BEVO BEAT Men's Basketball
Who would win the all-time matchup? Texas men versus West Virginia
Posted January 13th, 2017
There hasn’t been many teams that could honestly beat the all-time Texas team since we started this series with Kansas State. A lot of that is because T.J. Ford was better, possibly way better, than all the point guards we’ve mentioned so far.
Until this post. Because West Virginia’s all-time team just may be better, possibly way better, than Texas despite Ford, Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge.
Let’s take a look:
Texas
G T.J. Ford, 6-0 (2001-2003) — 12.9 pts, 8.0 ast, 3.8 reb
G Travis Mays, 6-2 (1986-1990) — 18.4 pts, 4.8 reb, 2.3 ast
F Kevin Durant, 6-9 (2006-07) — 25.8 pts, 11.1 reb, 1.3 ast
F LaMarcus Aldridge, 6-11 (2004-2006) — 13.5 pts, 8.2 reb
C Chris Mihm, 7-0 (1997-2000) — 14.6 pts, 9.8 reb, 2.8 bl
West Virginia
G Jerry West, 6-3 (1957-1960*) –24.8 pts, 13.3 reb., the logo of the NBA
G Rod “Hot Rod” Hundley, 6-4 (1954-1957*)– 24.5 pts, 10.6 reb.
F Mark Workman, 6-8 (1949-1952*) — 20.4 pts, 17.5 reb.
F Kevin Jones, 6-8 (2008-2012) — 13.1 pts, 7.5 reb.
C Kevin Pittsnogle, 6-11 (2002-2006) — 13.3, 4.4 reb.
*Freshmen were not eligible to play on varsity
5-second breakdown
All five starters for West Virginia’s all-time team averaged at least 19 points a game as seniors. West is one of the 10 -15 greatest basketball players to walk the face of the Earth, Ford has his hands full. Hundley was the No. 1 overall pick in 1957 and two-time NBA all-star, Mays has his hands full. Pittsnogle became a folk hero during the Mountaineer’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 runs in 2005 and 2006 and shot better than 40 percent from 3-point, Durant will have to guard him. Because this team has four shooters on the floor and scoring machines in West and Hundley, this is the toughest matchup Texas will face yet. Aldridge would be huge in this game for Texas.
However, even with Pittsnogle, this can always happen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWRZv8EsmGU
On the bench
Barnes’ matchup is against Bob Huggins. Sure, Gale Catlett coached at West Virginia from 1979-2002 and won 439 games. But Bob Huggins is an all-time great with 800 career wins and in nine seasons in Morgantown has nearly half of those many wins (201). Plus, we want to see Jerry West and Huggins together. Rick Barnes has his hands full.
Best Bob Huggins moment?
The bench
If you’ve picked it up, we’re adding a bench player to Texas with every post. D.J. Augustin, Avery Bradley and Damion James have made the team. Our fourth member is going to be Lance Blanks. The 6-4 guard averaged 20 points a game for Texas and the Longhorns will need scoring to keep up with the Mountaineers. For West Virginia, the bench is Rod Thorn (21.8 pts,11.1 reb.), Da’Sean Butler (14.3 pts, 5.5 reb), Will Robinson (24.7 pts, 4.1 reb) and Devin Williams (11.1 pts., 8.3 reb.).
With Blanks, we’ve added the second part of “BMW” and maybe we’ll have to complete the set.
Who wins?
Who would win the all-time matchup? Texas men versus West Virginia https://t.co/PLjKwBQUvC #HookEm
— Hookem.com (@bevobeat) January 13, 2017
Missed the rest?
All-time match up series:
News on Bevo Beat is free and unlimited. Access to the rest of Hookem.com is included with an Austin American-Statesman subscription in addition to Statesman.com and the ePaper edition. Subscribe today at statesman.com/subscribe.
Comments