MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Welcome to a winter wonderland of snowy roads and auto mishaps, where Rider University makes the trek from Lawrence Township , N.J. for a game against West Virginia in what power rankings and computer printouts will tell you could be an interesting matchup.
First, we go with news: The Mountaineers (3-2) will have the services of point guard Beetle Bolden and forward Wes Harris, after both missed last week’s victory against Valparaiso due to a “coach’s decision.” Sagaba Konate continues to deal with a sore knee and doesn’t practice much, but is expected to play. Junior forward Lamont West (wrist) is also said to be feeling and shooting better.
The team doctors, “Did some different things with him,” Huggins said of West. “He said he felt good [on Monday.]”
Here’s what you need to know:
TV: AT&T SportsNet for the 6:30 p.m. tip-off. Betting Line: West Virginia is favored by 11.5 points.
TWO GOOD QUESTIONS
What exactly makes this an interesting game? To begin with, the Broncs won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last season, as well as 22 games, and return five starters, the league’s top sixth man and two Division I transfer guards. They shoot a ton of threes every game and play pretty well together. With that said, what makes it truly interesting is the NET . That’s the NCAA Evaluation Tool, a new set of power rankings used by the NCAA selection committee to help select at-large teams for the NCAA tournament. It basically replaces the RPI as a tool. It updates daily and ranks teams based on records, strength of schedule, margin of victory and offensive and defensive efficiency. According to the NET, Rider (No. 121 on Tuesday) is currently in a better position than the Mountaineers (No. 147) for an at-large spot in the tournament. Ratings are fluid and will change over the course of an entire season. As with any ratings system, if you beat a team ranked ahead of you, that’s not a bad thing, and if Rider goes on to have a good season in the MAAC, that helps WVU’s strength of schedule.
What is WVU’s actual health status? Not good. Konate began practice Tuesday on an exercise bike and likely didn’t practice much. Bolden is back to practice, but his whole left arm — his shooting arm — is still pretty banged up and its hard to tell what else might happen the next time he throws his body in harm’s way to take a charge. West had offseason surgery on his right wrist to fix torn ligaments and it’s beginning too swell up again. Hard to say if that will become a factor at this point.
(NOT) TURNING IT OVER
West had an interesting take following WVU’s 88-76 victory over Valparaiso last week, in which the Mountaineers only had one turnover in the second half. That was a big improvement for a team that had 57 turnovers through its first three games.
“Coach [Huggins] came in and told us after the game we only had one turnover in the second half,” West said. “I nearly passed out.”
ALLAN TAYLOR’S PICK
Allan is taking West Virginia, 87-77.
FOLLOW on Twitter @bigjax3211
