Mountaineers Undefeated, Still Climbing

Most preseason predictions for the Big East and the national landscape this fall thought pretty highly of West Virginia. But even the lofty expectations have looked like gross underestimations so far. Very good, yes -- but this good? Unbeaten-on-Christmas-good? No. 6-in-the-polls good?

Anybody who would have figured the Mountaineers to still be undefeated after nine games -- to be one of the last six perfect teams in the country, and to dominate that ninth opponent, the 15th-ranked team in the country, so thoroughly in the second half -- would have been viewed as overly optimistic at best and a shamelessly-blind loyalist at worst.

Even as the Big East as a whole got off to the hot start in November, West Virginia was a question mark. That was partly because its schedule was more sporadic than its conference colleagues (playing only twice before Thanksgiving, against Loyola of Md. and the Citadel), but also, as a trip to Anaheim for the loaded 76 Classic began, because star sophomore forward Devin Ebanks -- who had pondered leaving for the NBA after his freshman season last year -- was not with the team, and the program was being cryptic about why.

The issues with Ebanks, however (described by the school as unspecified personal reasons), appear to be well in the past. He returned in the semifinal of that tournament, a win over Texas A&M, and reportedly punctuated his first basket in that game by saying to his teammates, in mid-game, "I'm back, baby, I'm back.'' In his five games back, he is averaging 11.4 points and is tied for the team's top rebound average at 7.4. That includes 14 points and 13 rebounds -- in only his second start of the season -- Wednesday night in West Virginia's latest win, over Mississippi 76-66 in Morgantown.

It not only got them off to their best start in five years, it was their best win over their most accomplished opponent this season; Ole Miss's only loss had been Thanksgiving weekend to Villanova in the final of a tournament in Puerto Rico. Villanova, the consensus preseason favorite, has lost since then, as has every other Big East team except Syracuse, which was stealing the Big East and national headlines in November while West Virginia was still easing into its schedule. Syracuse, at No. 5, is now the only conference team ranked ahead of them.

Bigger tests are on the horizon. West Virginia next travels to surprising Seton Hall Saturday, then comes home to face Marquette next week and plays at Purdue on New Year's Day. Including the Mississippi game, it's a stretch that dwarfs what had been expected to be a challenge in Anaheim, but which turned into a three-game sweep to a championship against Long Beach State, Texas A&M and Portland. (Peering even further down the schedule, Syracuse comes to Morgantown Jan. 16 for the teams' only meeting this season.)

Ebanks' rebounding, particularly on the offensive end, was the key to the Mountaineers' first half against Ole Miss. Wellington Smith's shooting permanently shifted the momentum in the second, when he hit five 3-pointers, equaling his total for the season. It was another example of West Virginia getting offense from varied and unexpected places all season, while banking on the foundation of a typical Bob Huggins team, defense. After scolding his players for barely escaping at Cleveland State 80-78 last weekend, Huggins was far more pleased with what he saw against Ole Miss -- West Virginia dominated the boards (50-28, including 22-12 on the offensive glass) and rushed the Rebels into wild shots and desperate chances.

This despite Huggins lamenting to reporters after the game, "We kind of drift off sometimes ... We've just got to become more consistent, particularly at the offensive end.''

It hasn't damaged them too badly so far. Cleveland State was the first, and only, team to top 70 points against West Virginia this season. Opponents are down to 42.9 percent shooting from the field against the Mountaineers after Ole Miss managed only 34.6 percent on Wednesday. Between the rebounding, led by Ebanks, and the defense, West Virginia survived guard and leading scorer Da'Sean Butler's absence through much of the first half with foul trouble.

The combination of the smothering, harassing defense and Smith's sudden outside outburst did in Mississippi and coach Andy Kennedy, Huggins' longtime assistant at Cincinnati, who knows what his former coach's teams can do as well as anybody. "They hit us in the mouth, and we didn't respond,'' Kennedy said.

The ability to weather the storm, and find other sources of offense, when the likes of Butler and Ebanks aren't around, are making West Virginia look scarier by the day.