The West Virginia basketball team continue their Big East portion of the schedule as they play the Red Storm of St. John’s tonight at the WVU Coliseum. The tip-off will be at 7pm and will be televised locally on FSN Pittsburgh.

Those, like myself, that will be attending the game will have the special privilege of witnessing the 2008 Fiesta Bowl Champion West Virginia Mountaineer football team. They will be honored during halftime of the game. Good stuff there.

To breakdown the Johnnies’:

• They carry a record of 7-8 with a Big East Conference record of 1-3
• They are coached by Norm Roberts who might be on the hot seat if they don’t improve on their record.
• They are a very young team which includes nine freshman. Fortunately for WVU fans they don’t have to deal with Darryl Hill anymore but they still have solid players on the squad which includes senior Eugene Lawrence and junior Anthony Mason, Jr. whose father had a stellar NBA career with the New York Knicks.
• One player to keep an eye on is 6-8 freshman Justin Burrell from the Bronx, he was rated the number 2 prep prospect in the nation. Believe it or not he spent his freshman year at University High in Morgantown. Imagine if stayed here he would’ve played for us instead. Anyway he’s leads the team with 12.7 points as well as 7.7 rebounds a game. Joe Alexander might have a devil of a time containing him.

Statistic wise they do not control the ball well giving up almost 16 turnovers a game while averaging just over 12 assists a game. It seems like they’re bringing Rucker Park ball to the arena (which is dribbling to the front-court then drive to hoop one-on-one and throw up a jumper then wait for someone to rebound and put the shot back in). They can also be very physical too as they get called for over 20 fouls a game while out-rebounding their opponents by two. WVU must rattle the ball handlers early and often or else they might find themselves in a real dogfight.

The game is not a sellout yet but if you go to the Blue Gate early enough it might sellout before the tip-off. Let’s get that home W and GOOOOOOOOOOO MOUNTAINEERS!