West Virginia vs. Xavier Preview: Huggy Bear is Back

If you don't know about Bob Huggins, the former Cincinnati coach with a penchant for snazzy duds on the sidelines and an opinion or two about almost anything, then you just don't know.

Huggins is now working his voodoo in his home state of West Virginia. Yeah, Huggy Bear's back home. If you tried to get sentimental on him he'd probably be just as likely to punch you in the mouth as hug you. His practices are legendary, his methods unorthodox.

But Huggins has a love for the game that is unmatched, except for possibly Rick Majerus out at Saint Louis. And that love for the game has been passed on to his new players, who have flourished thus far in the first two rounds of the tournament under his guidance.

Now we'll see what Huggins can do against Xavier, a team Huggins also knows something about since his Bearcats played in the same city, making for some crazy rivalries. You can guarantee Huggins will have briefed his players on the importance of this game.

But what West Virginia has besides inheriting Huggins' work ethic is a guy by the name of Joe Alexander. All he's done is help defeat Arizona, a team I thought had a legit chance at making the Sweet 16 and possibly winning it all, and dominate Duke, a team needing no introduction.

Alexander is capable of a double-double in points and rebounds on any given night. Add to that mix some solid guard play from Alex Ruoff and De'Sean Butler and the Mountaineers are as good as most of the top seeds in the tourney.

But so is Xavier. What makes this matchup so interesting is that the Musketeers have so much balance. All five starters put up 10 points per contest and that will make it difficult for the Mountaineers to figure out who to stop.

Drew Lavender is Xavier's floor general and their marquee player, if they have one. The Musketeers also play some defense though you wouldn't know that from the first two games, allowing 61 and 78.

Xavier will need to shoot well from behind the three-point stripe to be able to handle West Virginia's inside-outside play. Inside-outside play has always been and will always be the ticket to the Final Four. It's there that you need a star player and Xavier simply doesn't have one standout guy.

ANALYSIS: While Xavier has had a great season, I just have a feeling that Bob Huggins has West Virginia peaking at just the right time and has enough savvy to figure out a way to stop Xavier's multi-headed attack. But it won't be a defensive battle by any stretch of the imagination and it will go down to the buzzer.

FINAL SCORE: WEST VIRGINIA 76, XAVIER 73