not be too much of a factor tonight. The Mountaineers will likely be anxious to get this one under way. They are coming off a season-ending loss and had to wait all day yesterday and again, all day today, until the approximate 9:30 tip-off. Pittsburgh already has a game under their belts in the Garden and that can be a key, especially for two teams that are pretty evenly matched.

Pitt will look to get Aaron Gray the ball and have him work against Kevin Pittsnogle in the post. Gray struggled a little bit last night against some of the length and athleticism of UL's Terrance Farley, and will have to contend tonight with the West Virginia double-team. How he handles his passing and patience out of the double-team will go a long way in determining how effective the Pittsburgh offense is run. West Virginia will look to use Pittsnogle on the perimeter and pull Gray away from the basket to the 3-pt line, opening up the middle and helping ease Pitt's rebounding advantage.

West Virginia runs a lot of cuts and screens, but Pitt is a difficult team to run those sets against. Mike Gansey had a tough pair of games against Pittsburgh getting free for shots, the Panthers will continue to try and bump him on every cut and ride him through each screen. Finding an alternative source of scoring is a key for the Mountaineers, whether it is Joe Herber, Patrick Beilein or Frank Young, somebody will need to step up for WVU. In their home win against Pitt just over a week ago, Joe Herber started off hot and the Mountaineers rode the emotional wave of Senior Night for an early 19-6 lead. Pittsburgh battled back, but could not overcome the early defecit, largely due to Cark Krauser's 3-16 night shooting the ball.

I do not think West Virginia will rush out tonight to an early lead or that Krauser will have such a poor game, however, the double team of Gray and Pitt's problems protecting the ball will continue to keep this game close. Unlike the previous two match-ups, I look for Mike Gansey, who had a red-hot 2nd half against Cincinnati over the weekend, to break out against Pittsburgh and the Mountaineers pull one out down the stretch, led, as usual, by their five seniors, who will be a little more rested tonight.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

West Virginia 70 Pittsburgh 67

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: West Virginia @ Cincinnati

March 4, 2006


West Virginia, with a conference record of 11-4 has already clinched the 3rd seed in the upcoming Big East conference tournament. Cincinnati will either be the 8th or 9th seed and will meet Syracuse in the opening round Wednesday in New York City. That has been determined for the Bearcats, what is not known for certain is their status for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. A win at home on Senior day against the Mountaineers could be a tournament-clinching victory.


To read our preview and see our game prediction, click read more below and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section!

READ OUR PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


These two teams met just a few short weeks ago in Morgantown and the Mountaineers rallied in the second half for a 9-pt win over the Bearcats. This is really a tough spot for West Virginia as they are coming off Monday's emotional high of beating Pittsburgh on their Senior Night celebration as the Mountaineers and their faithful celebrated on the floor sending off seniors Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey, Joe Herber, Patrick Beilein and JD Collins as winners in their Morgantown finale. Now, they already have their seed determined for the Big East Tournament and will be entering an equally charged atmosphere as the one that helped propel them to victory Monday night, but this one will be favoring the Bearcats.

Neither team is very deep and with the crowd energizing the Bearcats, any thought of them wearing down will probably be erased by the emotion as Chadd Moore, Jihad Muhammad, James White and Eric Hicks will play their final games at Fifth Third Arena and the fans can get one last chance to honor injured senior Armien Kirkland (Oh, my, will either of these teams have anyone left for next year? At least WVU has some recruits...).

With a sellout crowd urging the Bearcats on last Thursday in a tremendous atmosphere, Cincinnati game tantalizing close to a season-making win over Villanova. West Virginia is another unique team to play as they also like to spread the floor out and attack from the perimeter. Cincinnati has little depth, but the depth they have is at guard. They are also extremely athletic and tough inside, although small. The biggest worry for the Bearcats is how they attack the WVU 1-3-1 zone and their freshmen PG Devan Downey needs to protect the ball. WVU lives on winning the turnover game.

Cincinnati is also a team that has been banged up. Hicks left Tuesday's tough loss to Seton Hall in the last few minutes after tweaking his ankle again. James White has battled ankle sprains all season, too. They will need these two to carry them on Saturday.

West Virginia has looked like a tired team at times in their last seven games. After losing four of five, they have rebounded with home wins over Louisville and Pittsburgh in games that came right down to the wire. With the bye already in hand, they might substitute a little more freely and find a chance to get Joe Alexander, Rob Summer and Alex Ruoff some experience and rest their starters just a bit. They are trying to motivate themselves with gaining momentum for the Big East and NCAA Tournaments, but this is an experiences team that advanced to the Big East Tournament final last year, after losing to Seton Hall in their finale, and advanced to the Elite Eight following the loss to Syracuse in the conference championship game last year. This is not an important game for them, but, like all competitors, they will give their all to win.

With former coach Bob Huggins in the building to wish the best for the five seniors he recruited and the arena full, which is a building that has a tremendous home court advantage, you can expect max effort from the Bearcats, as they are also playing for Andy Kennedy to get the job as Huggins replacement permanately.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Cincinnati 73 West Virginia 66

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