President picks WVU … or Duke.
Lauer pointed out that three of the teams in the final matchup represent states that he carried in the election, one does not — West Virginia.
“Just to show that I’m not biased, I think that West Virginia’s got a great chance,” Obama said. “I did not win that state, but they’ve got a really good team. I think the winner of West Virginia-Duke will end up winning the championship.”
Once upon a time in this little fairy tale that doesn’t seem so far-fetched, Joe Mazzulla had a conversation about the future with his coach, Bob Huggins.
Some time later, Mazzulla, his arm in a brace, his spirits sunk, found Huggins. With tears in his eyes, he asked the coach who’s become something of a father figure so far from home in Johnston, R.I., “What am I going to do if I can’t play?”
Ever the one to lighten a mood, Huggins remembered Mazzulla excelled in track and soccer in high school and offered his point guard an opportunity to be optimistic.
“You don’t need your arms to play soccer,” Huggins said. “Go out and play with them.”
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Incredulous Da’Sean Butler may have a hard time believing this: One of the 10 best players in college basketball.
Heady stuff. He’s WVU’s first All-American since Joe Alexander was AP honorable mention in 2008. Kevin Pittsnogle made the Wooden Award team in 2006 and was also third-team National Association of Basketball Coaches and AP honorable mention all-America in 2006. Wil Robinson was AP third-team in 1972. The last AP second-team player was Rod Thorn in 1962.
Butler will probably join Pittsnogle with the Wooden honor, which is given to the top 10 players among 31 voted-on finalists. Butler was 10th in the AP voting with 10 first-team votes and 128 points. Georgetown center Greg Monroe was the first player on the third team with 119 points. Duke’s John Scheyer was No. 4 on the second-team with five first-team voted and 144 points.
Some people have told me that when Jonnie West took to the court Saturday night, they were, well, I guess the word would be scared. WVU was a few solid possessions and successful trips to the free-throw line away from moving on to the Final Four, but those possessions and trips were elusive.
Enter West, who can make free throws, but who hadn’t played all game, and I’d imagine some WVU fans were waiting for the other shoe.
I was wrong. West had a menacing look on a face that was void of any intimidation. He secured his arm sleeve, spoke to teammates with his hands and did his job. Now, he didn’t do anything, either, but that’s part of the job’s description. The Mountaineers won and West, who’d spoken to his famous father a short while later, was still stern.
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The Final Four game against Duke will be the second game Saturday and follow Butler v. Michigan State, which begins at 6:07 p.m. The tentative start time is 8:47 p.m. The winners play Monday at — and this is wonderful — 9:21 p.m.
… and today, that’s saying something. Enjoy.
That was your ESPN poll Saturday. The stories I’ve been hearing about the reception at the Coliseum and the vibe around town tonight are classics. I invite you to share your postgame experiences, whether they’re in Morgantown or from afar, no matter if they include Ultimate Warrior or a star from the screen.
Speaking of stars, a word from Da’Sean Butler, who etched his spot in “One Shining Moment” with a rather demonstrative performance:
Forty-nine states picked us to lose. Obviously we wanted to make everybody upset. We went out there and played our game. We grinded it out. We won. I knew we were going to win. Everybody up here knew we were going to win. It was a matter of how we were going to do it. And they outrebounded us and we just did everything possibly to win the game. Still we find a way.
Ten wins in a row. The last time the Mountaineers were this good this late in a season, an 11-game winning streak took them to the championship game in 1959. That was the last time WVU was in a Final Four.
Life’s good … at least that’s what Gus Johnson tells me and I’ll believe anything this man says.
I’m getting to that point with John Flowers, too, and he has something interesting to say on — this will shock you — Twitter.
It’s a black out!
One more question before the open post. How are you feeling?
Da’Sean Butler reveals the Mountaineers are going beyond the skits and mock music videos and getting technical with it.
“We’re woking on one with Cam Thorghman and that ‘All By Myself‘ song. Cam Thoroughman’s all by himself missing a layup against Notre Dame. Classic.”
Turns out Butler has another video in mind, too.
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I’ve had a pretty keen ability to not cover the Gold-Blue game the past few years. Circumstances, family things, vacations planed well in advance, they all conspired against me, and I thought it’d happen again this year.
My sister gets married April 17 and then a friend a weekend later. When I heard WVU was screwing with the date and the game would be later than normal, I was sure it’d happen to me again.
Turns out the date was bumped back to April 30 — you remember that whole kerfuffle I “caused” — and I was on the hook.
Well, sorry to say this, but there’s no way I’m covering it now.
And, seriously, we don’t have a paper tomorrow, but we have jobs and we’ve done them. Six new stories. For you.
