Deja 'W'Vu? Mountaineers Look to Channel Magic of 2005 Elite Eight Team

Where have we seen this before? West Virginia starts hot, stumbles down the stretch, is on the bubble to start the Big East tournament, beats Providence in the first round, and winds up a No. 7 seed in the West.

The last time the Mountaineers faced such a scenario (2005), they promptly rattled off wins over Creighton, Wake Forest, and Texas Tech to reach the Elite Eight. This time?  Deja vu all over again.

Could WVU lose? Sure. Arizona is solid, with future NBA players Jarryd Bayless and Chase Budinger leading the charge. But since Lute Olson went AWL (absent with leave), the Wildcats have struggled to find their identity. Bayless can't score and everyone else seems to have forgotten some of the finer aspects of the game, like defense.

Since beating USC on Jan. 31, Arizona's only decent win came at Washington State.  That doesn't bode well in a matchup against a dangerous WVU team guided by first year coach Bob Huggins.

Huggins has taken the best elements of Beilein ball (good turnover margin, unselfish play, and solid shooting) and molded them into his style of rugged defense, tenacious rebounding, and relentless hustle.

The scariest part: The Mountaineers are just now hitting their stride.

Enter Joe Alexander. He has been the single most valuable player on any team down the stretch. Don't take my word for it—ask Bobby Knight. Since Mr. Knight has won approximately 900 more games than me, I won't argue.

After averaging a tepid 30 points per game over the last five, Alexander was finally slowed by Georgetown to the tune of 12 points on a dismal 5-16 shooting. That won't happen again. Alexander and company will be rested and prepared for whatever kind of double and triple-teams the Wildcats throw their way.

Moreover, senior Darris Nichols and junior Alex Ruoff are both long overdue to get hot from behind the arc, where WVU has burned opponents with just more than seven treys a game this season.

On the defensive end, look for Arizona to attack Alexander in an attempt to get him into foul trouble and to use their superior athleticism to try to overpower the Mountaineers inside. But without a dominant center on either side, WVU can counter with the ever-improving Wellington Smith and Joe Mazzulla, who won't be fazed by Arizona's size and quickness after having shut down a bigger, better UConn team a week earlier in the Big East tournament. 

After a close West Virginia win in the opening round, look for them to surprise a smallish and streaky Duke team to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third time in the past four years.

It won't be an encore of the double-overtime classic against Wake Forest that made "Pittsnogled" a household word, but it's going to look eerily similar. Duke, you're on notice.