NCAA tournament: Rebounding key to West Virginia-Duke matchup
-
Da''Sean Butler, right, and Devin Ebanks are two of West Virginia's top rebounders. Ebanks has 272 rebounds this season while Butler has 234.
Share with others:
Two years ago, West Virginia outrebounded Duke by 20 in a game the Mountaineers won, 73-67.
Don't expect that statistic to be repeated, though, when the two teams meet Saturday in the second game of the Final Four in Indianapolis.
Duke is much improved in the post this time around with better size, making it a stronger rebounding team.
That doesn't mean that the Mountaineers won't try to -- or can't -- dominate the glass, because that has been their forte all season. But the rebounding edge might be the key to the game.
"They are more physical and they are bigger than what I remember from the last game," said West Virginia senior Da'Sean Butler. "They do a very good job of rebounding, especially offensive rebounding, but that is one of the things we pride ourselves on -- we try to make sure every team only gets one shot [per possession].
"And we also have been good at offensive rebounding ourselves. But they do a good job of blocking out, so we need to make it a team effort and really do our best to make sure we go get the basketball."
Butler is one of six Mountaineers who played against Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2008, and he said that rebounding and being physical under the basket are the two biggest changes in the Blue Devils.
West Virginia (31-6) will play Duke (33-5) Saturday in the second game of the Final Four doubleheader. The winner will advance to Monday's championship game against Michigan State (28-8) or Butler (32-4).
The Mountaineers have outrebounded their opponents by an average of seven per game this season, but in their 73-66 win Saturday against Kentucky in the Elite Eight, they were outrebounded by 15, including 24-10 on the offensive end.
First Published April 1, 2010 12:00 am
