For all of those haters and “experts” who have been crying from moment the original NCAA Tournament seedings were announced weeks ago (and there were many) that Duke was handed a cakewalk to the Final Four, know this: when the smoke clears, Duke will have absolutely earned their stripes by battling through what has quickly become the most difficult road to a national championship faced by any team in the field. Read More »

The day after Christmas ’09, I watched West Virginia play at Seton Hall and get everything they could handle before narrowly edging a mediocre Big East opponent. West Virginia was ranked No. 6 in the country at the time and considered a national title contender, but I saw a team that might not have cracked the Top 20 four years ago.

But these Mountaineers aren’t playing against history; they’re playing the teams in front of them who are also part of the 2K10 version of college basketball. Read More »

Kevin Jones has been instrumental in West Virginia’s run to this year’s Final Four, averaging 13.7 points and 7.2 rebounds during the season. And in WVU’s first four wins of the Tournament, the 6-8 sophomore power forward/center has been good for over 15 points and 8 boards a game.

Kevin has agreed to check in with Dime during the most hectic week of his career to give us a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like reaching the pinnacle of college basketball: Read More »

For two teams that were ranked in a lot of people’s national Top 10 in the preseason, it still seems like an underdog story for West Virginia and Butler to have made it to the Final Four. It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, though, as the Mountaineers and Bulldogs have most of the elements required to succeed in March: Defense, experience, strong guard play, versatility, good coaching, and a couple of legit stars. And perhaps more importantly, both teams got hot at the right time. West Virginia’s win over Kentucky yesterday was their 10th in a row, while Butler’s win over Kansas State was their 24th in a row … Read More »

That’s right, the start of the college hoops season is just one week away and you know what that means: it’s time to unleash the mother effing fury! For the past seven months, I’ve been bottling up a vicious mixture of excitement and rage, just waiting for the moment to release my emotions onto the rest of the world. Well that time has come. Your boy Matty D is back to give you a look at the top teams in the country and to separate the champs from the chumps. Read More »