WVU Dances Into the Sweet 16
Last-second dunk and double OT propel Mountaineers to round of 16
By npoc
staff writer
-Cleveland (OH)
In their 5th game in 9 days, the Mountaineers came from behind against Creighton and then survived a missed buzzer beater to hold onto a 82-80 win. The win set them up with national title favorite, Wake Forest, as the Mountaineers came back from as much as 14 down to force two overtimes, in which West Virginia prevailed 111-105 to pull out the biggest upset of the second round in the sixth game in the past 11 days for the Mountaineers.

The greatest game I ever witnessed, our cheering section was pretty solid for the Thursday night game against Creighton, we found WVU fans up there, ran into some people I've met at house parties and coverted tons of kids and Ohio State old heads into Mountaineer faithful. Frank Young has himself certified as a cult legend in Cleveland basketball lore.
I went with the rocket and yahn a fellow SIOC intern, while we werent in the Wolfstein center we were either tailgating or at Harpos
The weekend can be summed up with basketball, beer and betting
I met an interesting character at WakeForest game, this guy was 70, he stunk, and he had no idea who was playing not to mention he was there by himself. He thought BC was from the IVY league and his favorite team was Iowa State, which I think he was trying to say Cleveland State

Media Coverage
West Virginia’s monumental 111-105 double-overtime upset triumph over No. 5-rated Wake Forest Saturday night at Cleveland State’s 13,000-seat Wolstein Center packed to the rafters with Old Gold and Blue

The Eagles left the floor to the chant “ACC … ACC … ACC …” as they did when they left Madison Square Garden after the Mountaineers knocked them out of the Big East tournament in their last league game.
West Virginia’s memorable win over Wake Forest also came on the same night wrestler Greg Jones became a very rare three-time NCAA champion and is now considered one of the sport’s all-time greats

The Mountaineer team arrived back at the WVU Coliseum around 2:30 pm Sunday to a crowd estimated at 500. Mountaineer coach John Beilein and the entire team talked to the fans via a state-wide television hookup

The magical season of the West Virginia Mountaineers continued last night as they played Atlantic Coast Conference bully Wake Forest even for 45 minutes last night, then made enough plays in double overtime to pull out a 111-105 upset against the Demon Deacons in a second-round game of the NCAA tournament's Albuquerque Region

The Mountaineers are headed to the Sweet 16.
Mike Gansey scored 19 of his game-high 29 points in overtime to lead the gutty, gritty Mountaineers to an improbable 111-105 double-overtime victory against heavily favored Wake Forest last night in an NCAA tournament Albuquerque Region second-round game

When you pull out the record books and you start sifting through the greatest basketball wins in West Virginia University history, the Mountaineers’ stunning 111-105 upset over No. 5-rated Wake Forest Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament has to be placed right near the top.


Mike Gansey scored 29 points including seven in the second overtime to lift West Virginia to a 101-105 2OT win over Wake Forest in and NCAA tournament second round game in Cleveland Saturday night
West Virginia (23-10) outlasted the heavily favored Demon Deacons 111-105 in a game that will forever be remembered by Mountain State natives

West Virginia had the largest following among the eight teams in Cleveland. Last night, the Mountaineers' game seemed almost like a home game.
Beilein said the support didn't surprise him because he believes West Virginia's fans are among the most loyal and passionate in the country. In fact, one of the reasons he wanted to coach at West Virginia was that he knew the team would receive a lot of support once they experienced a little success.
"[Fan support] is one of the things that attracted me most to West Virginia," Beilein said. "I've always been at small private schools and I was very attracted to that type of situation.
"But, because I went to school at Wheeling Jesuit, I knew the passion for West Virginia sports in that state. The people throughout the state love this team, and they love all of our athletic teams."
Boston College, which had by far the least amount of fans last night, received a double whammy as West Virginia's fans joined Wisconsin-Milwaukee's fans to cheer on the Panthers.

In OT and double-OT, Wake needed everything Paul could muster.
Even that wasn't enough.

The metamorphosis in the Mountaineers, meanwhile, was as remarkable as their run to the brink of the Sweet 16 was unanticipated.
At the conclusion of the opening 20 minutes, Wake Forest guard Justin Gray sprinted off the court with his finger extended (his "We're No. 1" finger) in an unmistakable gesture. Gray had just sunk a 3-pointer and Wake led, 40-27.
At that moment, it was easy to understand why WVU coach John Beilein had assessed Wake Forest as "the other No. 1 seed" coming in.
But gradually, the Mountaineers were able to spread the Demon Deacons out and then attack the basket with smaller players driving the lane without fear or reservation.
And as the confrontation wore on, it also became easy to understand another basic difference: Wake Forest may have come in as the type of team capable of winning the NCAA Tournament, but West Virginia came in as the type of team the NCAA Tournament is all about.
In the end, WVU turned the Mistake By The Lake into a No Wake Zone.
There was no need to get technical as to how (although Beilein was assessed one for slapping the scorer's table); this one was won on heart.
On to Albuquerque.

Headlines
WVU survives 50-minute slugfest, shocks Deacons
Wild West
Wild and Wonderful

West Virginia's fiery passion to keep this season of magic alive Saturday night permeated Cleveland State's Wolstein Center and carried the Mountaineers to a wild 111-105 double-overtime upset of No. 5 Wake Forest and into the NCAA Tournament regional finals.
Otherwise known as the Sweet 16.
West Virginia (23-10) advances to meet Texas Tech on Thursday in the semifinals of the Albuquerque Region at the University of New Mexico. Wake Forest (27-6) will go home after the Mountaineers rallied from a first-half double-digit deficit to stun the favored Demon Deacons.
"I hope we have a city when we get back to school. It might be burned down," West Virginia's J.D. Collins said.

Two 6's are in the Sweet 16 so is a hyphenated 12 but the big deal is the 7 that beat Wake.

Team of the Night This award was Wisconsin-Milwaukee's alone until West Virginia outlasted No. 2 seed Wake Forest 111-105 in double-OT to completely blow open the bottom of the Albuquerque bracket. The Mountaineers recovered from an 11-0 Wake run to start the game and blown chances to win at the end of regulation and the first OT to bag the biggest seed thus far

Oh yeah, and the Wolfstein Center looked pretty full on Thursday and Saturday, so there really isnt any more room for bandwagon jumpers who dont even know what Sweet 16 means so they just put in their profile and tell all their friends.
Where you in Cleveland, how bout at the Coliseum for home games or at the Coliseum to welcome them, did you watch the first 3 games of the Big East tourney or just tune in for the championship games

-n-