Considering WVU’s lack of size and depth in the post and the emphasis on pressure when playing defense, it’s fairly safe to say the men’s basketball team will go as far as the guards will take it. In other words, while Thursday was rather disappointing, Sunday was extremely promising.

There are faster, stronger and more athletic backcourts in the Big East and there are guards that are better on offense or defense, but one wonders if any tandem is as bright and as efficient as is WVU’s duo of Darris Nichols and Alex Ruoff. To that, there probably isn’t a backcourt a team relies upon as much, either. Oh, Villanova and Marquette need their guards a lot, but you can’t say they need them more than WVU.  Performances and subsequent results prove as much

Remember, WVU crushed Marquette and neutralized the Golden Eagles guards. Nichols and Ruoff were … well, they weren’t very good against Louisville.

Ruoff was 4-for-14 from the floor and missed 7 of 10 3-point attempts to finish with 13 points. For the first time since the final game of the 2005-06 season, he had no assists. Nichols had four points and seven rebounds, but also three turnovers and just two assists. It’s the first time in 28 games he had more turnovers than assists. 

On Sunday, though, they were very, very good.  They handled Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, which has been a nightmarish task in recent years, and made 15 of 22 shots for 40 points. Together, they also handled the Orange’s backcourt, minimizing points and exploiting weaknesses.

To compound that disparity, SU’s two starting guards contributed a single assist (that was Flynn’s) against nine turnovers (Flynn had six). Ruoff and Nichols, by comparison, collected nine assists and committed just one turnover.

The problem, said Flynn and Jardine, started with West Virginia’s defense, which overplayed the passing lanes and made it difficult to squeeze the ball past all of those extended arms.

“They were overplaying the wings and that just kind of left us in the dog house,” Jardine said. “All of our plays start at the wing, and if we can’t get it to the wing, we can’t get open. It was tough.”

“They just face-guarded everything,” Flynn said. “Bob Huggins has a great defensive scheme. This is just a hard-nosed defensive team. This was the first time we played against a defensive scheme like that, where they really weren’t allowing any pass. They didn’t allow any passes from anywhere.”