West Virginia Mountaineers Vs. Bucknell Bison Preview: Season 108 Episode 35 - NCAA First Round

OPENING THOUGHTS

If I may, I’m going to step up on a soap box for a second.

After WVU’s loss to Iowa State in what was a louder, more hostile version of Hilton Coliseum, many Mountaineer “fans” have been criticizing the team on shooting or free throws or turnovers or whatever.

This rouge group of fair weather fans also mention that this team is incapable of winning a single game in the NCAA Tournament.

To these people I have this response:

As Matt (our Twitter guy) said on Saturday, critiques of individual aspects of the game are fine. It’s okay to mention that this team has flaws.

But if you’re going to be a troll to a team that wants a national title in Morgantown as bad as we all do, ROOT FOR SOMEONE ELSE!

Matt also mentioned this on Saturday:

Seriously!! How?

Here are the stats from the game:

As you can see, WVU shot 51.8% from the field. That’s the team’s best since beating Oklahoma State in Stillwater back in December!

Yes, free throw shooting was a bit of a bummer and Nate Adrian had a tough game (YOU CAN’T EXPECT NATE TO SCORE 10 POINTS EVERY GAME, GUYS!) but that’s okay.

Critique the other two games, but not that one. The Mountaineers had a great game, Iowa State just played better.

**it happens. Don’t take it out on 20-year-olds.

WHEN/WHERE

Date: Thursday, March 16th

Tip-Off Time: 2:45 PM ET

Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY

Tickets: General Public (includes the Notre Dame-Princeton game)

WATCH/LISTEN

TV: CBS

Streaming Video: March Madness Live (or the March Madness Live app for smartphones)

Radio: WZST Variety 101 (100.9 FM in Morgantown) and the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG (Radio Affiliates)

Streaming Audio: Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG on TuneIn Radio (or the TuneIn Radio app for smartphones)

Satellite Radio: SiriusXM 201

ODDS

Spread: WVU by 13.5

O/U: 147

BRACKET

THE ENEMY

Where are they from? Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

Series History: WVU leads the series 8-0

Last Time: West Virginia 112, Bucknell 71 on January 3, 1977

SB Nation Blog: Mid-Major Madness

Record: 26-8 (16-3 Patriot)

Head Coach: Nathan Davis (he just got his nails done)

Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Exploit the sloppiness of Zach Thomas. The Bison’s top-scoring forward is not the best ball handler. He is the team’s leader in turnovers which includes abysmal performances at American (7 TOs) and against Navy in the conference semis (5 TOs). Get Jevon Carter on him and his scoring should be a non-factor.
• Find an answer for Nana Foulland. The 6’ 9” center will be the primary rebounding adversary for the Mountaineers. Find a matchup for him **cough-cough** Elijah Macon **cough-cough** to equalize the rebounding battle.

HOW AFRAID SHOULD WE BE (ON A SCALE OF 1-10)?

Three. I’m as afraid of the Bison as I am of a pathological liar.

PREDICTION THAT WILL BE WRONG

Don’t get me wrong, the Bison are a pretty good team. You don’t accidentally win 26 games. They just don’t scare me like {insert Texas capital namesake here} did.

West Virginia 84, Bucknell 61