(14-4, 3-2)
Last Game: W 75-58 @ (12) Georgetown
The Mountaineers are coming off a surprise win in GTown and are now ranked #15 in the RPI index. WVU relies a lot on its swing players and guards, but not on its frontcourt. The tallest member of W. Virginia's starting five is 6-9; then again, it only starts one player under 6-6: PG Darryl Bryant.
WVU is a very deep team (insert sexual innuendo here). They play nine players over ten minutes a game, except one of those players, Joe Mazzulla, is on the shelf right now. With Mazzulla out, true freshman Darryl Bryant has stepped in at PG and done a decent job. He averages 10.6 ppg on the season, but only 2.8 ASTs to 2.4 TOs per game.
Those ARE ugly numbers, Mr. Paulus, but yours are no better.
Now for some other numbers. WVU has no players shooting over 50% from the field and its point guard shooting 39.6%. Pitt on the other hand has two players shooting over 50% from the field and LeVance Fields shooting exactly 40%. The difference between Fields and Bryant cannot be measured in FG%, however, it needs to be measured in the AST/TO ratio. While Bryant's (as mentioned before) is 2.8/2.4 (or 1.17/1), Fields' is 7/1.8 (or 3.9/1)... The fact that nobody from WVU shoots over 50% from the field is most likely because they have no real center. If DeJuan Blair can stay out of foul trouble (big IF) then he should have a field day against these small bodied Mountaineers.
The #4 team in the country wins games like this 5/6 times, if it is a legit #4 team in the country. Pitt is the real deal this year, and they will win this game. They have to play lockdown defense, keep WVU out of transition, and someone needs to hit some shots in the second half. So Pitt if you can do this, it will spell out a "W" (or a "V") for "U".
CLASSIC!
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