BUFFALO, N.Y. - Buffalo is known for wings. It is known for snow.
And, on Monday and Tuesday, the area certainly received the latter.
As part of Winter Storm Stella, about a foot of snow hit and more slowly accumulated through Tuesday. Tractor-trailers were banned for a while on Interstate 90 and other highways. Schools, including universities, were shut down. And there was concern for motorists driving to the NCAA tournament here from West Virginia, as well as from homes of fans following Notre Dame, Princeton, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Villanova and others.
As you might know, as the snowstorm bore down, WVU, among other teams, made a successful dash to Buffalo. The Mountaineers play Bucknell in the first round of the men's tournament around 2:45 p.m. on Thursday.
And yet, while all was swirling, while the wind was blowing, with the ground blanketed on Tuesday, one member of the West Virginia team shrugged. One member took it in stride.
"I know all about this weather," said guard Teyvon Myers. "It's kind of warm here, actually."
At the time, it was 20 degrees in Buffalo. The "feels like" temperature was 5 degrees.
See, Myers is not only from Brooklyn, New York. He also spent time at Williston State in North Dakota.
"Out there it snowed a lot," Myers said. "But the people of Williston were great. They cared about us and made it possible to get around."
There was a difference between there and here.
"On snow days like [Tuesday] in New York, they would cancel school," said the guard. "In North Dakota, it was such a regular thing the kids would go to school anyway. People would take me to school because they understood I needed to do good and get where I needed to go."
Myers smiled about the early departure from Morgantown to Buffalo and the long bus ride.
"I thought people would be a little grouchy on the trip because it was a long drive," he said, "but we handled it pretty well. We watched film and movies. It was kind of like a [junior college] kind of trip, you know what I'm saying?"
Thankfully, no. But now WVU is in place. On Tuesday morning the team had breakfast, went through a film session and practiced. The run-up to Thursday's game has begun.
Las Vegas, by the way, has installed the Mountaineers as 13 1/2- to 14-point favorites through Tuesday afternoon. The only spreads higher for Thursday NCAA games were those of Gonzaga against South Dakota State and Arizona against North Dakota.
Myers' take on 26-8 Bucknell of the Patriot League?
"They shoot the ball pretty well," said the guard. "As long as we play basketball the way we play, I think we should be fine."
WVU's team, of course, should have learned a lesson from last year's NCAA event. Again big favorites, the Mountaineers fell hard to Stephen F. Austin in the first round. But if West Virginia can win Thursday, it will play the winner of the Notre Dame-Princeton contest on Saturday. After that, it would face a probable date with region top seed Gonzaga in San Jose on March 24.
"I don't pay attention to the bracket," Myers said. "We just look at who we have to play now. I just know whom we have. We're just trying to take care of business."
Smart attitude, especially considering WVU's recent play. Yes, the Mountaineers have been winning. But since easily handling Texas at home in the regular season, nothing has been easy.
"We just need to do what we need to do," Myers said. "Since the Texas game, I feel, yeah, we had tough games, but the Big 12 is a hard conference. Anyone can beat anyone. If we play like we can, though, we should be fine."
West Virginia is still leading the nation in opponents' turnovers per game (20.4) and turnover margin (plus 8.2), but has switched defenses some, employing more 1-3-1 zone.
"I feel the 1-3-1 works a lot," Myers said. "It's brought us a lot of success and I think it will in the future."
Guard play, of course, is always a factor in the NCAA tournament. So is free-throw shooting. The Mountaineers are now No. 261 nationally in the latter, hitting 67.8 percent. But overall ...
"We all need to step up," Myers said.
He just promises one thing when fans watch the Mountaineers.
"They'll see," he said, "the hardest-working team in the country."
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.