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Facing Kentucky will forever mean Mazzulla memories

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With No. 7 West Virginia hosting Kentucky this weekend, it’s appropriate for Joe Mazzulla to polish up those magical memories from 2010.

But really, that happens all the time.

Even as Mazzulla digs into his coaching career at Division II Fairmont State, he’ll always be known for helping pull off the Elite Eight upset of one of the most prospect-laden college teams ever.

“If I’m at West Virginia game or just somewhere in West Virginia, I’ll get people stopping me and saying ‘Thank you for all the great memories and thank you for the experiences.’

“It’s humbling, it really is. It shows how impactful our performance was, and I always thank them for their support as well.”

That top-seeded Kentucky team featured five 2010 first-rounders — John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton — along with two additional players selected during ensuing seasons, Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins.

But the Wildcats weren’t the Final Four shoo-in everyone suspected, making 4-of-32 from 3-point range as West Virginia’s 1-3-1 zone fueled a 73-66 stunner. At the back of that zone was all 6-foot-1 of Mazzulla, chasing passes corner-to-corner and sagging inside to defend and box-out on the 6-11 Cousins.

“I was just trying to mess up his rhythm, just being a constant nag,” Mazzulla said. “He’s a big man who had a 6-1 guy grabbing your legs, leaning on you, pushing you, shoving you and sliding underneath you.

“I ended up fouling out that game, and if we were playing with today’s rules, I would have fouled out in the first half.”

His 30 minutes of action at the Carrier Dome were inspirational nonetheless. Along with scoring 17 points (at the time a career-high), he helped force Cousins into five turnovers. Mazzulla’s first start of the season occurred only after Truck Bryant suffered a broken foot in practice 48 hours before facing Kentucky.

The regional final upset marks the Mountaineers’ only win against Kentucky over the last 10 meetings dating back to 1960.

“Our guys were excited because it was an Elite Eight game, but they weren’t in awe,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “We threw the 1-3-1 in there and (Kentucky) wasn’t to sure about it, so they missed shots. When you miss shots you start thinking, ‘Oh my God, what’s wrong?’ The whole thing just spread.”

Watching the careers of Wall and Cousins evolve, Mazzulla said “it’s kind of funny” to think they’re NBA superstars while he’s already seven years into coaching at age 29.

“They’re all max (contract) guys,” he said, “so it’s humbling to see that and me being nowhere near there.”

Mazzulla plans on attending the sold-out SEC/Big 12 Challenge game, and the next day his Fairmont State team hosts West Liberty, the No. 1-ranked team in Division II.

Good TV timing, but …

Coaches across both leagues sound inconvenienced by the timing of the Challenge, even though attendance and viewership have increased since moving from December to January.

“Most of us would rather play it before (the conference schedule) rather than in the middle,” said Kentucky’s John Calpari.

“Its a grind,” added Georgia coach Mark Fox. “We both play 18 leagues games and then you step out for this one and it makes 19 play dates in a row. But it’s exciting because it’s such a first-class event.”

Huggins doesn’t like the Kentucky showdown being wedged into the middle of the Big 12 round-robin, though he understands ESPN’s reasons.

“I believe the thinking is: Do we play it when there’s a bunch go football bowls going on, or do we play it when more people are tuned into basketball?”





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