Well, I only wish the Mountaineers were 40 minutes away from going to Phoenix against the 15 seed Belmont Bruins. Thanks to Gerald Henderson that didn’t happen so now the Eers must play 40 minutes of solid basketball against ESPN darlings the Duke Blue Devils. The good thing about West Virginia is that they play well when everyone’s against them. Look at how WVU did against overrated UCONN in the Big East Tournament for their signature win to lock up the NCAA Tournament berth. Coach Huggs and the people’s assistant Billy Hahn have had the Mountaineers play the best basketball of the year–all the while strutting their junk in ESPN’s faces. Anyone see Coach Huggs bringing down ESPN’s resident idiot Doug Gottlieb Friday afternoon? PURE GOLD! Now let’s focus on the Dookies.

Anyone who’s a diehard Mountie fan should know that West Virginia and Duke have faced each other before in the Big Dance. Back in 1989, the Mountaineers dominated the Atlantic 10 which included a 22-game winning streak. After a crushing first-round win over Tennessee they had a tall task of facing the Blue Devils in Greensboro, North Carolina. They went toe-to-toe with them until a controversial charging call against WVU did them in and eventually lost 70-63. Duke would go on to the Final Four that year. Now the winner of this game will very likely face UCLA in the Elite Eight for a chance to go to San Antonio.

To break down the Dookies–they live and die by the three as they are 12th in the nation in 3-pointers made with 9.3 per game. Along with that they have some very fast court-to-court players who know how to get to the hoop and score. Combine those two and they are 3rd in the nation behind run and gun VMI and bitter rival North Carolina in scoring offense averaging 84 points a game. West Virginia has had their struggles playing solid transition defense so controlling the tempo is essential to pull off an upset.

Duke can certainly struggle if they can’t consistently hit the three. In their five losses plus the close call with Belmont the Dookies shot a frigid 30.6 percent from behind the arc. In the other 27 wins, the Blue Devils shot a sizzling 40 percent which would rank close to the Top 10 nationally in 3-point shooting. WVU must hold Duke to about 30 percent shooting from three and from those potential 20 misses get some rebounds which sadly remains a weakness for WVU although they have improved.

Four DUKE players to watch:

1. Greg Paulus - The Syracuse native, who hails from an athletic family, is the heart and soul of this team. Think Steve Wojokowski with a jump shot. He averages 11.3 points with an excellent 2-1 ATT ratio. From three he’s a solid 42.8% from behind the arc.
2. DeMarcus Nelson - This senior captain is a team leader who leads the Dookies with 14.8 points per game. Nelson is shooting 40 percent from three but can score from anywhere. His athleticism enables him to get 6 rebounds a game so blocking him out is a must.
3. Gerald Henderson - The man who went coast-to-coast to avoid a colossal upset against Davidson is by far the team’s most athletic player and will be a pain in the arse to guard the entire game. Butler will have the tall task off guarding him if he doesn’t get into foul trouble like he did earlier in the season.
4. Kyle Singler - Even though he has only started once this year, this McDonald’s All-American from the previous year is Duke’s shot in the arm off of the bench on the frontcourt. The 6-8 220lb. Oregon native can clean the boards with ease averaging 6 rebounds a game to go along with 13.5 points per game. He does; however, struggle from three at 34 percent so if he’s on fire we’re in trouble.

What a treat we will have today. The tipoff is set for 2:10pmE and will be televised on ALL CBS affiliates. Instead of Jim, Verne, or even Kevin Harlan we have to settle for Craig Bolerjack. Bob Wenzel, former A-10 adversary, is riding shotgun though so I feel as many good vibes as I did on Thursday night. Tickets at the Verizon Center may be more expensive, but there will be a strong Mountaineer contingent representing in the nation’s capital. Let’s shock the nation and prove ESPN wrong (except you Coach Knight even though you DID pick shPitt to win it all). Good luck GIT-R-DONE and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MOUNTAINEERS!