#259 R.P.I. Virginia Tech @ #17 R.P.I. West Virginia:
W.V.U. is Eleven hyphen L.S.U. for the year; and they are ranked 18th overall in the nation as of the weekend.
This is clearly a NC2A March Madness caliber squad up in Mo-town West “by God” Virginia. This may even be a round of 32 or Sweet Sixteen crew when it is all said and done.
This is also one other thing, a men’s hoops team and surely a W.V.U. fan-base that wants a piece of our coach Buzz Williams, and I do mean a piece of his ass.
As coach Buzz famously -or infamously- danced all over the WV centercourt logo after a Marquette win a couple of years ago in the 3o4 when both franchises were still ensconced in the Big East.
Yah; I hope coach Buzz likes batteries, spare-change, Skoal and 4-letter bombs; because he is gonna get mother lovin’ blistered up at W.V.U. this Tuesday afternoon. As all I’ve heard for weeks in the Mountain State is how err-fan is gonna get coach Buzz.
There is an old Dub Vee adage that clearly states:
“A barking dog don’t bite.”
However, in this particular deliverance case. methinks we are up against an old-Gold and Blue sporting Cujo, and that this one could very well bite early, often and ugly. If err-fan has any say about it.
Mountaineer‘s at a glance:
- #1 in steals per game (13.2 spg)
- #1 in turnover margin (+11.2)
- 21st in Points Per Game ( 78.7 ppg)
- 47th in offensive rebounding
- 1 injury: 6’10” 245 lb. Senior, bearback strong P/F Kevin Norren, Team Captain, starter, out until mid-January (Minnesota Mr. Basketball 2010, averaged 39 and 17 in high school! Although only 2 ppg and 2.7 rpg last season)
Dub Vee Backcourt: (returning starters=2 of 3)
#3 Juwan Staten: starting senior year 6’1”190 lb. Pt.Guard and all-Big-12 Conference caliber player. Grantland’s pre-season Big-12 player of the year, and a next level guy, to be sure. Juwan is the best player on the court this Tuesday afternoon at 2pm hands down. Listed as the starting Pt.G., more of a lead-G in my camp, as this kid could have made a pretty fair to middling Ss in football. Strong, willful scorer who can and will get to the rim and subsequently the FT-line alike. 16 ppg, 3.3 boards, 4.3 assists, and 1.6 steals is pretty fair work if you can get it. Not a pure shooter at 43% and 30% from the floor and from the arc respectively. Does hand his FT business however at 83%. Oak Hill Academy stud in high school, who is basically a Big East style G hooping it up in the more finesse/skillful aligned Big-12. One of the top two or three Point’s we will face all season. Academic All-Big 12 Men’s Basketball Second Team selection and already has his degree conferred. Props on that. His numbers may be down this year, though make no mistake this is a professional baller, the only question is: will that be in North America, or not?
Daxter Miles Jr.: 6’3” 185 lb. Baltimore native outta the famous Dunbar High School program. Street tough kid who was a good scorer at the scholastic level this time last year. Quickness based baller who does not want for confidence and he does have a history of game-winning shots at the prior level. Giving you 6.5 ppg with 2.2 rebounds and an assist and a steal each. Has ok range on his J, does carry himself and play with a bit of an ‘tude to his game.
Gary Browne: 6’1” 195 lb. Puerto Rician final year team Captain native combo-G. Won the high school national championship in Puerto Rico; and same as Staten, is all-academic Big-12. Making for a pretty heady looking 3-Guard line-up for coach Huggins.
Substitute baller his whole career at W.V.U., though he has experience as he has been a durable guy for the duration. Right now Browne nets you 4.4. ppg, with an assist and a rebound to go with 38% shooting from downtown and yet just a mere 31% overall.
3o4 Frontcourt: (starters back=zero)
Jonathan Holton: 6’7” 220 lb. Miami area Swing in his third year. Holton is an intriguing player who averaged 17.5 points and 14.1 rebounds per game and shot 40 percent from 3-point range at Palm Beach State Community College in 2012-13 before transferring in last season. Rated the 13th best JuCo in the nation last year. Decent enough scorer who rebounds very very well as a home position Three. A second best 11.3 ppg, a team leading 8.4 rpg and a mutually pacing 1.8 steals with 1.3 blocks on 51.4% shooting overall is pretty smart looking by-the-bye. Tough guy to keep off the Windex (i.e glass), definitely has a nose for getting to offensive boards, especially on the weakside; with a Moses Malone ‘esque or seldom seen near 1:1 offensive to defensive rebounding ratio. Big time high school numbers at 25 and 16. Yet another Big-12 Honor Roll baller. Could possibly play his way into an overseas career due to his board-work and defensive stopgap work.
Devin Williams: 6’9” 259 lb. legit Big at the Four spot in his second year outta Ohio. Has the old-school Jabbar goggles in tow most nights, athletic guy who does industrializes some credible true-Center skills here and there. Accordingly, was ranked the 11th best Five coming outta high school courtesy of Rivals.com. Right now Devin chips in with a second best 10.2 ppg and the silver medal in rebounding at 6.9 rebounds per night. Won the 2013 National High School championship at Montverde. Needs time/reps in order to blossom a complete game, as he is not much of a shot blocker or shooter at .3 bpg and 37% shooting.
