BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ WEST VIRGINIA

January 26, 2008


Here is a great match-up between Georgetown and West Virginia in Morgantown slated for Saturday night. The West Virginia faithful will be ready to roll as the Hoyas come to town.

West Virginia is coming off a shaky 66-64 win over in-state rival Marshall in Charleston Wednesday. Bob Huggins has been publicly issuing challenges to his team to be tougher and better going forward and is not satisfied with their progress thus far in the season. With his calling into question the mental toughness of his squad, look for a sprited effort backed by a rabid fan base from the Mountaineers.

Georgetown has seen it all before. The Hoyas are a team with four returning starters from their Final Four squad of a year ago. With two seniors and a junior among that group, do not expect Georgetown to be rattled by the atmosphere. The Hoyas will go and run their system to generate offense and use their mental toughness on the defensive side of the court. With 7'2 Roy Hibbert inside, he could be a major factor for the Mountaineers who like to go to the basket.

One thing Georgetown must be careful is settling for 3-pt baskets without getting the ball inside. In a similar atmoshpere that is expected Saturday night, the Hoyas got away from getting the ball in to Hibbert against Pittsburgh. Hibbert is an excellent passer and when he gets a touch, defenses have to react. It is true that Pitt did a good job in denyinh him the ball, but he could have worked harder. WVU does not have much of a post presence to combat Hibbert. From there, DaJuan Summers can post and cut to the basket and shooters like Jonathan Wallace, Austin Freeman and Jesse Sapp can find their range. If they settle for the 3-pt shots against the WVU defenses, they could find themselves in trouble again.

This season, nobody seems intimidated by anyone on their home floor. The Mountaineers have an experienced group lead by the steady senior, Darris Nichols, and juniors Joe Alexander and Alex Ruoff. This is a group that loves playing in the Coliseum on their campus and their home offensive stats support that feeling. Although the style used most by John Beilein is not one that Bob Huggins has used previously, the former Cincinnati coach has put the 3-pt shot and zone defense into his gameplan. Huggins is not afraid to try out of the box ideas, like using 6'2 Joey Mazzulla to guard 6'8 Kentrell Gransberry last week, defensively to slow an opponent. It will be very interesting to see what the Mountaineers use against Georgetown.

I still think Georgetown is, by s slight margin, better than the rest of the pack in the Big East. The Mountaineers are one of those teams inching their way to the top of the pack trailing the Hoyas. If they want to reach that next level, they have to win this kind of game on their home floor. I think Bob Huggins pulls the right card from his sleeve to keep WVU ahead by just enough at the final horn.

NBE Blogger Prediction: West Virginia 68 Georgetown 66