West Virginia University
Aiming To Cash In
By George Von Benko

The Cinderella slipper fit nicely last season as the West Virginia Mountaineers made a great run through the NCAA tournament, knocking off Creighton, Wake Forest, and Texas Tech before losing in overtime to Louisville in the Elite Eight.

But can WVU capitalize on that that success?

"What I've got to find is the happy medium between letting go of last year and reconnecting with why last year was possible," WVU coach John Beilein explained. West Virginia caught the public's fancy a year ago and one wonders if they have gotten the attention of potential recruits across the nation.

"I think yes and no," Beilein offered. "It complicated things over the summer. There were enough kids that like the way we played and wanted to be recruited by us, but we didn't feel slighted with some kids if they chose elsewhere. We have to be selective. Like Gonzaga now is no longer a flash-in-the-pan program. They've been there so many years in a row and been to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight so many times that they are a luster program.

"We have to get to the point where we're there continually so they say, 'Wow, West Virginia is there every year and that's why I want to go there.' We're still trying to get to that point. We lost some kids probably in the recruiting process because they would never even talk to us and now they talk to us, but they're not ready to come here."

WVU was able to pick up commitments from Desean Butler and Wellington Smith, two of the nation's top 150 players in the 2006 recruiting class. Senior forward Mike Gansey feels they are just two examples of the effect last season's NCAA run will have on recruiting.

"I think we will capitalize," Gansey explained. "I think a lot of kids out there are looking at schools and West Virginia comes in and they say 'hey I remember them.' They will remember the Elite Eight and all the fun we had and they will wonder if they could do thatÉI think our run last year and the way we played will really help bring in recruits."

The great season a year ago has had an effect on the Mountaineers' schedule. "I want to look at it as a win-win situation," Beilein said. "West Virginia has not had the luxury of being on national TV. I think last year our Pitt game maybe was the only scheduled national game. We got an opportunity to play UCLA on CBS and we had to do it. We got an opportunity to play Oklahoma on ESPN during the holiday period and we did it.

"Now we've doubled the number of national games. Little did I know that the league would schedule us nine times. So I didn't need to do that. But we have scheduled what I think will come down to one of the top 10 schedules in the country and it will not lend to a pretty record, but it may lend to just getting us in the NCAA Tournament."

Beilein's contract was extended through the 2011-12 season and many improvements have been made to the team's facilities for the upcoming season. But Beilein will stick to his game plan for success and recruit for the system that WVU plays. A system that has been described as a Princeton meets European style offense and a tough 1-3-1-zone defense.

"We pretty much recruit to the system almost exclusively," Beilein explained. "We just try to get people who can play our system and hopefully as you get them they can jump a little higher and run a little faster. I'm looking for a more athletic player, but he's no good to us if he can't think and play the system. "We recruit very differently, and maybe it won't work, but we've usually found a way to make it work. We have to be very careful that we don't get away from the type of kids we've been winning with. We got some commitments and those kids desire to play for a program like West Virginia and probably a small portion of it was what we did last year. We're still not beating some of the marquee teams for players, but it's okay as long as we get the guys that we want."

George Von Benko is a frequent contributor to PSR. He is also the color commentator on Duquesne University basketball broadcasts.