Published: March 26, 2008 12:58 am         

Huggins: Mountaineers will be ready

MORGANTOWN — “We’re going to be prepared, and they’re going to be prepared,” coach Bob Huggins said Tuesday as his West Virginia basketball team departed for its NCAA tournament clash with Xavier in Phoenix.

The seventh-seeded Mountaineers (26-10) and the third-seeded Musketeers (29-6) meet in the Sweet 16 at 7:10 p.m. Thursday at the US Airways Arena.

“When you get this far, you’re not going to run into somebody who’s not prepared,” Huggins added.

Asked about how it feels to be the first Mountaineer coach to take a team that far in his first season, Huggins replied:

“I haven’t had much time to think about it. We are just trying to make sure we cover everything and give our guys a chance to win.”

But he said he’s happy for his players because they have put in a lot of work and spent a lot of time since he took over from John Beilein almost a year ago.

While acknowledging the Mountaineers have been tournament-tested in recent years, Huggins noted that just playing in the Big East gives WVU an advantage against most teams.

“When you play in our league, every game is close (and) every game has a tournament (atmosphere),” he reasoned. “I think playing the whole year against who we’ve played and the league schedule, it has really helped us.”

Huggins praised Sean Miller, his longtime friend and now the Musketeers’ fourth-year head coach.

“One, they’ve got a helluva coach,” he said. “Sean does a really good job coaching. They’re men. Look at those guys. They don’t have guys running around that aren’t men.”

Miller plays eight men, and, according to Huggins, they are all big and strong and very physical.

“I think that’s the difference in what Sean has done there,” he continued. “They are so physical now.”

Of course, WVU’s young team faces still more opportunities for success. But Huggins, a one-game-at-a-time believer, said all the focus is on Xavier at this point.

“Then we’ll deal with whatever comes after that,” he added. “I think our guys are excited to play and that we we’re starting to shoot the ball a little bit better.

“Alex (Ruoff) is making some shots. Darris (Nichols) has made some shots, and I think Joe (Alexander) has been very consistent for us.

“We’ve just got to contain and make open shots.”

The Xavier-WVU winner will advance to the Elite Eight against either No. 1 seed UCLA or No. 12 Western Kentucky Saturday.

West Virginia defeated Arizona and Duke in the first two rounds of the West Regional, while Xavier knocked off Georgia and Purdue.

The Final Four will be in San Antonio April 5-7.