Sunday Morning Thoughts: West Virginia Beat Kansas, But Is It Actually a Turning Point?

After a disappointing start to Big 12 Conference play, West Virginia made a statement on Saturday afternoon, taking down projected No. 1 pick Darryn Peterson and the 22nd-ranked Kansas Jayhawks.

While the win was impressive in many ways, it's important not to get ahead of ourselves and believe that this team is better than it is. Kansas has not played great this year, especially since the start of league play. They lost on the road at UCF and had to erase a 16-point deficit against TCU on their own floor. The talent for Kansas is there, but they haven't been able to reach their max potential due to Darryn Peterson missing half of the team's games.

Turning the focus back to the Mountaineers, was this win an anomaly? One that gets the hopes up for no reason? Or is there something there?

To be quite honest, my opinion on this bunch hasn't changed, at least not yet. In order for that to happen, they have to show consistency in certain areas — paint defense, defensive rebounding, turnovers, and strong frontcourt play from Brenen Lorient and Harlan Obioha.

Now, that being said, if they can get equal or similar production out of the 7-footer on a nightly basis, then yeah, my stance on this team is going to change quite a bit. He is the X-factor, in my opinion. You know what you're going to get from Honor Huff and Lorient. Every now and then, Treysen Eaglestaff is going to play up to expectations. And Chance Moore is going to be a consistent force driving the ball.

The thing that has been missing is a strong interior presence, and that's on both ends. Yesterday afternoon, Obioha played his best game of the season, simply by not getting outmuscled on the glass or losing ground in the post defensively. He competed his tail off and got stronger as the game moved along.

That's all the Mountaineers need him to do. They don't necessarily need a double-double from him every night; they just need him to play with a physical edge, carve out space for his guards, corral defensive rebounds, and occasionally score it.

If the Harlan Obioha we saw against Kansas shows up more often than not, then this team will certainly have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament.

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