INDIANAPOLIS - Perhaps it's appropriate the man who explains the seed of West Virginia's basketball run is named John Flowers.
INDIANAPOLIS - Perhaps it's appropriate the man who explains the seed of West Virginia's basketball run is named John Flowers.
The 6-foot-7 junior forward from Waldorf, Md., sat among the swarm of media Friday at Final Four activities. His 31-6 Mountaineers have climbed out of the rugged Big East Conference, scaled the NCAA tournament and are perched one step away from a national championship showdown with either Butler or Michigan State.
All that stands in the way is a slight upset of No. 1 seed Duke.
The Mountaineers have been on quite a roll, winning 10 straight games, including the Big East tournament.
Flowers points back to a meeting coach Bob Huggins had with his players in the summer. The coach suggested the Mountaineers might be more than good in 2010. He wondered how the players wanted him to handle the non-conference portion of the upcoming schedule.
"He asked us if we wanted to play the best,'' Flowers said. "Everyone said yes, we wanted to play the best. We wanted a tough schedule.
"Before, last year, we weren't playing that tough of teams early in the year. We wanted more of a challenge. We wanted to play a tough schedule - and get pairings to help us win a national championship.''
Mission accomplished. WVU's regular-season schedule was rated among the top three nationally, and the Mountaineers earned a No. 2 seed.
"He came to us and said, 'Do you all want to play people? Do you want to play a harder schedule?''' said Flowers' peer, 6-7 forward Cam Thoroughman. "We all said, 'Yeah, we want to do that. We want to be on TV.'
"When you play more people, you get on TV more. You get more hype and more exposure, and you become a better team in the process - for experiences just like this.''
WVU's experiences have been great, including victories at Madison Square Garden and Buffalo and Syracuse in NCAA play. But today's game at Lucas Oil Stadium is expected to be played before 71,300.
"It's beyond Syracuse,'' Thoroughman said. "And when we go to Syracuse, we're like, 'God, the background is horrible there.' Then you come here ...''
He pointed to the top of the stadium in awe.
INDIANAPOLIS - Perhaps it's appropriate the man who explains the seed of West Virginia's basketball run is named John Flowers.
The 6-foot-7 junior forward from Waldorf, Md., sat among the swarm of media Friday at Final Four activities. His 31-6 Mountaineers have climbed out of the rugged Big East Conference, scaled the NCAA tournament and are perched one step away from a national championship showdown with either Butler or Michigan State.
All that stands in the way is a slight upset of No. 1 seed Duke.
The Mountaineers have been on quite a roll, winning 10 straight games, including the Big East tournament.
Flowers points back to a meeting coach Bob Huggins had with his players in the summer. The coach suggested the Mountaineers might be more than good in 2010. He wondered how the players wanted him to handle the non-conference portion of the upcoming schedule.
"He asked us if we wanted to play the best,'' Flowers said. "Everyone said yes, we wanted to play the best. We wanted a tough schedule.
"Before, last year, we weren't playing that tough of teams early in the year. We wanted more of a challenge. We wanted to play a tough schedule - and get pairings to help us win a national championship.''
Mission accomplished. WVU's regular-season schedule was rated among the top three nationally, and the Mountaineers earned a No. 2 seed.
"He came to us and said, 'Do you all want to play people? Do you want to play a harder schedule?''' said Flowers' peer, 6-7 forward Cam Thoroughman. "We all said, 'Yeah, we want to do that. We want to be on TV.'
"When you play more people, you get on TV more. You get more hype and more exposure, and you become a better team in the process - for experiences just like this.''
WVU's experiences have been great, including victories at Madison Square Garden and Buffalo and Syracuse in NCAA play. But today's game at Lucas Oil Stadium is expected to be played before 71,300.
"It's beyond Syracuse,'' Thoroughman said. "And when we go to Syracuse, we're like, 'God, the background is horrible there.' Then you come here ...''
He pointed to the top of the stadium in awe.
"I don't know how people are going to watch the game from there,'' he said. "Binoculars aren't even going to reach us.''
One similarity between Syracuse and Indy, however, is the depth-perception problem behind the baskets.
"It's like playing outside,'' Thoroughman said. "When you go out there and shoot, you don't even see a wall. The background is just insane.
"But with all these fans here, it's great.''
Flowers said it all, well, stems back to that meeting - as well as the Huggins mentality.
"When Huggs first got here, we knew he wanted a national championship,'' Flowers said. "We knew what he was all about. He's always wanted to bring a national championship back to his home state. We were all on board with him.''
Thoroughman was pressed. Really? Did he really believe this WVU team could make the Final Four?
"I think so,'' he said. "We were already ranked high in the early preseason picks. And last year didn't end well. It made us work harder over the summer.
"Anything Huggs tells us is realistic. He's not going to lie to you. He doesn't tell us stuff that isn't true. He's the kind of guy who will tell you how it is. He's real. So when he [asked about upgrading the schedule], we knew it was realistic.''
Proof is the game starting at approximately 8:47 this evening on CBS.
Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827, mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or follow him at http://twitter.com/MitchVingle.
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