As good as the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East have been, it’s without a doubt that the Big 12 Conference has been the best conference in college basketball this year.
For much of the season, it looked as if the University of Oklahoma Sooners were the best team in the conference, and rightfully so.
But with all due respect to the 19 – 2 Sooners, their conference foes over in Morgantown, West Virginia might have taken that designation away from them after their win Tuesday night.
Could the West Virginia Mountaineers be the best team in the Big 12?
This is definitely not a crazy question, especially when you look at the season West Virginia has put together. The Mountaineers are currently first in the Big 12, and they are boasting an impressive record of 18-4.
However, like much of the teams in their conference, such as the Kansases and Oklahomas of the world, their season’s been anything but a clear picture. They’ve definitely played well but there’ve been times, even in a couple of their wins, where they’ve played down to inferior competition. They’ve really squandered big opportunities to assert themselves because of some bad losses. Most notably at home to unranked Texas and a January 30 road loss to the unranked Florida Gators.
What’s kept them afloat this year? What’s made this team so great? They have guys like forward Devin Williams, who is a walking double-double-a-night. Guard Jaysean Paige, their leading scorer, who not only can put up points but provide a sense of veteran leadership, which is hard to find in this era of one-and-done basketball.
Another thing this team is built on is their defense. They are 38th in the NCAA in points allowed, only giving up under 65 a game. They’re especially pesky when it comes to steals; they lead the Big-12 with 10.59 per game (233 steals this season).
But it is their full-court defense in particular that gives teams the most trouble. They’ve generated 233 steals and they’ve forced 323 turnovers in general, both tops in the Big 12; many of those have come from the full-court press. They do a tremendous job of trapping and getting opponents out of their rhythm and arguably no one executes it better than them.
But what makes this Mountaineers team better than the Oklahoma Sooners, especially since West Virginia lost to them, 70-68, back on January 17 and the Sooners have a two-game advantage over them in the win-loss column?
One thing to factor in, the Warriors gave the Sooners everything they could handle in that game; only a last-second layup by Khadeem Lattin with 2.8 seconds remaining in the half is what ultimately decided the outcome. The highly-vaunted defense held Oklahoma, one of the best shooting teams in the country, to 33.3 percent shooting and flexed their muscles on a primetime stage.
Then factor in Oklahoma’s losses; they have come at the hands of an Iowa State team in a narrow 82-77 loss in Ames, Iowa. There also was that heartbreaking triple-overtime loss to the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Field House on January 4, 109-106.
While West Virginia’s played down to competition at times, they’ve also risen above and outshined some very good teams.
For instance, the Mountaineers just came off a huge road win at Hilton Coliseum against the Iowa State Cyclones, something that Oklahoma could not do. This was a game in which they had to come back from a 15-point first half deficit and close out the contest with a 9-2 run to secure the 81-76 victory. The two veterans Paige and Williams came through with clutch performances; Williams scored 17 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and Paige scored 23 and grabbed 6 boards.
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West Virginia also did what Kansas couldn’t by upseting the Kansas Jayhawks. They did it through defense, forcing Kansas into 22 turnovers, and they made key free throws at game’s end to close things out. That game saw the Williams-Paige combo once again dominate the stat sheet with a combined 43 points.
They still weren’t done. The Mountaineers have also beaten the Oklahoma State University Cowboys 77-60, and this is the same Cowboys squad that absolutely humiliated the Jayhawks in a 19-point beating on January 19 (They won 86-67).
That game they won through strong rebounding numbers (they out-rebounded OSU 40-33, including 18-8 in offensive rebounds), and also by team basketball; three players scored in double-figures.
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Most importantly, they have head coach Bob Huggins. Huggins is a brilliant coaching mind and has been around the college game for a combined 42 years as a coach and player (He played at West Virginia from 1975 to 1977), and has won more than 700 games in his coaching career.
He’s been to 21 NCAA tournaments as of March 2015 (he’s likely headed to his 22nd barring an epic meltdown the remainder of the season), so you know he’s probably seen just about everything you could throw at him. We know for sure that Huggins will always have his players well-coached and up to whatever task that’s directed their way.
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West Virginia’s had some great teams since Coach Huggins arrived in 2007, but this year’s squad could be one of his best. They have an opportunity with the remaining regular season games and the Big 12 Tournament to carry some serious momentum into the NCAA Tournament.