Good morning from a rainy and windy Myrtle Beach, where temperatures are expected to crest just under 60 degrees today, but the more important question is: How will the West Virginia men’s basketball team react after its season-opening 99-94 loss against Buffalo.
Some of that question could be answered today as the unranked-for-the-first-time-since-2015 Mountaineers (0-1) take on what appears to be an overmatched opponent in Monmouth (0-3), which has already dropped three straight to Colgate, Lehigh and Saint Joseph’s by an average of 17 points per game.
What you need to know:
TV: ESPNU for the 7 p.m. tip-off. Betting line: WVU is favored by 18.
FOUR GOOD QUESTIONS
What is the Myrtle Beach Invitational? Technically, it’s the Puerto Rico Tip-Off that was moved to Myrtle Beach after Hurricane Maria, in 2017. It’s a three-game tournament where the winners remain in the winner’s bracket and losers are moved to the consolation bracket. It’s eight teams — WVU, Wake Forest, Saint Joseph’s, Valparaiso, Western Kentucky, Monmouth, UCF and Cal State Fullerton — which will all play three games. Games are scheduled for today, Friday and Sunday with a day off on Saturday to make room for your college football enjoyment.
Will Beetle Bolden and Sagaba Konate play today? “They have to play,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said earlier this week. But if the game gets to be an early blowout, their minutes may be limited to save them for the remaining two games in this tournament.
What about West Virginia’s defense? The interesting thing about the 99 points WVU allowed in the overtime loss against Buffalo was that it was the most points allowed by the Mountaineers since the 2005 NCAA tournament first-round double-overtime upset win against Wake Forest, a 111-105 final score that you just may recall. Even in the triple-overtime loss against Pitt, in 2010, the Panthers were held to 98. Huggins stressed a need that West Virginia’s guards have to be in better position in the full-court pressure to give the second man enough time to come over and trap. They didn’t against Buffalo and only forced 11 turnovers. We’ll see if that improves today.
What would be an interesting matchup? If West Virginia and UCF both win their first two games, they would meet in the championship game, which would pit Konate against Central Florida’s 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall. The two teams actually met last year, at the AdvoCare Invitational in Disney World. Konate had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks in that 83-45 win. Fall finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds. It would be cool to see the two giants go at it again.
WEST VIRGINIA IN INVITATIONAL PLAY
These November invitational tournaments you see across the country are designed to create a little early-season competition, but really have little bearing on the grand scheme of the season. When March rolls around, no one cares at all who won the Maui Invitational or even who played in it. With that said, West Virginia has won three of its last four November invitationals with wins in 2014 (Puerto Rico), 2015 (Las Vegas) and 2017 (Disney). The one loss was against Temple in the championship game of the 2016 NIT Season Tip-Off, in Brooklyn.
ALLAN TAYLOR’S PICK
Allan is taking the points and predicting a 92-70 West Virginia win.
