BROOKLYN, N.Y. — WVU and its fans should feel good about the Mountaineers playing this round of the NCAA Tournament around the Big Apple of New York City.
The area certainly has been sweet to the West Virginia basketball program.
Yes, WVU took some blows to the chin in the old Big East tournaments. But the school also forged some memories, especially at Madison Square Garden.
There was the 2010 Big East championship, led by Da'Sean Butler, who hit a last-second shot against Georgetown. There was WVU's 2005 run in that league's tournament propelled by Kevin Pittsnogle.
If one wishes to extend upstate to Syracuse, that's where the Mountaineers upset No. 1 NCAA seed Kentucky in 2010. New York hosted the 2007 NIT, which WVU won by beating Clemson.
And don't forget, coach Dyke Raese led WVU to its first national championship in New York in 1942. Back then the NIT was the prominent tournament.
Also, West Virginia's basketball program has landed some of its premier players from the New York area. Bob Huggins went fishing in the junior college ranks for Teyvon Myers, Jaysean Paige and Tarik Phillips, but the former and latter are from Brooklyn and Paige is from Jamestown.
From Huggins' past teams, Kevin Jones and Jabarie Hinds were from Mount Vernon, Butler and Dominique Rutledge were from Newark, New Jersey, Devin Ebanks (who transferred to WVU) was from Long Island, Danny Jennings was from Staten Island, Wellington Smith was from Summit, New Jersey, and Daryl “Truck” Bryant was from Brooklyn.
Now, since joining the Big 12, WVU has been recruiting New York less and less. But the Mountaineer staff hasn't completely stopped.
“There are plenty of recruits there,” said WVU assistant Ronnie Everhart. “We're recruiting some sophomores and juniors.”
But it's tougher.
“At the end of the day, Eastern [coaches] kill us about playing hundreds of miles away,” Huggins said. “But we're still going to recruit New York. Kids still want to leave and come [to WVU].”
“No. 1, all our flights are chartered,” Everhart said. “No. 2, we're on TV every time we go away. It's not like we're playing on channels no one gets.
“The Big 12 has been really good for us.”
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When Michigan defeated Tulsa late Wednesday night, it set up the possibility of one of the most bizarre scenarios in NCAA Tournament history.
First, understand that Andrew Dakich is a 6-foot-2 guard who walked on to Michigan's team and became a fan favorite. He's played in 22 games this season and is averaging 0.6 points.
He's averaging that many points, of course, for ex-WVU coach John Beilein, now coaching the Wolverines.
If West Virginia defeats Stephen F. Austin and Michigan downs Notre Dame in Friday's round of 64, the bizarre scene would be seen when Huggins, Beilein and Dakich's father, Dan, are all in the Barclays Center together. You see, Dakich once took the WVU job after Gale Catlett quit. A week after agreeing to the move, however, Dakich backed out, fearing NCAA violations were in the offing.
Not much came of the ordeal, however, and Beilein took over in Morgantown and led the Mountaineers to the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen as well as the aforementioned NIT title.
The twist? Dakich is not only Andrew's father, but an ESPN commentator. And this week he was one of the few to diss the Mountaineers in regard to the NCAA Tournament.
“I was disappointed [to see WVU as a No. 3 seed],” Dakich said. “They can't score … if they don't get steals …”
He continued by saying “if they can't, in a one-game deal, turn you over, if you pass-fake and go around them, they won't be that good.”
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And finally …
A few notes from a conversation with Huggins.
First, he said the Mountaineer team enters the tournament healthy. Second, the coach has been running a fever, but said he'll be “fine.”
Third, after watching Stephen F. Austin game tape, Huggin said the Lumberjacks “run really good offense and [have a] mobile defense.”
Oh, and, yes, he mentioned junior Devin Williams, who had 31 points and 10 rebounds in the Mountaineers' Big 12 tournament title game loss to Kansas.
“He played good,” Huggins said. “He finally did the things he's been working on in practice. He's put in a tremendous amount of time in the gym.
“It's good to see when people work so hard and get the fruit of that labor.”