May 2011 West Virginia Mountaineers Wiretap
Kemba Walker led Connecticut to five victories in five consecutive nights to win the 2011 Big East Tournament.
Walker led all tournament participants in points, steals, minutes and FIC. Walker played in 190 of UConn's available 205 minutes.
Joining Walker on the Big East All-Tournament Team was teammate Jeremy Lamb, Peyton Siva and Preston Knowles (Louisville), Rick Jackson (Syracuse) and Scott Martin (Notre Dame).
• Click here to view RealGM’s comprehensive list of 2011 Conference Tournaments.
Ohio State is the No. 1 overall seed in the 2011 NCAA Tournament and will be placed in the East Region.
Joining the Buckeyes No. 1 seeds is Kansas in the Midwest, Pittsburgh in the Southeast and Duke in the West.
Pitt is the only No. 1 seed to not win their conference tournament, losing to eventual champion Connecticut in the quarterfinals.
San Diego State, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Florida are the No. 2 seeds, while Syracuse, Purdue, Connecticut and BYU are the No. 3 seeds. Kentucky, Louisville, Texas and Wisconsin are the No. 4 seeds.
Kansas and Duke were also No. 1 seeds in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, while Ohio State was a No. 2 and Pitt was a No. 3.
The Final Four will be held in Houston on April 2nd and 4th.
In the previous 10 defeats West Virginia has averaged 39.2 percent shooting.
The Mountaineers shot 39.3 percent in their 67-61 loss to Marquette in the first round of the Big East tournament.
"It's been a year-long problem," WVU coach Bob Huggins said. "We just don't make open shots. I don't know what to tell you. I've said it and said it and said it. We just don't make open shots.
"We don't have people who can drive it to the basket," Huggins said. "That's not the kind of guys we have. We have to depend on making some shots."
The Mountaineers shot 6-for-22 in the second half of Wednesday's loss to Marquette.
Ben Hansbrough of Notre Dame has been named Big East Player of the Year.
Rick Jackson of Syracuse won Defensive Player of the Year, DePaul's Cleveland Melvin won Rookie of the Year and Dwight Hardy of St. John's won Most Improved Player honors.
Hansbrough was joined on the All-Big East First Team by Marshon Brooks (Providence), Austin Freeman (Georgetown), Ashton Gibbs (Pitt), Dwight Hardy (St. John's) and Kemba Walker (Connecticut).
On the All-Big East Second Team are Corey Fisher (Villanova), Rick Jackson (Syracuse), Darius Johnson-Odom (Marquette), Preston Knowles (Louisville) and Brad Wanamaker (Pitt).
The All-Rookie Team is comprised of Jeremy Lamb (Connecticut), Gilvydas Biruta (Rutgers), Sean Kilpatrick (Cincinnati), Melvin, Shabazz Napier (Connecticut) and Brandon Young (DePaul).
On Monday, the Big East's coaches voted Syracuse forward Rick Jackson the conference's Defensive Player of the Year, drawing the ire of West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
Huggins had spent the past few days campaigning for John Flowers to win the award.
After Flowers blocked six shots, took a charge and turned a steal into a four-point play in a 72-70 victory against Louisville on Saturday, Huggins was asked to update his theory.
"How many other guys can guard Preston Knowles for a good portion of the game and then guard Terrence Jennings?" Huggins said of what Flowers did against Louisville. "There aren't a lot of guys that are that versatile and can not just guard them, but do a good job on them."
The 6-foot-7 Flowers can defend 6-1 guards as well as 6-10 post players.
"Look what he did to Marshon Brooks, who's pretty good," Huggins said. "That was John. That was John the whole time Marshon Brooks was in."
Flowers held Brooks to 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting in a 93-63 win over Providence.
West Virginia defeated No. 11 Louisville 72-70 on Saturday in Morgantown.
Kevin Jones had a career-high 25 points and 16 rebounds and Truck Bryant sank two free throws with one second left to lift the Mountaineers to a win in their regular-season finale.
"I just told Truck to take us home," Jones said of Bryant's winning free throws. "I'll put him at the line at clutch situations anytime. I know he'll make them."
West Virginia overcame a five-point deficit in the final 1:19 to clinch a first-round bye and will take a three-game winning streak into the Big East Tournament.
West Virginia switched to a point-drop zone and threw the Huskies into an extended funk to help escape with a 65-56 victory that greatly enhances the probability of getting a one-round bye in the Big East Tournament.
"It seemed like they went down the court 10 straight times and didn't miss," forward Cam Thoroughman said. "They had a couple easy looks, not many, but a couple of those shots, it was like, 'Are you serious?'
"I don't know if the defense got to them or if they got tired, but the shots stopped falling and we got the rebounds and executed on the offensive end. That's how we separated ourselves at the end of the game."
UConn made four consecutive shots and seven of eight in the middle of the second half and led 47-46 with 10:12 remaining. The Mountaineers switched to their version of the 2-3 zone and watched the Huskies miss 10 straight shots.
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