The Huggy Era has officially begun in Morgantown.

It's definetely a different brand of basketball than Beilein Ball. WVU now rebounds and plays a physical man to man defense instead of the 1-3-1 zone.


So far so good. WVU is 3-1. The lone loss was against #7 Tennessee 74 to 72 in the Legends Classic in New Jersey.

WVU plays Oklahoma in Charleston, Auburn ( in Birmingham in the SEC-Big East Challenge), and has some tough OOC games with mid major powers Winthrop and Duquense ( watch out for the Dukes who are 6-0) before entering into the tough 18 game Big East schedule.



Letssssss Goooooooooo MountainEERS and Big East!

Sooooo stoked for the SEC/Big East Challenge.

Despite an initial yawn when the match ups were announced (Rivals.com wanted a Georgetown vs. Vandy rematch), I expect really physical games, and wouldn't be suprised if commentators, pundits, and journalists are still talking about some of these match ups come March...

I'm looking forward to it too, B-MAN. I'm going to drive over from Atlanta to Bham to cheer on Georgetown and WVU.

WVU 88 AllBarn 59



The final score didn't really reflect how bad it really was considering WVU was up by 40 most of the 2nd half and Auburn starters scored 20 points in the last 5 minutes against WVU's 3rd string.



Allbarn= Can't beat the Big East in football or basketball The same applies to UNC. KenHighHills=not pleased.




On another high note, Gtown beat Alabama. Also, Cuse beat UVA in Cville. The Big East looks pretty impressive this year.

The Big East goes 1-1 tonight in Philadelphia.

South Carolina beats Providence while Nova rallies to beat LSU after being down 21 points down with 8:00 left in the 2nd half.

The Big East goes 1-1 tonight in Philadelphia.

South Carolina beats Providence while Nova rallies to beat LSU after being down 21 points down with 8:00 left in the 2nd half.

Wow. The Villanova comeback was amazing. I didn't see the first half; I know LSU blocked a lot of shots, but did having Randolph foul out make THAT MICH of a difference? Apparently. Go Big East!

Pitt wins at Washington after the last second shot made by Washington gets called off as the player was holding onto the ball 0.2 after time ran out. Pitt is 9-0 with Duke and Oklahoma State coming up in the next two games. The team is playing well and makes great highlights with some of the fast paced jams but some of ball control issues could haunt them. It's going to be an interesting Backward Brawl later this season with 2 Pitt games WVU and the tougher, bigger, strong Bob Huggins led team

Yeah, I am worried about our (Pitt's) ability to handle pressure. Duquesne's Everhart said after losing to WVU that they "are by far the best team we've faced." An obvious swat to the Panthers. But he (everhart) has to know that his players were extra-juiced and at home against the cross-town rival...nit so much against WVU at the Coliseum.

I think the BE is going to be incredibly challenging and fun this year. I'm nervous already, though! Whatr's up with L-ville and Caracter??

Louisville is an enigma. Hard to figure out.


Here is my predicition for the Big East standings


NCAA Bids:

1. Georgetown 15-3, #1 Seed-NCAA
2. Marquette 14-4, #3 Seed -NCAA
3. WVU 13-5, #3 Seed-NCAA
3. Pitt 13-5, #4 Seed-NCAA
5. Villanova 12-6, #6, seed NCAA
5. Louisville 12-6, #7 seed NCAA
7. Notre Dame 11-7,#10 NCAA
8. UCONN 10-8, #12 NCAA

NIT Bids:

9. Seton Hall 9-9
10. Providence 9-9
11. Syracuse 8-10

Watching from Home:

12. USF 6-12
13. St. Johns 6-12
14. DePaul 5-13
15 Rutgers 3-15
16 Cincy 2-16

Watching from Home:

12. USF 6-12
13. Seton Hall 6-12
14. DePaul 5-13
15 Rutgers 3-15
16 Cincy 2-16
[/quote]

Along with Louisville, another wild card team will be Seton Hall. The Hall had a great start to the season with a win against Virginia, but have lost at St Mary's, which isn't a bad loss, and gave up the lead to a Penn State team. I've only seen them briefly play, but it'll be interesting to see if Bobby Gonzalez can get these guys ready for Big East play. These guys haven't had tremendously great team over the last 5 years, but they do pick up some big victories, even in down years and have made the tournament as 9/10 seeds.

Do you guys like the new format for the Big East tournament with 16 teams instead of 12? In the format, 9-16, 10-15, 11-14, and 12-13 play each other on Tuesday and the winners advance to play seeds 5-8 and those winners get to play Seeds 1-4. So essentially Wednesday-Saturday stays the same, it just picks up an addition day

Does that start this March (2008) or next March (2009)

I personally like it because it will give programs extra incentive for later in the season, even for those in the basement, including picking up a win in MSG. Five Days in MSG may seem long for the TV Crews, but hopefully it'll be a good serenade to the big Conference Championships.

