West Virginia Mountaineers (24-10) vs. Arizona Wildcats (19-14)
When: Thursday, 9:40 p.m.
Where: Washington, D.C.

WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS

1. Next Year, Buy Us Presents. West Virginia has played 99 illustrious years of basketball, compiling an impressive 61.4 percent winning percentage and a trip to the 1959 NCAA title game. WVU hasn't been as lucky with several opponents, however, owning overall losing records against Steubenville Athletic Club, Smith Skating Rink and the Parkersburg (W.Va.) YMCA. Though, in our defense, both losses to the Parkersburg YMCA came on the road.

2. He Can't Run For President. Over the last six games of the season, junior forward Joe Alexander torched opponents for 26.8 points per game. He was also named First Team All Big East. Alexander, despite having American parents, was born in Taiwan and lived eight years abroad while his father worked for Nestle. After some research, it seems Alexander is already the most successful Taiwanese basketball player in history, just besting Yulon veteran Chen Hsin-an.

3. Ann Arbor's A Woman of Questionable Morals. Michigan coach John Beilein, who left WVU after five seasons because he felt he couldn't recruit to Morgantown, recently failed to sign a top 100 recruiting class to play in Ann Arbor. This, of course, on top of the stellar 10-22 record he compiled in his first season. Bob Huggins, meanwhile, just put the finishing touches on a 24-10 record and a top 20 recruiting class. Did Beilein make a good decision? From WVU's perspective, he certainly did. — Charley West

ARIZONA WILDCATS

1. Depth That Rivals A Wading Pool. If we were comparing depth, a team like Tennessee might be an aging porn actress while the Wildcats are a young virgin, still contemplating how long "true love" actually lasts. The Wildcats have three (3!) players that are averaging over 8.8 points a game and only five players averaging over four points a game. Along with the problems of balanced scoring, only one player is averaging more than 5.3 rebounds a game and only two cheerleaders are charting more than six back-handsprings a game, down from last year.

2. Lutey Patooty. Lute Olson isn't coaching this year because he's traveling through the big D and doesn't mean Dallas. Olson has brought the Wildcats to the big dance 23 straight years, the longest active streak in the NCAA, but won't be on hand to see them shuffling their feet this year. His divorce from Christine has sidelined the 73-year-old coach for the season, with interim Kevin O'Neill taking over for those Silver Locks. The strangest part about it all - when his wife Bobbi died in 2001 Olson only missed six games, coming back to lead the Wildcats to his fourth Final Four.

3. Freshman Phenom. If you didn't know, Jerryd Bayless is good. He's Eric Gordon with the ability to finish. He's D.J. Augustin with a tremendous amount of confidence. He's Tyler Hansborough but shorter and not as much a center. The Phoenix native is averaging 21 points a game at 47 percent shooting. Bayless is a one-and-done candidate, already making waves in pre-draft boards that have him as high as the fifth pick to the New York Knicks (stay another year Jerryd!). The Wildcats are 11-4 when Bayless scores 20 or more points and struggled to a 1-3 record when Bayless was injured in the middle of the season. —Shane Bacon.

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5:10 PM on Tue Mar 18 2008
By Leitch
2,910 views
14 comments

Comments

The Man with No Name at 05:22 PM on 03/18/08
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Bear Down, Arizona!

Go Cats!
ClueHeywood at 05:28 PM on 03/18/08
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Do we riot on 4th Avenue if we lose this one? Oh yeah. I'm 30. Forgot. Go cats.
5280 at 05:36 PM on 03/18/08
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Bear Down Wildcats indeed, beating Duke in the second round would give me as much of a thrill as singing Knockin on Heaven's Door with Hootie and the Blowfish.
Ookdilla at 05:41 PM on 03/18/08
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Hey, is Leitch the boyfriend in the bleacher urination photos? It sure looks like him. And is that Costas in a wig squatting to pee wearing fake glasses to make himself look smart?
asliceofbacon at 05:58 PM on 03/18/08
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@5280: not getting past West Virginia - sad to say, but truth nonetheless.
Le Légende de Vincent... at 05:58 PM on 03/18/08
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Connectedness Index: 189

That's a bold statement.
HIV 2 Elway at 06:11 PM on 03/18/08
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Connectedness Index: 139

@asliceofbacon: Bacon, you couldn't leave your negativity at the Wildcat?

Bear Down Cats.
HIV 2 Elway at 06:15 PM on 03/18/08
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Connectedness Index: 139

@ClueHeywood: We burn the hotdog stand, win or lose.
ClueHeywood at 06:36 PM on 03/18/08
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@HIV 2 Elway: Goddamned hot dog stand had it coming. So did the guy's tenement on wheels.
Minoru79 at 06:53 PM on 03/18/08
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@ClueHeywood: I miss the good old days, except losing to Duke in the final. Well at least I got my anger out at Mike Dunleavy by booing him at every Warrriors home game I went to.
ClueHeywood at 07:13 PM on 03/18/08
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@Minoru79: I get my anger out by spending my free days hanging on to Jay Williams's neck.
lukfarang at 08:48 AM on 03/19/08
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@ClueHeywood: Only if you want to get a beanbag in the eye and gassed while trying to scale a greased-up lightpole to get a better view of The Hut on fire. Those were the days. I still claim it was T-Loc who set those fires though...
Beef on Weck at 09:20 AM on 03/19/08
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Those are Beilein's recruits that Huggins is winning with. Let's see how much better WVU does when he starts paying his own recruits...
schlizzag at 02:54 PM on 03/19/08
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haha, i love this comment thread. memories...

i lived in the dorms back then, and i remember the guy who lived next door - he came back from 4th ave desperate for an inhaler. not that he had asthma, but with all the gas being shot around by the police

(i blame the t-loc's too)