OPINION

By Vinnie Iyer

updated 11:18 p.m. ET March 22, 2008

WASHINGTON - When purely looking at the final stat sheet to figure out why seventh-seeded West Virginia soundly upset Duke 73-67 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, the obvious headline that might come to mind is "Alexander the great."

Mountaineers star junior forward Joe Alexander certainly fit the cliche' when someone with his surname does something exceptional — say 22 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, playing all 40 minutes.

Looking deeper into the box score, you're thinking could change to "Well-Above Average Joes." After the game, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called West Virginia reserve Joe Mazzulla, who was pressed into duty for 31 terrific minutes, among several other words or praise, "the MVP of the game," "fabulous" and the "difference-maker".

Mazzulla was needed so much after forward Da'Sean Butler picked up two early fouls. Mazzulla is a point guard who, despite being only 6-2 and 210 pounds, played like a forward Saturday.

Mazzulla also did the point guard thing — eight assists, 13 driving points — but it was his scrappiness that was most impressive. He fought for 11 rebounds over Blue Devils, all taller than him.

Examining the offensive rebounds category of the stat sheet, you realize that Mazzulla had five of the team's whopping 19. Then you see another reserve, Cam Thoroughman, had three huge offensive rebounds in only nine minutes. Mazzulla's and Thoroughman's career games made their most talented teammate take notice, too. Said Alexander: "Both undersized, both getting a lot of rebounds — the way we rebound is by outworking people."

The Mountaineers made it a point to attack Duke's perceived shortcomings in rebounding, responding to coach Bob Huggins' directive.

In the first-round win over Arizona, Mazzulla and Thoroughman had no impact whatsoever in the 75-65 outcome. Alexander also was much less aggressive offensively, as it was the Alex Rouff-Darris Nichols show (9-for-14 from 3-point range).

Rouff didn't exactly disappear and let those unsung Mountaineers shine, but he started slowly against Duke with only two points in the first half. Even before his shot-clock beating three-pointer with 15:08 left in the game, he still was making his mark. That shot sparked him to finish with 17 points.

Men's NCAA Tournament results Day three's games Bracket  |  Schedule EAST REGION Wash. St. 61, Notre Dame 41 SOUTH REGION Stanford 82, Marq. 81, OT  |  Mich. St. 65, Pitt 54 MIDWEST REGION Kansas 75, UNLV 56  |  Wisconsin 72, K-State 55 WEST REGION UCLA 51, Texas A&M 49 W. Virginia 73, Duke 67  |  Xavier 85, Purdue 78

"Alex's shooting all night was pretty much on point," said Alexander. "He was really giving Duke a tough time. It made it easier for the rest of us to get in the lanes and get layups.

OK, so we have another headline candidate: "Alexander, Alex a Sweet 16 combination." But really, when we're talking about so many different individuals and their different sizes, styles and contributions, you realize West Virginia is a good team, beyond the hot individual performances.

You also realize that the Big East was bigger and better than even advertised. Sorry, ACC and Pac-10, but the Big East plays the best basketball.

"Playing in the Big East Tournament makes every other tournament seem like nothing to you," Alexander said. "There's nothing that you're afraid of, there's nothing you're not ready to face."

West Virginia is a hard team to match up against because it has big guys who can shoot, little guys who can rebound and a seemingly unlimited supply of selfless role players. Before fans of Xavier or UCLA get too happy that Duke — the big, bad, wicked warlock of the West Regional — is dead, the stronger, tougher all-around team is the one that advanced Saturday.

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