Bracketbreaker: West Virginia Looking to Sneak Into Sweet 16 Again

West Virginia University is my "Cinderella" for '08. 

Why?  Several things stand out.

Coach Bob Huggins is a "fighter," and has turned his team into a low turnover defensive one. Joe Alexander has emerged as a positive, go-to guy, while senior point guard, Darris Nichols has started more games than 99 percent of all other point guards and knows his teammates better than any other point guard.

WVU has beaten UCLA at Pauley Pavilion and in Morgantown two times in these past three years. The same Bruin team who lost in the last two Final Fours. WVU has turned into a strong rebounding team with shot blockers, Wellington Smith and Alexander.

The Mountaineers had one-point losses to Pitt in Pittsburgh, Georgetown in Morgantown, a two-point loss at Tennessee, and an overtime loss to Oklahoma away from Morgantown. They annihilated Auburn on the road and beat Marquette at home, Pitt at home, handily, and Connecticut in the Big East Tourney.

West Virginia has four players averaging in double figures and finally, this will be Huggins' 26th appearance in the Tourney. He is a winner with over 600 career victories. 

If they can get by Arizona and the return of coach Lute Olson, they will probably play Duke's Blue "Satans."  The Blue Devils can be had and WVU owes them, since the last time they met was in 1989’s second round, when WVU lost, narrowly. 

Once you get to the Sweet 16, anything can happen...as WVU has proven before by being there twice in the previous four years. 

Let's goooooooo, Mountaineers!