Read Sports Geek’s argument and Loyal Homer’s arguments about which college basketball team is a sleeper to win their major conference.
As far as college basketball conferences are concerned, the Big East turned out to be the Big Letdown last March. Of the 16 teams in the conference, 12 went on to play in the postseason. The Big East also became the first conference in NCAA history to send FIVE different teams to the Sweet Sixteen in the same season, and claimed three of the four top seeds in the NCAA Championship Tournament (Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Louisville). All told, it was one of the most dominant regular seasons for an entire conference in college basketball history.
Unfortunately, things did not finish as well as they began for the conference. Despite the fact that the Big East claimed 75% of the top seeds, 31% of the Sweet Sixteen, and 50% of the Final Four, the conference was unable to place a single team in the final game of EITHER the NCAA National Championship OR the NIT tournament. It was a lackluster finish to what could have been a historic season.
Championship disappointments aside, the Big East is home to some of the most dominant programs in college basketball. Although the ACC is generally considered the cream of the college basketball crop in most seasons, the Big East has proven that its programs can be just as dominant as Duke and North Carolina. With legendary coaches like Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, and Jim Boeheim, the Big East has a great deal of recruiting power within the conference.
There is another coach in the Big East, however, that has not received the same accolades as his colleagues – West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.
Sure, Huggins has put together winning teams, including a very impressive run at Cincinnati where his Bearcats managed to reach the NCAA Tournament in 14 consecutive years. Unlike his legendary counterparts, though, Huggins’ career has been defined by his failures, not his successes. Off the court, Huggins has had to deal with criticism stemming from rules violations, player arrests, and a DUI conviction in 2004. On the court, Huggins has developed a reputation for being a choke artist. For example, several of his Cincinnati teams had come into the NCAA tournament with Final Four (or even national championship) expectations. Huggins only managed to actually REACH the Final Four once.
This season should be very different for Huggins and the Mountaineers.
Following the success of Big East teams last season, many players from the conference decided it was time to move on to the NBA, including Earl Clark and Terrence Williams of Louisville, Hasheem Thabeet and A.J. Price of UConn, and Sam Young and DeJuan Blair from Pittsbrugh. With all due respect to those programs, it is unrealistic to expect the same performance from those schools again in 2009.
West Virginia, on the other hand, is returning a great deal of talent to the court, primarily in senior forward Da’Sean Butler. Butler, who was the team’s leading scorer last season, is expected to provide points for the Mountaineers, especially with the loss of guard Alex Ruoff (who averaged nearly 16 points per game), and the oft-injured or suspended Joe Mazzulla.
Butler will not be alone on the court, either. Despite rumors that he would be entering the NBA early, forward Devin Ebanks (a likely first-round draft choice in the NBA) made the decision to return to West Virginia for his sophomore season after leading the Mountaineers in rebounding during his freshman season. Guard Casey Mitchell, a JUCO transfer from Chipola College, also brings a 20 points per game average onto the court. Mitchell, who broke a 40-year old JUCO record by sinking 25 consecutive free throws last year, was named the NJCAA Player of the Year and first team All-American last season.
Unlike previous seasons where Bob Huggins and his team have begun with lofty expectations only to stumble down the stretch, this time around could be different for the Mountaineers. Although the team may be lacking in history, pedigree, or reputation, West Virginia certainly has an abundance of talent and experience in a season where many of the usual Big East contenders will be without both!
