2008–09 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team

2008-09 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball
NCAA, #6, Midwest Region
Conference	Big East
2008-09 record	23-12 (10-8 Big East)
Head coach	Bob Huggins
Assistant coach	Billy Hahn
Assistant coach	Larry Harrison
Assistant coach	Erik Martin
Home arena	WVU Coliseum

{{2008–09 Big East men's basketball standings}} The 2008–09 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team represents West Virginia University in the 2008-09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team is coached by Bob Huggins and plays their home games in the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Pre-Season

During the offseason, the Mountaineers picked up four recruits who look to make an immediate impact in Morgantown. Devin Ebanks a 6-9, 205 pound forward from Oakdale, CT seems to be the Mountaineers #1 recruit, being ranked #11 on the Rivals.com Top 150 recruits. The Mountaineers also added Darryl "Truck" Bryant, a 6-2 190 pound guard from Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Jones, a 6-7 210 pound forward from Mount Vernon, NY, and Dee Proby a 6-9 250 pound forward from Angelina College in Lufkin, TX. West Virginia was picked to finish 9th in the Big East Pre-Season Coaches Poll.

Roster

Name	Number	Position	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
Darryl Bryant	25	G	6-2	200	Freshman	Brooklyn, New York
Da'Sean Butler	1	F	6-7	225	Junior	Newark, New Jersey
Devin Ebanks	3	F	6-9	205	Freshman	Long Island City, New York
John Flowers	41	F	6-7	203	Sophomore	Waldorf, Maryland
Kevin Jones	5	F	6-8	230	Freshman	Mount Vernon, New York
Joe Mazzulla	21	G	6-2	205	Junior	Johnston, Rhode Island
Cameron Payne	33	G	6-4	215	Redshirt-Freshman	Charleston, West Virginia
Dee Proby	45	F	6-10	240	Junior	Round Rock, Texas
Alex Ruoff	22	G	6-6	220	Senior	Spring Hill, Florida
Wellington Smith	35	F	6-7	230	Junior	Summit, New Jersey
Josh Sowards	20	F	6-7	215	Redshirt-Junior	Scott Depot, West Virginia
Will Thomas	24	G	6-5	215	Sophomore	East Cleveland, Ohio
Cam Thoroughman	2	F	6-7	225	Redshirt-Sophomore	Portsmouth, Ohio
Jonnie West	4	G	6-3	187	Redshirt-Sophomore	Memphis, Tennessee

Schedule and results

Date	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
Regular Season
November 15, 2008*		Elon	W 92–47	1–0	WVU Coliseum (10,250)
November 20, 2008*		Longwood	W 86–54	2–0	WVU Coliseum (6,917)
November 25, 2008*		vs. Delaware State (Las Vegas Invitational)	W 76–42	3–0	Charleston Civic Center (10,434)
November 28, 2008*		vs. Iowa (Las Vegas Invitational)	W 87–68	4–0	Orleans Arena (5,000)
November 29, 2008*		vs. Kentucky (Las Vegas Invitational Championship Game)	L 43–54	4–1	Orleans Arena (5,500)
December 3, 2008*		at Mississippi	W 80–78	5–1	Tad Smith Coliseum (6,787)
December 6, 2008*		Cleveland State	W 53–43	6–1	WVU Coliseum (8,765)
December 9, 2008*		vs. #23 Davidson	L 65–68	6–2	Madison Square Garden (14,675)
December 13, 2008*		Duquesne	W 68–63	7–2	A.J. Palumbo Center (3,487)
December 20, 2008*		Miami (OH)	W 82–46	8–2	WVU Coliseum (8,980)
December 23, 2008*		Radford	W 89–54	9–2	WVU Coliseum (7,064)
December 27, 2008*		at #15 Ohio State	W 76–48	10–2	Value City Arena (19,049)
January 3, 2009		at Seton Hall	W 92–66	11–2 (1–0)	Prudential Center (8,127)
January 6, 2009	#25	#5 Connecticut	L 55–61	11–3 (1–1)	WVU Coliseum (13,920)
January 10, 2009	#25	at #18 Marquette	L 53–75	11–4 (1–2)	Bradley Center (17,085)
January 14, 2009*		vs. Marshall (Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic)	W 87–76	12–4	Charleston Civic Center (12,580)
January 17, 2009		South Florida	W 62–59	13–4 (2–2)	WVU Coliseum (11,037)
January 22, 2009		at #12 Georgetown	W 75–58	14–4 (3–2)	Verizon Center (12,875)
January 25, 2009		#4 Pittsburgh (Backyard Brawl)	L 67–79	14–5 (3–3)	WVU Coliseum (14,329)
January 28, 2009		St. John's	W 75–52	15–5 (4–3)	WVU Coliseum (6,583)
January 31, 2009		at #7 Louisville	L 63–69	15–6 (4–4)	Freedom Hall (19,416)
February 4, 2009		at #20 Syracuse	L 61–74	15–7 (4–5)	Carrier Dome (21,069)
February 7, 2009		Providence	W 86–59	16–7 (5–5)	WVU Coliseum (11,091)
February 9, 2009		at #4 Pittsburgh (Backyard Brawl)	L 59–70	16–8 (5–6)	Petersen Events Center (12,508)
February 13, 2009		#13 Villanova	W 93–72	17–8 (6–6)	WVU Coliseum (12,513)
February 18, 2009		Notre Dame	W 79–68	18–8 (7–6)	WVU Coliseum (13,126)
February 22, 2009		at Rutgers	W 74–56	19–8 (8–6)	Louis Brown Athletic Center (5,281)
February 26, 2009		at Cincinnati	L 61–65	19–9 (8–7)	Fifth Third Arena (11,332)
March 1, 2008		at South Florida	W 64–50	20–9 (9–7)	USF Sun Dome (5,082)
March 4, 2009		DePaul	W 82–63	21–9 (10–7)	WVU Coliseum (10,070)
March 7, 2009		#6 Louisville	L 59–62	21–10 (10–8)	WVU Coliseum (13,089)
Big East Tournament
March 11, 2009		vs. Notre Dame (Second Round)	W 74–62	22–10	Madison Square Garden (19,375)
March 12, 2009		vs. #2 Pittsburgh (Quarterfinals (Backyard Brawl))	W 74–60	23–10	Madison Square Garden (19,375)
March 13, 2009		vs. #18 Syracuse (Semifinals)	L 69–74 ^OT	23–11	Madison Square Garden (19,375)
NCAA Tournament
March 20, 2009*		vs. Dayton (1st Round)	L 60–68	23–12	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (15,794)
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball

Venues	WVU Fieldhouse (1929–1970) WVU Coliseum (1970–present)

Rivalries	Marshall

Culture & lore	History The Mountaineer

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

NCAA Final Four appearances in italics