Hail WV
Fansided

WVU Basketball: Mountaineers Back in the Top 10

By Michael Bonaventura

Mar 12, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; The West Virginia Mountaineers cheerleaders celebrate after a score against the Kansas Jayhawks in the championship game of the Big 12 Conference tournament at Sprint Center. Kansas Won 81-71. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; The West Virginia Mountaineers cheerleaders celebrate after a score against the Kansas Jayhawks in the championship game of the Big 12 Conference tournament at Sprint Center. Kansas Won 81-71. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The WVU Men’s Basketball team leaped back into the Top 10 after the release of the latest polls. After falling to 18th having suffered back-to-back losses, the ‘Eers seem to have straightened things out – for now.

The Mountaineers are quickly becoming one of the top teams in the NCAA. With their recent winning streak, they’re the No. 7 team in the country.

Playing in the Big 12 has it’s perks, too. The Mountaineers have played top competition, and continue to force their press defense on their opponents. With wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country, it’s no secret that the ‘Eers can compete with the country’s best.

Even though they aren’t in the top five yet, they are putting a pretty big target on their backs this season. This could pose a big problem for the Mountaineers. This is the same exact situation that gave them a problem last season. They were playing hard, winning games, and taking down top opponents.

Once this happened last season, they Mountaineers took a big slide, and fell into the pressure of the NCAA. They started to take teams lightly, and thought that no one would be able to take down WVU with how they were playing. This years team is showing the same attitude.

NCAA Basketball: Kansas at West Virginia
NCAA Basketball: Kansas at West Virginia /

Press Virginia has one of the best full court pressure I have ever seen. They are able to trap players right off the inbound pass and create a lot of turnovers. However, they were great at this last season as well. The problem with this is that teams are starting to figure out how to break their press and get up on the Mounties early, making them play catch up.

If WVU can tweak their press slightly and make it even better than what it is, I don’t see them getting into the same trap that they did last season. This could mean big things coming out of Morgantown.

Home/West Virginia Mountaineers