SI.com ranks WVU basketball team at No. 11
The goal for the WVU basketball team this season is the same as it always is each year. Winning a national championship is what head coach Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers will work for this season.
According to SI.com, the WVU basketball team has a chance to go far in the postseason, but it isn’t quite ready to crack the top 10. The magazine’s website lists West Virginia as the No. 11 team in the country.
That’s a fair assessment as the WVU basketball team is also given a three seed for the NCAA Tournament. SI also says the Mountaineers are the second-best team in the Big 12 Conference, behind perennial power Kansas.
The WVU basketball team returns a lot of key pieces from last year’s run to the Sweet 16. That experience, coupled wit younger players stepping up and filling new roles should lift the WVU basketball team to its best finish since making the Final Four in 2010.
In the SI.com article, an important fact is pointed out that may hold back the Mountaineers in the early part of the season. The WVU basketball team will be without a suspended Esa Ahmad until at least early January.
"West Virginia (No. 11) won’t have junior power forward Esa Ahmad for the first half of the season after he failed to meet eligibility requirements, but the Mountaineers are going to be as suffocating as ever once Big 12 play begins. Head coach Bob Huggins got great news at the draft withdrawal deadline when guard Jevon Carter decided to return for his senior season."
Jevon Carter is the main ingredient in the recipe for success for the Mountaineers. His leadership skills and overall knack for the game of basketball make him one of the top players in the country. If he didn’t come back this season, West Virginia would still probably be ranked but it would barely crack the top 25.
The WVU basketball team will go far if Carter plays to the same capabilities he shown in his previous years with the Mountaineers. Also, the team needs to find a worthy backup to Ahmad. The junior has been spotty in his play, despite earning a starting role as a freshman. His focus isn’t always there on the court and he needs to be able to come back from his suspension more aggressive than ever before. With Ahmad back for conference play, the WVU basketball team should be able to gel at just the right time.
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Down low, Sagaba Konate needs to keep up his dominating performances from a year ago. Nobody in the Big 12 can rock the rim like he can. Konate needs to be the team’s main rebounder and give the offense many second-chance opportunities.
When it comes down to it, the WVU basketball team will provide so many thrills and excitement this season in Morgantown. There are no limits for this team’s potential.
Next: All-time WVU basketball team
Right now, the WVU basketball team may be No. 11, but it’s simply foreseeable for it to be No. 1 when it’s all said and done.