Gym.....I didn't know St. John's disbanded their basketball program.....

I don't like it.


JUst think of this. The #9 seed ( who is typically on the bubble in the Big East) has to play 2 games before it's in the quarterfinals. Are you kidding me? WOW. That's a tough pill to swallow just to get to the top 8 when you finish just one game out of 8th place.


Amazing.

I'm a bit suprised Pitt is doing well with no Aaron Gray. The freshman has really stepped up.

Gray and Dejuan Blair are completely different players who bring completely different things to the court and the game. Gray was a good rebounder and a big body to clog things up in the middle, but he was never a difference-maker. Blair is a difference-maker. He's leading the team is STEALS, and he has such tremendous body control. Unfortunately (or not?), he's made most of the fans at The Pete forget about Gray already. At the third game when Blair had 12 points in the first 4 minutes, most on aggressive drives to the basket and monster jam put-backs, the guys behind me started screaming "Aaron Who?"

Thursday night against Duke will be very interesting. I can't wait!

Ultimate, I don't like the new 16-team tournament. Allowing only 12 in makes for a more compelling regular season, and asking these kids to potentially play on five days in a row is just crazy to me.

Let's Go PITT!

I agree-don't like the 16 team tournament

WVU enters the top 25 at #24.

4th year ina row we've been ranked.


IN the past 2 years, WVU's had almost 75 percent of it's athletic programs finish or ranked in the top 25.


Pretty impessive.

So Pitt comes out against Duke at the Garden and misses some dunks and makes a lot of turnovers in the first half to only manhandle the Blue Devils in the second half and beat them in OT on a Levance Fields 3 pointer with 4 seconds to go. This was one of the most physical games that I've seen in a while, and easily one of the most physical games that I've ever seen Duke participate. They joked about on the air, but the left basket (if you were watching on TV) looked like it might have been a little higher than 10 feet, cause Duke also had a lot of trouble shooting in the second half/OT, just like Pitt did in the first. Both teams also struggled at the free throw line. All in all, this game should help out both teams for becoming stronger later in this season. Duke has 2 1/2 weeks until it's next game and Pitt has a trap game at Dayton next Saturday night.

I agree with you, that it's going to be weird having 5 days of basketball for the tournament but it could just as easily help those 9th and 10th seeded teams. Its an extra game to help those teams gel before they play stronger and more important games on Wednesday and Thursday. For us as fans, it might give us one more day to slack off at work, check scores and find a nearby TV.

If they wanted to include all 16 teams, i thought it would be cool to getting those first round games at home sites of the higher seeded teams on Tuesday. It would be kinda cool to earn that extra home game before heading to New York. I'm sure the Marquettes and South Floridas wouldn't enjoy a one-day off as a travel day.

Congrats on a great win for Pitt and the Big East.

Freshman DeJaun Blair? Are you kidding me? 15 points and 20 rebounds.


Wow, just WOW.


The BE is the best conference in America this year. It's going to be a blood bath.

I am still on a high. Levance Fields has some big kahunas and has made shots like that before. I was confident with the ball in his hands, despite his turnovers on the previous two possessions. Blair made quite a statement last night; I hope the world was watching. Feel terribly about Mike Cook as a player. I do think, however, that he is the one starter Pitt can afford to lose without too much negative impact on the team's performance. He is a popular teammate, though, so it's the mental reactions that worry me most.

The biggest reason this was such a big win for Pitt is that Gym is right...the BE is going to be a bloodbath. It's hard to imagine any team with fewer than 4 conference losses...I can't wait!

Pitt lost to un-ranked Dayton today. Let me re-phrase that. Pitt got blown out by Dayton today.
West Virginia lost to un-ranked Oklahoma.

meanwhile, Wake Forest (the ACC's 5th best team) beat UConn (the big east runner-up) in the Meineke Car Care bowl. Ouch.

Get killed by Dayton yet beat Dook.....really wild wild wierd.

the a-10 has been handing it to us this year (relatively speaking)

Levance Fields is out for 8-12 weeks with a broken metatarsal in his foot. He apprarently stepped on eitehr a Dayton cheerleaders foot or megaphone. This is the first time the Pitt program has faced adversity like this in nearly a decade. With Fields and Mike Cook out, we've lost 47% of our scoring and tons of assists. I thought we could manage okay without Cook, but without Fields it's going to be a totally different story. If we can salvage a .500 record in the BE now, it will be a good season. Ronald Ramon has GOT to step up...wish I had more confidence that he can/will.

