Mike Kitts returned to action in the first game and had some new teeth following Tuesday’s collision with St. John’s D.J. Kennedy. Timmy Higgins is in this second game. No sign of Quick Draw, Hess or Perrone yet. Wouldn’t that be something?
As if postseason basketball wasn’t enough of a pain for bosses and supervisors who know their employees just aren’t putting in an honest day, I suggest we add to their dismay with this idea:
Mack said:
In preparation for the big dance, I think you should do some sort of list of the greatest “random” NCAA tournament performances ever. You know, from the guys that no one had ever heard of before or since…
I nominate Harold Arceneaux…
Oh, The Show! And away we go with the Harold Arceneaux All-Stars…
I nominate Elijah Allen. Next?
Jordan Theodore had a great dunk last night. He was cherry-picking, sure, but the ball bounced to his point guard, Eugene Harvey, who flipped it ahead to Theodore. Teammates on his bench rose to their feet and Theodore, all alone, bounced the ball off the ground, caught it and then threw it down with his right hand.
Impressive. And that made the score Syracuse 89, Seton hall 74 with 22 seconds to play. Also impressive.
Best of all? That wasn’t nearly the most objectionable thing I saw during that game.
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Bob Huggins had a pretty sarcastic, succinct review of Alex Ruoff’s play last night.
“I’m proud of him,” Huggins said. “He threw three out of bounds to start the second half and he waited four or five possessions before he threw the next one out of bounds. But he made a great cut for the three-point play right when they’re starting to make things interesting.”
It would behoove the Mountaineers if Ruoff and and Da’Sean Butler had a few more of those plays up their sleeves tonight. Not sure they can win shooting 36 percent because they won’t enjoy a 52-32 rebounding advantage again.
A few thoughts whilst putting a Diet Coke and bag of Sun Chips to bed for the third night in a row. No bagels were available.
– Kevin Jones had the best bad game I can remember in quite some time. Yes, he was 1-for-10, but he rebounded and played great defense on Harangody. I’d also take that 1-for-10 and look and see how many of those gimmes he might normally make or misses in the future. He was absolutely giddy afterward, in case you’re concerned.
– Da’Sean Butler also played a bad good game. That 4-for-15 in the first half looked bad, but was a little misleading. He had to take a couple shots because of game and shot clock situations and he frankly missed a bunch of looks he or you or I might normally make.
– I’d like to see WVU’s percentage from three feet and in.
– I’d like to see Kyle McAlarney’s percentage from 23 feet and out.
– Three great second-round memories:
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There’s an element to this time of the year that involves the coincidental. And so it is that Mike Brey sounded pretty providential Tuesday night as he talked and seemingly openly campaigned for his Notre Dame team to at least warrant consideration for the NCAA Tournament.
“I was looking last night and I don’t know if this has ever happened before, but the four No. 1 seeds (ESPN) had (Pitt, UConn, Louisville, Notrh Carolina) we played six games against,” Brey said. “Has that ever happened before? Three on the road, two at home, one at a neutral site.
“We have 13 losses, but do we have a bad loss? Look at it and tell me if we have a bad loss. We don’t have enough good wins; don’t get me wrong. We’ve got work to do and we want to make it interesting.”
I don’t want to be that guy on a Wednesday, of all days, and especially when I consider the number of WVU fans I just saw outside the Garden, but Brey and a Notre Dame team that absolutely needs this game kind of sort of owns a WVU team that is already in the NCAA Tournament.
A lot of people are putting a lot of tonight’s game on Alex Ruoff’s shoulders, which is understandable because as he shoots, so go the Mountaineers. Then again, the last time he was here he couldn’t play because of a muscle spasm affecting one of said shoulders. To that, he hasn’t exactly lit it up inside MSG, a place that requires a certain adjustment, in his career.
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St. John’s is getting crushed and Marquette looks sharp. I don’t want to say the Red Storm doesn’t have it, or that they completed their one-game seaosn yesterday, but right now they’re barely ourscoring Dominic James … and James is dressed in a Marquette warmup and is moving around on crutches.
(Update: St. John’s just scored the fewest points in a half in the heretofore prestigious history of the Big East Tournament. It’s 38-10.)
Just about everyone inside the Garden with a rooting interest — and probably a few other exceptions — is pulling for DePaul. This includes their very involved band/student section and all the St. John’s fans looking to stir up some karma. Nothing like seeing passionate fans pounding beers at the noon game.
The Blue Demons are hoping to hang on through missed free throws, bench players and an old WVU tactic of grab-the-offensive-rebound-and-dribble-out.
Providence, meanwhile, is employing the Efejuku You Plan, which involves getting the ball to Weyinmi Efejuke and getting out of his way.
(Update: Oh well … DePaul fell apart and a series of bad shots, passes and decisions seemed to say Efejuku You to Coach Jerry Wainwright. The Friars took control with a 15-1 run and the Blue Demons had to burn their final two timeouts in just 68 seconds and before the under-four media timeout could rescue them. Dar Tucker, meanwhile, announced afterward he was staying in school. DePaul could make a push for top 14 next year.)
Let’s stick with the theme. A year ago, Ryan J. Boyd was left a little frustrated the NCAA Tournament wouldnt’ let him do his thing.
But for this game, the only thrusting Boyd will be doing is of the slide on his trombone that he plays in the pep band, for he says the NCAA doesn’t play music at the half.
So, as you stand on that corner awaiting a bus, you note that he doesn’t need the NCAA to be playing music.
“You have your own band,” you tell him.
“I know,” he answered, “and we’ve talked about that but we don’t know what kind of trouble we’d get into.”
I think this had something to do with the Xavier game. So perhaps WVU could find a way to better duplicate the Coliseum experience, beginning with a live performance of “The Final Countdown.” Imagine the momentum! The John Flowers chokeslam would go through the Garden floor.
