West Virginia beats G-Town, wins first Big East Championship
The Big East is unlike any other power conference in that it treats the conference tournament as its conference championship, so when a team breaks through and wins its first one, it’s special. And that’s exactly what West Virginia did tonight by beating a hot Georgetown team, 60-58.
The win also put the Mountaineers in serious hunt for the fourth #1 seed, and with THE toughest schedule in the country, they have a legitimate shot.
At this point, I think we’re looking at three teams — West Virginia, Duke and Syracuse — for two #1 seeds, and if Duke beats Georgia Tech tomorrow, it’s going to be tight. The numbers say that the Blue Devils should be a #1 seed, while the entire body of work probably favors a Syracuse team that happened to lose two straight (and three of its last seven) at the end of the season. If it comes down to West Virginia and Duke, the Blue Devils’ bad loss to Georgetown may come back to haunt them. The Mountaineers beat the Hoyas both times they played.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Glad they’re getting their celebration in now, because if history is any indication they’ll be bowing out early from the NCAA tourney.
Bob Huggins hasn’t made an Elite Eight since 1996, and hasn’t made a Final Four since 1992. Picking his Cincinnati teams to lose early was one of the few constants you could count on when filling out your bracket.
This is one of Huggins’ best teams, however, and unlike his Cincy teams, they are really efficient offensively even though the play at a very slow pace.