West Virginia has look of a Big East beast

ANAHEIM, Calif.

The outcome was all but decided, the tournament champion all but crowned.

With a little more than four minutes remaining in the second half, West Virginia was running away from a pesky Portland team in the 76 Classic championship game.

But there was Bob Huggins, still screaming at his players, hoping that they'd learn from the last play and make a better decision on the next one.

"I keep telling them great teams, when they get up, they step on people's throats," he said after seeing his team come away with an 84-66 victory Sunday night at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Mountaineers may not have stepped on the Pilots' jugular, but they came close in a game in which they led almost the entire way.

"I was hoping that they weren't going to be better in person than we saw on video, but they are really impressive," Portland coach Eric Reveno said. "They are a tough team that gets in there and really battles for the ball and competes."

Huggins' team certainly proved that statement true with a 41-29 rebounding advantage despite struggling from the perimeter, particularly from 3-point range, for much of the night.

"I think if no one else, it shows our guys that we can win by not shooting, but staying in the game because we rebounded well," Huggins said after a 28-for-60 overall performance from the field.

From Kevin Jones to Devin Ebanks to Darryl Bryant, this West Virginia team has the look of a Big East title contender — even after a win that many might not have considered to be a quality one at the beginning of the season.

"If you asked us at the beginning of the tournament, we thought we would probably be playing Butler or Minnesota and I think on paper that's what everyone thought as well," Huggins said. "But it didn't turn out that way."

Still, after a blowout win over UCLA and a hard-nosed victory over the No. 22-ranked Gophers, Portland was quickly showing that it came to Southern California with the same intentions West Virginia had — to win the 76 Classic.

The only problem was, the Mountaineers weren't UCLA or Minnesota.

In fact, they're much better.

As one West Virginia fan yelled out to the Pilots in the final minute, "It's a little bit different playing the Big East!"

Representing a conference that was expected to be down this year, the Mountaineers are doing their best to change that perception with a 5-0 start to the season.

And despite seeing its name in the AP preseason poll for only the third time in school history this fall, it remains a team that has the experience and talent to advance deep in the NCAA tournament.

One reason for that is the return of senior forward Da'Sean Butler, who's showing that he has no problem carrying the team on his shoulders during critical junctures of a game.

"On and off the court, everyone on the team is way tougher than I thought they would be," Butler said after being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player with a game-high 26 points. "We just came together as a team more as opposed to being individual players."

And the other reason for those lofty expectations in Morgantown is the play of Ebanks, who missed WVU's first three games and saw his first action of the season in Friday's win over Texas A&M.

Those two players alone, however, won't decide the Mountaineers' fate this season.

"The strength of our team is undoubtedly our versatility in our players," Huggins said.

That versatility came to the forefront in Sunday's victory, as West Virginia scored with a variety of players in a variety of ways during clutch situations in the second half, and yet managed to contain the Pilots' shooters at the same time.

"Their length really bothered us," Portland point guard T.J. Campbell said. "They are a tough and athletic team."

It's that toughness and cerebral play that Huggins instills in his players which will ultimately make the Mountaineers a team no one will want to play in March.

But for now, returning home with a championship trophy from the 76 Classic — an event that was considered by some to be the best preseason tournament in the country — will serve as a reminder to the rest of the nation just how good this West Virginia club really is.

"It shows we can hang with the good teams in the country," Jones said.

And maybe even more than that.