Big 12: West Virginia Looking to Turn Some Heads After Hot Start
By Cody Daniel
Prior to the season, there weren’t many people out there who could honestly say they saw the West Virginia Mountaineers jumping to an early 5-0 record after controlling the majority of the game against the defending national champion and No. 17 ranked Connecticut Huskies 78-68 to become the Puerto Rico Tip-Off champions. This came after West Virginia outscored their first four opponents by total of 67 points, although, you could argue that the competition wasn’t the competition hasn’t been the stiffest as their first four victories came over teams with a record total of 8-10.
Of course, we can’t take the deserved credit away from the Mountaineers after their 5-0 start, especially when most, including myself had West Virginia finishing among the Big 12’s bottom feeders, along with Texas Tech and TCU. Who knows whether the double-digit victory over UConn was just a one-time happening and if this small amount of noise that’s starting to surround West Virginia is overblown, but with a fairly easy schedule ahead of them until two games into conference play and having a senior leader and one of the best point guards in the country in Juwan Staten, there’s good reason to believe that West Virginia could enter their January 13 matchup with Oklahoma undefeated.
It’s hard to believe that could be true for a team that lost two of its top three leading scorers from last season with Eron Harris and Terry Henderson both transferring out of the program, but with Devin Williams and Jonathan Holton both stepping up and becoming double-digit scorers, Staten has gained some much-needed assistance, which is absolutely necessary if West Virginia wants to remain competitive once they start seeing the powers of the Big 12 when they start seeing the talent of depth of Kansas, Texas, Iowa State and Oklahoma. But for now, there’s no reason to worry about how hectic things could get for Bob Huggins squad once conference play arrives.
West Virginia follows their win over UConn up with VMI, College of Charleston, Northern Kentucky, Marshall and Wofford in five of their final eight games before conference play before they see TCU and Texas Tech in their first two games. That’s seven very manageable and win-able games, with LSU, North Carolina State and Virginia Tech being some matchups that could derail any confidence West Virginia manages to accumulate heading into 2015, but for now, let’s enjoy what could become the Cinderella of the Big 12 this season while their success lasts.