by Paul Jordan
GAME 38 – 3/27/2010
7:00 PM – CBS TV
WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (30-6)
KENTUCKY LEADS SERIES 13-4
RECENT MEETINGS:
11/29/2008: KENTUCKY 54 WVU 43
11/22/2005: KENTUCKY 80 WVU 66
What should we call this game? Beauty versus the Beast? Grace versus pressure? It’s safe to say that Kentucky has not faced a team like West Virginia this season. The Mountaineers have, well, a mountain of a starting lineup, starting four forwards and just one guard. That combination was good enough for the Mountaineers to win the Big East Tournament and they were worthy of a number one seed overall. The tournament has not been kind to West Virginia as they have lost their starting PG, Darryl Bryant to injury, yet the Mountaineers stand between UK and their first Final Four since 1998. Keep in mind that earlier this year, West Virginia did go 3-1 with an all forward starting lineup. Let’s take a look at these Mountaineers.
THE STARTERS
G – JOE MAZZULLA, JR 6’2 200
2.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.3 apg
G/F – De’SEAN BUTLER, SR 6’7 230
17.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.3 apg
F – DEVIN EBANKS, SO 6’9 215
12 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.5 apg
F – WELLINGTON SMITH, SR 6’7 245
6.5 ppg, 4 rpg, 1.2 apg
F – KEVIN JONES, SO 6’8 215
13.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.1 assists
BACKCOURT: Despite technically being a forward, De’Sean Butler will probably see most of his time in the backcourt and you can even expect him to share some time at the PG position through the course of the game. And Butler has John Wall beat in the drama department. Butler has six game winning shots this season — and two in the Big East Tournament. In the end, WVU’s success begins and ends with Butler. He’s a pretty good 3-point threat at 35.3% and he is pretty good at passing the rock with an almost 2-1 A/TO ratio. Joe Mazzulla will more than likely start at the point. He is still not able to shoot very much due to a lingering shoulder injury, but is a good ball handler (2.36 A/TO. Despite the lack of offense, Mazzulla is a pretty good defender. 6’4 Junior Casey Mitchell will also see increased time in the backcourt and is averaqging 3.8 points a game but can give WVU a lift if he gets hot from the outside.
FRONTCOURT: Devin Ebanks is probably the best defender and the best rebounder among this group, which is the main reason the Mountaineers led the Big East in rebound differential this season. Ebank has turned into a pretty consistent scorer as well although he does not have a great deal of range. Ebanks is especially dangerous on the offensive boards. Only a sophomore, Kevin Jones is the most complete frontcourt player and knocks down 38.5% of his treys and is a tenacious rebounder. Jones gets right at half his rebounds on the offensive board. Wellington Smith is probably the most inconsistent player of the starters — he has a tendency to disappear for long periods of time, but he is a legitimate three point threat for a big man at 36.5% of his treys. WVU has plenty of depth at this position as 6’7 John Flowers and 6’7 Cam Thoroughman will chew some minutes.
OUTLOOK: What a tough game to handicap. WVU is a solid top 10 team, but can a team defeat Wall and Bledsoe with no real PG or backcourt? Butler will be the key to the game and he can be a game changer with his size if he plays at PG much. We know that WVU is big and tough and have a great deal of length, but is that enough to counteract the speed of Wall and Bledsoe?
The one advantage for UK is that Huggins plays man to man most of the time. However, Huggins is also prone to go to a 1-3-1 zone, which can be confusing due to the fact it is rarely used. Will Huggins resort to that zone, or depend on his length in man to man matchups? Is WVU’s mountain of forwards enough to counteract UK’s guard play?
One player UK will want to watch is freshman forward Deniz Kilicli. Kilicli was a Turkish import (similar to UK’s recently committed Enes Kanter) and is just working his way into the rotation after missing the first 20 games due to NCAA eligibility issues. From what I have heard, Kanter’s and Kilicli’s eligibility situations are much different. Deniz is a 6’9, 265 Turkish player who is averaging 3.5 points in about seven minutes a game.
So who wins this game? I think the loss of PG Bryant will be too much for WVU to overcome in this game and UK advances to the final four with a tough fought 81-75 win.
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