Could be a looooong season.......

Its definitely a different season in the Big East. Ten days in and it looks like anyone can win at home and they might need some super-tie-breakers at the end of the season cause 2/3 of the teams will be 9-9. There's sure a lack of upper echeleon (sp?) teams this year due to development and injuries of everyone team in the Big East. Anyone but Rutgers looks like they could win on a given night. Notre Dame has looked strong, but they've only played at home thusfar. Cincinnati has looked good, but can they maintain the momentum?

Any other thoughts? I question if this league is capable of getting 7-8 bids again, cause it doesn't look like it this year after we beat each other up.

This thread has been quiet. Maybe Pitt's huge win last night will get folks talkin'? The Pete was ROCKIN' (hope that was clear on TV) and Ronald Ramon has stepped up big time, as has Keith Benjamin. I think jamie Dixon is soon going to grow tired of all the questions about the injuries to Cook and Fields. The team has clearly shown they can win with the 8 players (4 frosh) in the rotation.

I can't remember the last time that every BE team has had at least one loss in the conference this early in the season. I think you are right, Ultimate, that many teams will finish 9-9 or thereabouts. Rutgers may not win a game, but the others are all capable. I still think G-town will win the league, with Marquette second, and then Pitt. Can't wait to see how it all plays out!

I was at the Pitt game, and it was rocking pretty well! This season has been so much fun because it's we're making something out of nothing with overcoming the injuries and its fun to watch these players grow before your eyes. Pitt gets its true tests in February culminating with at Marquette and at Notre Dame consecutively. I'm sure expectations are going to skyrocket next season!

Grant Wahl gave his magic eight that could win the National Championship. Every year, except the Cuse in 03, the champion has been on this list that he makes. I'm not surprised that Georgetown is on here, because though they are not playing well, once you get that wheel lubed, watch out! I am suprised that Louisville is on the list. They have great players but I would disagree that they could win a National Championship. Here's the link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ....bag/index.html

I think the whole CBB is kinda quiet. A lot of teams this year, even those that are ranked, aren't having superstar seasons compared to other years so hype might be down a little.

Through 1/3 of the BE schedule I would have to give WVU a grade of a B. WVU is 4-2 with blowout wins over NCAA type teams in Marquette and Syracuse while beatin St. Johns and USF. I didn't like the way WVU played on the road against ND and Louisville.


WVU's 13-4 overall. I expect a 12-6 BE finish and #4 seed overall in the BET.

Congrats to Rutgers on their first BE win of the season over Villanova!

Wow. What do you all make of this? It really seems like there is a great chance the BE will wind up with nine or ten teams bunched in the middle at around 9-9 or 8-10. I still think G-town will win at least 14 games and Pitt and either WVU or Marquette will get at least 12 wins, while St. John's, Rutgers, and USF will be lucky to win 5, but that leaves UConn, 'Cuse, 'Nova, ND, Providence, Louisville, Cinci, Depaul, the Hall and either WVU or Marquette bunched up in the middle. What do you think that will mean for the NCAA tournament? I guess the BE Tournament will be HUGE for some of these teams...more huge than normal.

It's going to be fun...but now I am suddenly --at least a little- worried about Rutgers coming to The Pete on Saturday!

We get the Hoyas on Saturday night at 7 on ESPN for the lead in the BE!

Should be a great game! A WVU wins puts pressure on Louisville, Gtown, Marquette, Pitt, and others to keep up with WVU.

If WVU wins, that means it woudl have already played Louisville, Gtown, and Marquette with a 2-1 record. We still have 2 very important games with Pitt left home and away. If we split, WVU is looking like it could challenge for the BE title.

First things first, Gtwon in Morgantown pritmetime on ESPN Saturday night.

Letsssssssssss Gooooooooo MountainEERS!

Btw, you are killing me with the picture of Reed Williams. He's my favorite Mountaineer player behind Pat White and one of college football's hottest guys.

Georgetown is very susceptible on the road, mostly because they can't seem to shoot the ball. I haven't seen much of WVU this year...so I wonder from you 'Eer fans whether you think they are better, worse, or about the same as they would have been under John Beilein? Just wondering about the impact you think Huggins has had. I know it's early, but I am thinking that BE Coach of the Year will come down to Huggins and Dixon. And I have to think that if Pitt wins 12 BE games atfer losing two starters, Dixon is a guarantee.

Well, it turns out I should have been a lot worried about playing Rutgers. There is no explanation for what happened to Pitt in the second half of Saturday's game. No explanation. But the injuries are starting to have more of an impact than we hoped.

