COMMENTARY
AMES, Iowa — Good morning from the campus of Iowa State, where frigid temperatures welcome West Virginia and No. 20 Iowa State tonight.
How cold is it? So cold that the flashers here are only describing themselves. (Thank you, Johnny Carson. The great ones always live on).
The high temperature today is expected to reach minus-9 degrees. The low will be minus-22. The wind chill will make it feel much worse, although West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has bigger things to worry about than the weather.
“We told them to bring a heavy coat. What else are you going to tell them?” Huggins said. “It’s not like they’re going to have snowball fights. They’re going to go from the lobby, to the hotel to the bus and from the bus to the arena.”
Huggins’ biggest worry is now he’s basically two starters down, because the Mountaineers (9-11, 1-6, Big 12) will be without guard Beetle Bolden (ankle), and center Sagaba Konate will miss his 12th consecutive game with a knee injury. That’s not a good news playing at Hilton Coliseum, generally one of the noisiest atmospheres in the conference.
Here’s what you need to know:
TV: ESPNU for the 7 p.m. tip-off.
BETTING LINE: Iowa State is favored by 12.5 points.
THREE GOOD QUESTIONS
► Just how difficult has West Virginia’s schedule been this season? For a moment, let’s take a look at the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), which is no longer used by the NCAA’s selection committee, but is still a fair judge of schedule strength. While Florida, Rhode Island and Pitt are struggling in conference play, Rider is in first place in the Metro Atlantic. Jacksonville State is in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference. Lehigh is in first place in the Patriot League and Buffalo is ranked No. 18 and is on top of the Mid-American.
Then there’s the fact the Mountaineers just played No. 1 Tennessee. When you throw all of it together, the computers say the Mountaineers have played the 16th-hardest schedule in the country. There are still two games left against Iowa State, one more with Kansas and Kansas State, as well as Texas Tech. When it is all said and done, the Mountaineers are projected to have the No. 6 strength of schedule in the country, which would likely be one of the highest in school history.
► How long before Bolden comes back? The guess here is he won’t miss more than one or two games, because, well, Bolden is just that kind of kid who has a ton of heart and he hates missing games. He’s kind of a throwback in that regard, and with all the injuries he’s already dealt with this season, none of them have kept him down very long.
► What’s the scouting report? It looks a lot like the Kansas game, which the Mountaineers can use to their favor if they can get good games on the inside from Derek Culver, Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris. Iowa State is disciplined (they have the fewest turnovers in the league at 220 and lead the Big 12 in scoring at 78.9 ppg), but they also play with a small lineup of four guards and junior forward Michael Jacobson, who is 6-foot-9, 231 pounds.
If West Virginia can ugly-up the game and make it about rebounding (Iowa State is last in the Big 12 in total rebounds, while WVU is second) and can keep it a low-scoring game, then there is an opening. Iowa State is also the best free-throw shooting team in the conference (71.8 percent), so the Mountaineers will have to keep the Cyclones off the line. The key is senior guard Marial Shayok who leads the Big 12 in scoring at 19.7 ppg. He’s 6-6 and is shooting 51 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three. A lot will be asked of West Virginia’s perimeter defense, because Iowa State is second in the league with 177 3-pointers and, well, the Mountaineers haven’t been very good at defending from behind the arc.