 |  |
Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Oh how this game still hurts 20 years later. I became a huge fan of these West Virginia teams prior to their run to the Elite Eight during the 2005 NCAA Tournament. I was living in Champaign, Illinois, preparing to move to Raleigh, North Carolina, when I watched West Virginia make a run to the Big East title game in 2005. I fell in love with this unselfish team. While everyone loves Kevin Pittsnogle, my heart was partial to Mike Gansey, one of my all-time favorite college basketball players. Coached by John Beilein, this West Virginia team featured Joe Herber, Darris Nichols, J.D. Collins, Frank Young, Rob Summers, Tyrone Sally, Patrick Beilein, D'or Fischer and others. While falling short of the 2005 Final Four, West Virginia was my sleeper team to make it there during the 2006 NCAA Tournament. After Duke fell to L.S.U. in the prior game, the opportunity was there for the Mountaineers. Unfortunately, LaMarcus Aldridge was a beast this game. How I didn't see that Aldridge was the better prospect than Tyrus Thomas blows my mind all these years later. Admittedly, I was not a Texas fan at the time, though I came to respect the program under Head Coach Rick Barnes. Back to the West Virginia-Texas game, things looked bleak late, until Pittsnogle hit a ridiculous three to tie the game. Instead of calling timeout, Barnes let this team rush the ball up court, leading to a Kenton Paulino three at the buzzer. What a devastating loss for WVU but a great NCAA Tournament game. :-)
RSS Feed