BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: DEPAUL @ WEST VIRGINIA

March 4, 2009


West Virginia heads into the final week of the regular season before the 2009 Big East Tournament as winners of four of their last five games, dropping the emotional return of Bob Huggins to Cincinnati in that span. At 9-7 in the Big East and 20-9 overall, WVU looks to be safely 'in' the NCAA Tournament and will be playing for seeding in these last two weeks of play.

On the other end of the spectrum tonight is DePaul. The Blue Demons are 16 of 16 in Big East regular season games so far, unfortunatley, 16 of 16 in losses. The low point of their season, just as you thought it could not get any lower, occurred last Saturday when they were demolished at home, 84-63, by St. John's, making 0-18 in the Big East a near certainty with road games against WVU and Georgetown to close the Big East slate.

Hey, at least everyone is invited to NYC next week. Any DePaul fans going???

Here are some pregame stories and previews on tonight's match-up:

Huggins: Sorting NCAA Field a Tall task (Times West Virginian)
DePaul’s Futility Historic in Nig East (Charleston Gazette)
Mountaineers Focused on DePaul (wvMetroNews.com)
Huggins Says DePaul a ‘Huge Game’ for Mountaineers (Register-Herald)
’Truck’ Gets in Gear (Charleston Gazette)
State of DePaul Hoops Just Pathetic (Daily Herald)
DePaul Athletic Director Sticking by Embattled Coach Wainwright (Chicago Tribune)
Huggins Cautious About DePaul Game (Martinsburg Journal)

There really is not a whole lot to go over in this game that has not already been said about DePaul. They do have a couple capable players in the Big East in sophomores Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal. Will Walker has turned into an adequate third scorer, but from there the talent takes a major nosedize in terms of Big East talent. Plus, their continued upheaval at point guard limits their ability to get the ball to Koshwal and they are usually left with Tucker and Walker launching a high amount of shots trying to keep up with the opposition.

West Virginia has performed quite well this season. They rely on three key freshmen in Darryl Bryant, Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones and they have seen junior Da'Sean Butler blossom as one of the conference's top scores. Senior Alex Ruoff gives them an experienced leader and a Bob Huggins staple of athletic forwards, such as Wllington Smith and John Flowers, and the resident banger Cam Thoroughman, give this team a very solid make-up. They have had to overcome the loss of projected starting point guard Joe Mazzulla to a season-ending shoulder injury and they have grown up in a hurry in the process. While the future under Huggins at WVU looks really bright, the present is not too shabby and the Mountaineers are an interesting threat heading into the postseason.

Today's college basketball lines indicate little problem for the Mountaineers tonight as they have been pegged as a 21 1/2-point favorite. I do see two factors in this game that will likely keep the game closer than the line...

1) DePaul's dead-cat bounce. After their embarrasing home loss, te players come back and play for pride. As mentioned, there are a few capable players, more than enough to beat someone in the Big East. While that opportunity has sailed, an effort is expected in tonight's game, if not for pride alone...

2) WVU has Louisville coming in for a primetime showdown at 9 PM on Saturday to close the regular season. The chance to be looking right past the Blue Demons is very possible. If not at the beginning, when WVU reaches a big lead, it likely could set in then...

NBE Blogger Prediction:

West Virginia 81
DePaul 66