‘eer Bench: (depth=3 regulars, 2 with spot-minutes)
- Jevon Carter: 6’2” 185 lb. Illinois nugget (rookie) year Pt.Guard. Forth in scoring already at 8.3 ppg, does need to work in his range a bit. Top-75 ESPN.com player last year.
- Jaysean Paige: 6’2” 220 lb. junior who is known more for being a ringer of a pure shooter at a team leading 48% from 3-point land than he is anything else. 6.6 ppg, a couple of boards and an assist; with a puzzling 45% from the charity stripe. Go fig’ on a shooter doing that?!? All this after averaging 22 at Moberly Area Community College last season.
- Tarik Phillip: 6’3” 183 lb. Brooklyn baller with a rep’ for scoring at Independence Community College at just south of 20 per game. Finds 5.6 ppg and a couple of boards on 14% from beyond the arc.
- Elijah Macon: r-freshman who was counted on to be the other big transfer difference maker not named Holton. 6’9” 240 lb. bruiser of a Four. #1 ranked hoops prospect in Ohio and 13th best P/F by Scout.com. 5.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg is a bit underwhelming per most preseason expectations.
- Brandon Watkins: 6’9” 245 lb. soph., rough/tough physical meat-grinder of a post-player, more parts work, less parts skill. Scuffles his way to 1.8 ppg and 1.2 rpg in a modified enforcer role.
Loading ...Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:
This 2014-2015 W.V.U. men’s basketball team is pretty decent; which is not half bad when you have nearly 30 points worth of scoring get feed up and transfer right on out. As most of the previews I read had the ‘eers tabbed somewhere on the order of middle of the Big-12 pack to even slightly less than that.
W.V.U. is a pretty defensive high-pressure, high-turnover forcing, and occasionally foul trouble oriented club. They are also the rightful favorite in this one and they are the only men’s basketball squad I’ve ever previewed to have no less than 8 different guys averaging a full steal or more per contest.
***
Virginia Tech has a couple of chances to win this basketball game, not named “Slim” or “none”…
- first up, wvu could forget what time it is, what day it is, or maybe the team bus will breakdown?
- secondly, maybe 8 days rest is just too much downtime? W.V.U. comes out sluggish/sleepy or rusty looking and this allows Tech to artificially hang around a bit.
- I suppose that it is fair to say that outta 30 odd basketball games per campaign, any team could get hot on any given day/night. Maybe Tech is simply due for net blistering game?
- W.V.U. looks ahead to nationally ranked T.C.U. up next.
- That’s about it.
As I serially doubt that coach Buzz any company can field W.V.U.’s A-game punch bang on the O&M chin. In point of fact, if W.V.U. plays hot and Virginia Tech goes cold, we could be looking at as much as a 30-40 point curb-stomping swing if coach Huggybear does not call off 
his dogs in order to save a little something something for the Hornfrogs next Saturday.
As of now, this game ‘caps out to be a major (harris) sized W.V.U. VicTory. To print anything else is no better than to lie and we all know that lying is for rugs.
As we actually do have our handy dandy friend the Forum Guide back in play for a rarefied O.O.C. (out of conference) moment as bot squads have each played little ole V.M.I. already this season.
The Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame merely connotes an 18 point ‘eer home court W in this one for visiting Virginia Tech.
Listen folks, Virginia Tech is a year away and that may be closer to being code for two seasons removed from being able to march into Mo-town Dub.Vee and steal a game like this. Some fan bases “bark” is indeed worse than their bite and I truly do expect err-fan to make coach Buzz ante up a “woof” indeed. W.V.U. wins, and W.V.U. very likely rolls.
(92% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=51, W.V.U.=83
“LETS GO!”
“Hokies!”
bourbonstreet**
Good subject, Broadstreet. From an old (both age-wise and formerly) Princeton (WV) guy, I enjoy your stuff, even when the writing is a bit Faulknerian. My sister is a WVU grad, but I went south fora top-flight engineering school and am a lifelong Hokie. So I know a little about the Mountaineers, including the game day experience for visiting teams, especially when the letters VT occur in their name. The last time my wife and I were there was when a Marcus Vick-led Tech team rolled into Morgantown with a top-ten (or top-something) rating and was thoroughly out-played by WVU. I don’t mind so much being outclassed fairly on the field, but the off-field treatment for the VT fans, and for us specifically, was dreadful. We were cursed by little sweetheart WVU coeds, threatened to “come on, let’s fight” by several including two over-sixtyish goons, and and had cokes and various soft (?) drinks thrown on us in the stands. We traveled to M-T with family who were “Golden Mountaineers” and who tailgated right behind the big scoreboard in the primo parking lot. When with them, all was okay, but as soon as we left the parking area, we were fair game for the goofballs. I wrote a letter to Jim Weaver with the whole scenario and recommended a LONG waiting period before Tech scheduled them again. I suppose the natural rivalry should start sometime. (By the way, the VT-WVU rivalry was cited by the Texas papers as one of the top five that have been suspended nationally in a recent article.) Anyhow, hopefully the WVU fans (and VT folks for that matter when the games are in B-Burg) will be civil.
WOW!
Honored————–>b.street
Never heard it go by the William label.
It sounds, furious???
; )
Oh yes, last time I was there, people near me asked me to stop standing up, so they would not get hit by Coke’s intended for me.
S-hole place if there ever was one.
b.street