Ah, WVU is #6 in the Associated Press writers rankings, which all season have been kinder to Huggins Heroes than the coaches poll, which I haven’t seen yet.
Gonzaga remains #1, as it should. Michigan leapfrogged Baylor, which lost to Kansas. Maize and Blue #2, Bears #3. Illinois #4 and Iowa #5 as the Big 10 lovefest continues to puzzle me based on my eyeball tests. And Ohio State #7. Buckeyes and Iowa have 7 losses, Illinois 6 (just like WVU).
Kansas is #13, Texas #15, Oklahoma #16, Oklahoma State #17, Texas Tech #18.
Who is willing to bet their house that Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio State will NOT lose to Baylor, WVU, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech in March Madness? Not me. Not fans of Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio State either.
I think comparative scores are not a good barometer, but …
WVU and Baylor both are unbeaten against Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State.
WVU lost to these teams that Baylor did not: Kansas (but, without Oscar, won 91-79), Texas (but, without Oscar, won 84-82), Oklahoma (lost with and without Oscar).
So, without Oscar, only defeat by Oklahoma makes WVU look worse than Baylor.
It’s no surprise that Deuce McBride is the scoring leader this season averaging 15.5 per game.
Or that Derek Culver is the rebounding leader with 10.1 per game.
Or that McBride is the assists leader with 4.6 per game although 3 (Osabuohien) in recent games has been pretty damn effective, too, and at 2.3 per game is #2 among Mountaineers. Over past 3 weeks I suspect 3 is pretty close to McBride in assists.
Or that McBride leads in steals at 1.8 per game. His frenetic behavior drives ballhandlers and opponents guarding him equally bonkers.
Or that Culver leads in blocks with 0.8 per game. Oscar was 0.4 before he took his headcase to Kentucky.
No surprise that McBride, McNeil, Culver, Matthews, Sherman (in that order) have the most minutes per game, all significantly more than Oscar, whose brooding put him on the bench a lot.
Gabe (3) is 2nd to Culver in rebounding among players not named Oscar. 2nd in assists and steals to McBride, 2nd to Culver in blocks, has only 1.1 turnovers per game, is the team leader in 3-point percentage (he doesn’t shoot often, but makes 3’s when he does) even though his field goal percentage (33.3%) and free throw shooting (39%) are atrocious. Because Gabe averages only 1.7 points a game, his value is under-estimated by some fans but his rebounding, assists, steals, blocks and few 3’s he takes shouldn’t be overlooked. Gabe kept WVU in the lead throughout the terrible cavalcade of missed shots in the first half against Kansas State, after all. Before the hired guns recalibrated their gunsights (after a tongue-lashing at halftime by Huggins) to destroy K-State, 65-43.
With all this research I’m sure the dinosaur’s brain screwed up something which will make pickings easy for the YeahButtHeads. Nitpick the errors, but the thrust of this post is dead-on aim.
Gonzaga remains #1, as it should. Michigan leapfrogged Baylor, which lost to Kansas. Maize and Blue #2, Bears #3. Illinois #4 and Iowa #5 as the Big 10 lovefest continues to puzzle me based on my eyeball tests. And Ohio State #7. Buckeyes and Iowa have 7 losses, Illinois 6 (just like WVU).
Kansas is #13, Texas #15, Oklahoma #16, Oklahoma State #17, Texas Tech #18.
Who is willing to bet their house that Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio State will NOT lose to Baylor, WVU, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech in March Madness? Not me. Not fans of Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio State either.
I think comparative scores are not a good barometer, but …
WVU and Baylor both are unbeaten against Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State.
WVU lost to these teams that Baylor did not: Kansas (but, without Oscar, won 91-79), Texas (but, without Oscar, won 84-82), Oklahoma (lost with and without Oscar).
So, without Oscar, only defeat by Oklahoma makes WVU look worse than Baylor.
It’s no surprise that Deuce McBride is the scoring leader this season averaging 15.5 per game.
Or that Derek Culver is the rebounding leader with 10.1 per game.
Or that McBride is the assists leader with 4.6 per game although 3 (Osabuohien) in recent games has been pretty damn effective, too, and at 2.3 per game is #2 among Mountaineers. Over past 3 weeks I suspect 3 is pretty close to McBride in assists.
Or that McBride leads in steals at 1.8 per game. His frenetic behavior drives ballhandlers and opponents guarding him equally bonkers.
Or that Culver leads in blocks with 0.8 per game. Oscar was 0.4 before he took his headcase to Kentucky.
No surprise that McBride, McNeil, Culver, Matthews, Sherman (in that order) have the most minutes per game, all significantly more than Oscar, whose brooding put him on the bench a lot.
Gabe (3) is 2nd to Culver in rebounding among players not named Oscar. 2nd in assists and steals to McBride, 2nd to Culver in blocks, has only 1.1 turnovers per game, is the team leader in 3-point percentage (he doesn’t shoot often, but makes 3’s when he does) even though his field goal percentage (33.3%) and free throw shooting (39%) are atrocious. Because Gabe averages only 1.7 points a game, his value is under-estimated by some fans but his rebounding, assists, steals, blocks and few 3’s he takes shouldn’t be overlooked. Gabe kept WVU in the lead throughout the terrible cavalcade of missed shots in the first half against Kansas State, after all. Before the hired guns recalibrated their gunsights (after a tongue-lashing at halftime by Huggins) to destroy K-State, 65-43.
With all this research I’m sure the dinosaur’s brain screwed up something which will make pickings easy for the YeahButtHeads. Nitpick the errors, but the thrust of this post is dead-on aim.
