West Virginia's Keys To Advancing to the NCAA Championship Game

When the West Virginia Mountaineers take on the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Division I semifinals, it will be their first trip to the Final Four since 1959.

West Virginia has won 10 games in a row since losing to UConn 73-62.

For the Mountaineers to win, they will need to have another strong defensive performance. They are allowing just 58 points a game in the NCAA tournament.

Against a talented Kentucky Wildcats team it faced in the Elite Eight, West Virginia allowed 66 points and held Kentucky to 4-of-32 from three-point territory. The Mountaineers played their 1-3-1 defense the majority of the game, which confused the Wildcats.

However, the 1-3-1 forces teams to shoot from the perimeter—something that Kentucky was not great at. Duke is a great shooting team, so the Mountaineers will likely go back to their man-to-man defense.

In their man defense, West Virginia will have an advantage, with 6'9" forward Devin Ebanks likely guarding 6'5" guard Jon Scheyer. Ebanks has been matched up with guards before, and he has contained them—with the exception of starting Kentucky guard John Wall. Look for Ebanks' length (over 7' wingspan) and athleticism to give Scheyer problems.

On offense, the key for the Mountaineers will be forwards Kevin Jones and Wellington Smith. Both are capable of making three-point shots, and they will bring their men out on the perimeter to guard them. If they can draw Duke's Lance Thomas and seven-footer Brian Zoubek to the perimeter, it will lead to easy shots for Ebanks and Da'Sean Butler.

The game will come down to rebounding. Both teams are equal when it comes to grabbing boards. While Duke grabbed 22 offensive rebounds against Baylor in the Elite Eight, that likely won't happen against West Virginia. Baylor plays a 2-3 zone, and zone defenses are harder to rebound out of than man-to-man defenses.

Likewise, West Virginia will not get outrebounded by 11 like it did against Kentucky. West Virginia gave up 22 offensive rebounds to Kentucky, but that came with the Mountaineers playing their 1-3-1 defense—which is extremely difficult to rebound out of. With West Virginia likely going back to the man defense, look for the Mountaineers to crash the boards hard on both ends of the court.

It should be a close game, with the team that controls the glass winning.