By Paul Gotham

Setting: The Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York is the place for the East Regional final as Bob Huggins and his No.2 seed West Virginia Mountaineers (30-6) tip it off with John Calipari and the No. 1 seed Kentucky Wildcats (35-2).

Plot: Big East clashes with the SEC for a spot in the Final Four. The Mountaineers seek their first trip to the Final Four in 50 years. WVU lost the national championship in 1959. Kentucky won the national title in 1998. The Wildcats have not made it back to the Final Four since then.

Sub-plot: With a win, Calipari will take a third different school to the Final Four. WVU would be the second school Huggins has taken to the last weekend of the season. Huggins is 7-1 all-time against Calipari.  WVU will play without their starting point guard, Darryl Bryant who was injured in practice.

Flashback: Jodie Meeks dropped 19 and Patrick Patterson added 15 as the Wildcats trimmed the Mountaineers 54-43 in last year’s Las Vegas Invitational.

Kentucky holds a 13-4 advantage in a series that dates back to the 1923-24 season. The Wildcats have taken the previous seven games in the series. The last time WVU beat Kentucky was 1959 – a 79-70 triumph in the Kentucky Invitational.

West Virginia is making its 23rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament and third trip to the Elite Eight.  This is Kentucky’s 50th appearance in The Dance. The ‘Cats have 13 Final Four appearances and seven national championships.

Foreshadowing: Thirteen Mountaineers have played in the NBA. Joe Alexander is the only current alum of West Virginia basketball in the Association. Sixty-seven Wildcats have made their way into the NBA including current players Kelenna Azubuike, Keith Bogans, Chuck Hayes, Jamal Magloire, Jodie Meeks, Nazr Mohammed, Randolph Morris, Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo.

Conflict:  Who will establish tempo, and which players will execute? Kentucky averages almost 79 a game while allowing 60.  West Virginia goes for almost 73 and keeps opponents to 63. Thursday night, they held Washington to 24 points under their average.

Huggins deploys seven of his troops for double digit minutes. Da’Sean Butler leads three Mountaineers in double figures.

Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks combine for 25 points and 15 and a half rebounds for the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers hold a +7 advantage on the glass.

WVU will need to slow the ‘Cats in transition.

Freshman phenom, John Wall, leads four Wildcats in double figures with 16 and a half per game. Wall adds 6.6 assists, four rebounds, and just under two steals.

Eric Bledsoe averages 39.8 percent from long range. It is not so much that Bledsoe has hit from behind, but that he is threat from long range. West Virginia will need to stay close to Bledsoe which opens up more room for Wall to drive.

Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins combine for 17 boards per game. Cousins grabs almost four offensive rebounds per game. The front court tandem scores almost 30 a game.

Resolution: In the Regional semi-final Cornell held Kentucky to 62 points. The Wildcats did not break 40 until the game’s 32nd minute. Huggins had a front-row seat for the game. Can the Mountaineers execute a page or two from the Big Red’s play book? West Virginia will need to resist the temptation to get into a track meet with Kentucky.That would be an exercise in futility. The Mountaineers need to win the game in the paint.

Huggins’ troops will slow it down and give Butler another chance to finish one. WVU advances to the Final Four.

Got any comments on the game? Post them here.

By Paul Gotham

South Carolina slays KU

Indiana Hoosier fans can rest easy. Your’75-’76 Hoosiers still hold the title as – the last division one men’s basketball team to go undefeated.

Not that there was any real cause for concern.

Devan Downey led a spirited Gamecock squad to an upset of the previously last remaining undefeated team, Kentucky. Downey scored 30 including 17 in the second half as South Carolina triumphed 68-62. Twice Downey converted three pointers the old-fashioned way as South Carolina outscored Kentucky in the second half, 42-33.  The senior guard also hit 10 of 11 from the free throw line.

There is not any one number that jumps out and indicates how South Carolina upset Kentucky. Rather, the Gamecocks brought a balanced attack into the game.

Sam Muldrow grabbed 11 boards as the Gamecocks out-rebounded the Wildcats, 40-38. Kentucky entered play Tuesday with a rebound margin of 4.8. The Wildcats had been previously out-rebounded just three times.  South Carolina limited Kentucky to 13 offensive rebounds – their fourth lowest output of the season.

South Carolina held Kentucky to just 57 shots on the night.  In comparison, the Wildcats took 77 against Arkansas and 68 versus Florida. But it’s not just that South Carolina cut down on the number of shots, but it’s how the Gamecocks did it. South Carolina made Kentucky play half-court offense much of the night. The Wildcats want to get out in transition and get into 3 on 2 or 2 on 1 situations. South Carolina eliminated those opportunities.

Kentucky finished the night 22 of 57 from the field (38.6 percent) including 3 of 12 (25 percent) from behind the three-point arc.

A telling number was the amount of time played by Kentucky’s starters. Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall all played 34 or more minutes. Eric Bledsoe logged 31 minutes. These guys are accustomed to playing five minutes less per game. The Wildcat bench might become an issue at some point this season.

