West Virginia, The New Beasts Of The East
In a tournament full of upsets, games decided by 3 points or fewer, and late game heroics, this was the perfect ending to what has been a Big East tournament to remember. It started off with the third-seeded Mountaineers being the one out of the top four-seeded teams to surpass the quarterfinals. West Virginia was able to win its first Big East Tournament Championship in school history and their first Conference Tournament Championship since the Mountaineers played in the A-10 in 1984. West Virginia was able to achieve this goal that was set prior to the season.
The Mountaineers captured their first ever Title by defeating the Georgetown Hoyas with a score of 60-58, their highest point total in the tournament. West Virginia was fortunate enough for Georgetown Guard Chris Wright to foul Joe Mazzulla after the offensive rebound from Butler’s missed 3-point attempt with a mere 27 seconds left on the game clock. The game was tied when the surprising foul occurred and to what was later said by Wright a “mistake” as he stated that he did not look up at the scoreboard. Mazzulla knocked both free throws down to break the tie but did not stay that way for long. Chris Wright was able to create a little daylight between Mazzulla and himself on a spin move, leading to a game-tying layup with 17 seconds left. After a little chaos, West Virginia called a timeout at midcourt with 9 seconds left, which is when the magic started to happen once again.
West Virginia (27-6) came out of the timeout, preparing to run the same play as they did in the Cincinnati game. They were able to get the ball into Butler at the top of the key, which he then did what he had to do. He was able to dribble through traffic down past the foul line and make the fallaway basket with 9 seconds to go. Georgetown (23-10) opted out of burning their last timeout while Chris Wright dribbled through West Virginia defenders but missed the potential game-tying layup.
Da’Sean Butler, once again, contributed as always scoring 20 points and pulling down 6 rebounds. Butler was not the only one who contributed, however, but Wellington Smith also played a huge role in the big win. Smith finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds to snag his double-double. He was able to grad key offensive rebounds when the Mountaineers were really in need. Also key contributors include Kevin Jones who poured in 12 points and Joe Mazzulla scoring 6, all of them however coming from the free throw line in his 6 for 6 effort.
Da’Sean Butler was named the tournament MVP, with no surprise, and also made the all-tournament team with teammate Kevin Jones.
With this Conference Championship under their belt heading into Selection Sunday, their should be no question that the Mountaineers deserve a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They have 18 wins vs the top 100 and nine wins vs the top 50. Bob Huggins also agrees as he believes that his team will end up with their strength of schedule being 1 and in the top two or three in the RPI. West Virginia meets all of the requirements needed to be considered a #1 seed but we will find out on Sunday Night