West Virginia was two wins shy of a national championship. While that won’t be any immediate consolation to the players who worked all season to get to the Final Four, it’s a lot better than 300-something other D-1 teams can say. Kevin Jones was an instrumental part in the Mountaineers’ run, averaging 13.5 points and 7.2 rebounds this season. And in WVU’s four NCAA Tournament wins, the 6-8 sophomore forward was good for 15 points and 8 boards a game.

Kevin 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 was like reaching the pinnacle of college basketball. After West Virginia lost to Duke in the national semifinal Saturday night, he reflected on the season and the Final Four experience: 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 »

In a season where college basketball is without one dominant team, the national championship race is truly wide-open. Last night, #1 Kentucky dropped its first game at unranked South Carolina, becoming the last undefeated team to get familiar with the loss column.

West Virginia has just as good a chance as anybody at taking the whole thing. The 9th-ranked Mountaineers (16-3, 5-2 Big East) have a senior leader in SG/SF Da’Sean Butler who is also their best player, an athletic NBA wing prospect in Devin Ebanks, an explosive point guard in Darryl “Truck” Bryant, a good outside shooter in Wellington Smith, a future Hall of Fame coach in Bob Huggins, an underdog mentality since they’re not Kentucky or Kansas, and an entire legion of hungry wild dogs on the defensive end. 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 »