South Carolina fans stormed the court and earned the school a fine.

Indiana finished the ’75-’76 season 32-0.

Shot selection leads to Temple victory

Being limited to fewer shots does not always equate with a losing performance.

If ever a new secretary of energy is needed, Temple’s head coach, Fran Dunphy, might be the man. Dunphy’s Owls showed how to get a lot out of little indefeating Xavier 77-72.

Temple needed just 49 shots to account for the night’s total. The Owls shot 59.2 percent from the field including five of ten from behind the three-point arc.

In each of Temple’s three losses this year they took more shots and scored fewer points. Georgetown defeated the Owls 46-45 in a game where Dunphy’s squad shot 18 of 56 from the field. In an 84-52 loss to Kansas, Temple went 16-64. The Owls shot 18-64 while losing to St. John’s 55-48.

Xavier is no slouch on defense. The Muskies limit opponents to 40 percent from the field. The nation’s leader, Florida State, holds opposing shooters to 35.5 percent.

What was the difference? Temple played a patient game against the X-Men. They worked the ball from side to side, created a rhythm and found open shooters. There is a better tendency for that to happen when the defense is responsible fr the entire width of the court. Against Kansas and St. John’s, Temple rushed shots.

Player to watch: Julius Coles, Canisius

The junior guard averages 15 points and 5 rebounds for the Griffins. At 6’4″ and 180 pounds, Coles is not going to move anybody out of his way. But he is a lanky guard who is difficult to keep a body on when a shot caroms off the rim. Coles connects 35 percent (41-117) of the time from behind the arc. He has a quick release. Defenders struggle to defend his shot when he gets the ball to his release point.

A.P.B.:  Pac 10

This week’s polls had a conspicuous absentee: the Pac 10. The conference considered the king of the west did not have any ranked teams. None. Nada. Zilch. In fact, only California managed any votes: two votes from the AP and two votes from ESPN. No school in the conference has fewer than six losses. California, Arizona St. and Washington all have six defeats. USC and Washington have each lost seven games. UCLA is 9-10.

1st Team All Casey

PG Scottie Reynolds – Villanova

SG Jeremy Hazell – Seton Hall

SF Wesley Johnson – Syracuse

PF Al-Farouq Aminu – Wake Forest

C Cole Aldrich – Kansas

2nd Team All Casey

PG – Sherron Collins – Kansas

SG  Jordan Crawford – Xavier

SF  Evan Turner – Ohio State

PF  Patrick Patterson – Kentucky

C Jarvis Varnado – Miss State

Got any college basketball splinters? Share them here.

Leading up to the 2009 NIT Season Tip Off on November 16th, Pickin’ Splinters will be counting down the top 25 of the college hardwood nation.

’08 – ’09 Results: 22 – 14 (8 – 8 SEC) Lost in the third round of the NIT Tournament to Notre Dame, 77 – 67.

Coach: John Calipari (first season) 444 – 140 17 seasons

Key Returners:

Patrick Patterson – 17.9ppg, 9.3rpg

Darius Miller – 5.3ppg, 3.1rpg

Perry Stevenson – 7.8ppg, 5.9rpg

Ramon Harris – 5.5ppg, 3.8rpg

Notable Non-Conference Tilts: 11/24 vs. Cleveland State, 11/25 vs. Stanford or Virginia, 12/5 vs. North Carolina, 12/9 vs. UConn, 12/12 at Indiana, 1/2 vs. Louisville

Stat of Identity: 77.3% from the free throw line – 6th in the nation.

By Paul Gotham

Kentucky’s Wildcats have made grabbing headlines a major pre-occupation this off-season – not always to their liking. New head coach, John Calipari, found himself having to answer questions about his former place of  employment. Recruit, John Wall, recently found his eligibility called into question.

Calipari and his Wildcats will need to cast aside any and all distractions and focus on the task of grabbing positive headlines.

Veterans, Patrick Patterson and Darius Miller will lead the way, but this Wildcat squad might be more about its freshman than its experience.

DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, and Wall come with plenty of fanfare. The three freshmen are immediately expected to jump into the Kentucky and make an impact. Calipari is experienced with helping freshmen make a quick adjustment into the college. The Calipari has done well in the past using freshmen, but he has never done it at Kentucky where every move will be scrutinized.

Not only will Calipari need to bring along his freshmen quickly, but the upper-classmen will need to adapt to Calipari’s ‘dribble drive’ offense. While the set is not overly complicated, it will still take some getting used to.

An area of concern for Calipari has to be success from the three-point arc. Kentucky converted 202 trifectas last year – 117 came from the fingertips of the now departed Jodie Meeks. Without a deep threat, defense will easily collapse on Patterson in the post.

At 6’7″, Miller will present match up problems for opponents. The guard should get good looks at the basket.

Sophomores, Darnell Dodson and DeAndre Liggins will see time off the bench.

Considering the free throw woes of his Memphis teams, it will be interesting to see how Calipari’s Wildcats do from the charity stripe. Kentucky ranked high in this category last year.