Thoughts from The Godfather:
--West Virginia is a very difficult team to prepare for because they switch so much and front the low post so well on defense. They're also a difficult team to defend because just about everyone they put on the floor is capable of knocking down the outside shot.
--Reggie Delk was the focus of the Cincinnati pregame speech, and he, not playing Samardo and TJ together, was the reason Louisville won that game. Delk being that aggressive from here on out is one of the things this team most needs to reach its goal of winning at least 11 Big East games.
--This was the lineup Pitino has wanted to use sine August, but Terrence Jennings is the reason isn't had come to fruition until now. Every time TJ and Samardo were set to play together, Jennings did something to mess it up. He has had to scale back a lot of the offense because Jennings isn't a very good passer and is incapable of playing very far away from the basket.
--Huggins' West Virginia teams differ from his old Cincinnati teams in that they switch more on defense and are very long as opposed to very bulky.
--Moving Edgar Sosa to the two is not an option because Edgar doesn't defend well from the two spot on the press and is too small to guard a lot of the shooting guards in the Big East one-on-one. It would also take away his ability to be a playmaker off the pick-and-roll. He understands why it's being suggested (Jerry's shooting woes and Edgar' reliable outside stroke), but doesn't think Sosa would be as good at the two as Preston Knowles. Says bringing this topic up to Edgar is enough to send him into a panic attack.
--Everyone's been asking him if he's see T-Will's dunks against the Clippers, but he hasn't. He does know that they won the game and thinks there might be some correlation between that and T-Will actually playing.
--Has very complimentary things to say about Da'Sean Butler, who, at 6-6, is one of the toughest matchups in the league.
--The new lineup means that Rakeem Buckles will probably see very little time unless he beats out Swop for minutes. Pitino doesn't think it will be an issue for Rock, who has a great attitude just like the rest of the freshman class.