I am looking at West Virginia's starting lineup and wondering who will guard who out of the starting 5. I think James will most likely guard Nichols and Ouse/Burke/Trend will guard Smalligan. Then WV has Ruoff at 6-6 with 16.2 ppg and 3.3 rpg, Alexander at 6-8 with 15.4 ppg and 6.5 rpg, and Butler at 6-7 with 12.6ppg and 5.2 rpg. The way I see it, we will have McNeal guard their leading scorer in Ruoff, Hayward guard Alexander, and Matthews will take Butler.
I like these matchups, James is clearly better then Nichols. Although Smalligan starts he only plays about 14 mpg, and WV's bench is not very deep in that they have two 6-7 forwards and a 6-2 guard that average about 6ppg, and no one outside those three on the bench average over 3ppg. If McNeal guards Ruoff, I think that will be a very interesting matchup to see McNeal handles another guard who can rebound and pass (3.2apg) who is a bit taller then him, I'm sure he is up for the task. Then I think Hayward vs. Alexander and Matthews vs. Butler are both pretty even matchups.
I think this is going to be a fun game to watch, and lookin at the rosters of both, I think our depth is what is going to be the X factor for us, and i think MU will pull off the victory. It will be close for the first 30min, but MU will pull away in the final 10 min.
Ring Out Ahoya
