MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It’s a Monday for the No. 9 West Virginia basketball team, just not a “Big Monday” of course. There’s only one of those for the Mountaineers this season, on Feb. 22, because Kansas (four), Oklahoma (three), Iowa State (three) and Texas (three) hog the appearances on ESPN’s so-called marquee matchup.
Maybe all that pomp and additional network promotion is more valuable than playing Kansas State on ESPNews on a Tuesday. But the Saturday-Monday turnaround is difficult, because it compresses scouting and preparation and can leave a team dead-legged on the back end. (Did you notice Oklahoma losing some bounce at Iowa State some 48 hours after playing Press Virginia?)
So this Monday was a prep day, with Bob Huggins recalling what happened the last time K-State took WVU to double-overtime. He also recalled how the snow lays thicker on West Virginia interstates and how graduate transfers aren’t fair to the teams they leave behind.
Jaysean Paige offers more on facing the Wildcats a second time:
Tarik Phillip expects another tough game: