There were a lot of issues complicating this game even before tipoff. First of all, the second most hated man in West Virginia, Doug Gottlieb, picked West Virginia to win. That’s literally the kiss of death for us. Next, Coach K and their so-called star players Greg Paulus, DeMarcus Nelson, and McDonald’s All-American freshman Kyle Singler came down with the flu this morning. Good players seem to always rise to the occasion when they’re sick (Anyone remember MJ vs. Utah in the 1998 NBA Finals?) Lastly, the one and only Ed Hightower was the main official in today’s game. The odds were definitely stacked against us. When West Virginia was down 14-4 (thanks to some questionable calls against Wellington Smith not to mention Paulus draining a couple of treys) it looked like it was gonna be a long afternoon. When Coach Huggs chewed out Hightower and got called for the T, our prospects for a win started to look even worse.

ENTER JOE MAZZULLA

Mazzulla brought more punch to the Mountaineer team than a Starbucks double espresso. Playing in one of the best NCAA Tournament games in a Mountaineer uniform, his 13-point 11-rebound and 8-assist performance carried the Mountaineers into the Sweet 16. West Virginia beat down those Dookies 73-67. What do you have to say now Dookie V? How bout you Digger? Go ahead and pick Xavier and UCLA over us. You know damn well the Mountaineers play their best basketball when they have a chip on their collective shoulder.

Remember when I said that Duke lives and dies by the three? After Paulus knocked a few in, West Virginia tightened the D up on the perimeter and that affected Duke in a big way. For the game Duke was 5 of 22 behind the arc. At one point, they missed 15 straight shots from the three. With those misses, West Virginia had to win the rebounding battle and they did it victoriously. Duke was out- rebounded 47 to 27 and got only 5 offensive rebounds. When WVU missed their shots they got 19 offensive rebounds, which extended some valuable possessions in the second half.

Let’s not forget that Hightower, the same ref who was responsible for not calling a Patrick Ewing Jr. goaltend on Da’sean Butler at the end of a heart-breaking loss to Georgetown, did EVERYTHING in his power to sway the momentum to Duke. For that reason, the Dookies dominated the first half as they lead 34-29 after making all 12 foul shots. After Gerald Henderson’s dunk gave Duke a 36-29 lead, WVU made a huge 11-2 run to take a 40-39 lead for the first time since the beginning of the game. It was during this run that Alex Ruoff, with time running out on the shot clock, hit a fade away three from in front of the WVU bench to tie the game at 37. The Verizon Center crowd went nuts and then Jon Scheyer scored another seven unanswered points to take a 47-40 lead with under 12 minutes left.

Once again it was Hightower killing the momentum as he and the crew called fouls left and right on us, but Duke failed to take advantage and missed trey after trey. It even affected them at the line. After the Blue Devils made their first 13 foul shots, including 12-12 in the first half, they were 11 of 19 the rest of the way. Yet another reason why Duke sucks when they live and die by the three. Coach K was so upset with their performance that he broke his clipboard during a timeout. That didn’t help much either. It was all WVU in the second half thanks to Joe Mazzulla and the rest of the Mountaineers.

Joe Alexander led the Eers with 22 points and 11 rebounds despite 7 of 22 shooting, and he was 7 of 8 at the foul line. Ruoff scored a hard-earned 17 points to pace the Eers as well. Even though it didn’t add up to a win for his team, Gerald Henderson led the Blue Devils with 18 points. It’s now on to US Airways Arena in Phoenix (not far from Glendale where the greatest victory in Mountaineer football history took place) to face Coach Huggs former rival the Xavier Musketeers Thursday night in the West Regional semifinals. Once we get through that (and we will), we will face UCLA (Come on do you really think Texas A&M, Western Kentucky, or San Diego will be there?) next Saturday.

Like Tony Caridi said, “It truly is a great day to be a Mountaineer wherever you may be.” Congratulation to Coach Huggs and the West Virginia Mountaineers for making the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years…and we ain’t done yet.