Heartbreaker for the 'Eers on Sat. night. So was it goaltending or not? Like Gary parrish on CBSSportsline, I have watched the replay many times and still can't tell.

That was tough to decide, you wish that it could have been a blantanly easy call to make on a game deciding shot like that. But WV put themselves in the position they were in thanks to the missed free throws down the stretch.

Unfortunately, the WVU-G'town game never should have come down to that final play. WVU was up 10 in the second half. They couldn't hit the free-throws down the stretch. That's why they lost.
Overall, it's going to be a great final month of the season in the BE. Rutgers has pulled two major upsets in its last two games. Seton Hall looks like they're coming on and could be a factor down the stretch. I think I read somewhere that they're inviting all 16 teams to the BE tourney this season. Is that true?

I thought the ball had just barely begun to dip when he swatted it, but there have certainly been many worse goaltending calls or non calls than that. Was absolutely thrilled with UConn's comeback against Cincy and poised performance against Indiana. They're on the right track- still expect them to submit some stinkers like Providence the rest of the way-tonight against Louisville could easily be one.

I thought all 16 teams started next year, but I could be wrong.

It does start next year.


Only the top 12 go this year to NYC.

UConn looks as though it may be one of the elite of the Big East. They responded exceptionally well to Louisville's pressure tonight. Unless they totally fall apart, a return to the NCAA is hard not to expect.

UCONN's improvement in the last month alone is remarkable. While Georgetown is still the class of the league, I think UCONN has the best chance of any Big East team to make the Final 4.


AJ Price is playing lights out.

And Thabeet has to be one of the most improved players in the league. They are playing well without Dyson and the other guy (can't remember his name), although I can speak from experience as a Pitt fan that players tend to step it up when a star or two go out, but it's hard to sustain! The good news for UConn is that they haven't lost their floor general, and I agree that he (Price) is playing awfully well. Pitt at UConn on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 on national TV (CBS) should be very interesting.

Word in Pittsburgh is that Levance Fields will be back for the game at Marquette on Feb 15. Lord knows we'll need him in that one!

I wish they'd keep it at 12 teams. It makes some late season games more meaningful.

With the 16 tyeam format, I feel sorry for the 9th place team int he Big East. Usually this team is on the NCAA bubble.

The 9th place team will have to win 2 games just to make the quarterfinals. Who will they face if the 9th place team wins 2 games back to back? The #1 well rested team in the Big East.

Yikes....

This format is god awful for seeds like 9, 10, and 11 who usually can make runs in the Big East tourney, but now have to win 2 games just to make the final 8 while the top 4 seeds watch them play their first two games.

Sure, and I don't like the 16 team format that they're going to use either. They ought to have a simple 16 team bracket with first round games occurring at on campus sites then the next three rounds at MSG.

Tonight's game with Cincy was really hard to watch. Not only for the worst shooting in school history, but that horrid oufit Huggs was wearing. I wasn't sure if he looked more like a mobster or a pimp.

I never thought I would see WVU score only 39 pts in a game and have its worst shooting pct ever in a game.

UConn won their fifth in a row against Pitt today. Neither team was on their game- it was ugly-luck has a role to play in these streaks either way. Ramon usually does well against them, but didn't seem to get those usual open three looks in the second half- sat for much of the first. I don't know if he was sick or something or if UC is learning how to guard the three better, which was a big factor in their losses. Price elevating his play and leadership role are the main reasons for UConn's turnaround. Austrie reemerging as someone who can contribute has also helped. They still need some of their reserve big men to play more productive minutes.

Ouch. I couldn't watch the 2nd half. It was painful. Almost as painful as watching the Obscure NFL regular season or post season game. I actually went into the other room and watched American Idol.


Good to see WVU bounce back and win big at Providence. Hopefully, being 5-4 in the Big East, WVU can finish strong and play for a high seed instead of leaving the decision in the hands of the NCAA committie like last year when WVU was on the t outside lookning in, yet won the NIT tournney.

Round 1: Panthers. Both teams shot terribly last night, and both teams have a long way to go to prove that they will make noise in the post-season. But Ronald Ramon saved the day by hitting the shot that counted most, and the Pete erupted into a delirious state matched only by what happened on the streets of the University after a certain football game ended 13-9 on December 1. Maybe the best sight after Ramon's game-winner was Levance Fields sprinting across the floor to join the celebratory pile-up. I hope that means you are almost ready to come back Levance...we need you!

LET'S GO PITT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Don't you think both Alexander and Huggins knew damn well Joe wasn't the one fouled on that rebound? Come on now! Alexander knew he had to try to do something positive since Huggins was screaming in his face --really in his face-- for nearly the entire game.