Senior-dominated West Virginia and freshman-led Stanford go head-to-head Thursday night when the College Basketball Crown Tournament continues in Las Vegas with its second day of quarterfinal matchups.
The second-year event pitting teams from the Southeastern Conference, Big 12, Big Ten and Big East will continue Saturday in Las Vegas with the semifinals, where the West Virginia-Stanford survivor will meet the winner of the Thursday second quarterfinal between Rutgers and Creighton.
The nationally televised finals are set for Sunday afternoon, with the winner guaranteed $300,000 in name, image and likeness money.
When last seen on March 11, West Virginia (18-14) was alternating losses and wins over its final five games, capped by a 68-48 drubbing at the hands of BYU in the Mountaineers’ opening game of the Big 12 Conference tournament.
Mountaineers coach Ross Hodge labeled the long layoff an “enjoyable experience,” especially for his five key seniors — Honor Huff, Brenen Lorient, Treysen Eaglestaff, Chance Moore and Jasper Floyd — who might otherwise have already gone their separate ways in pursuing future basketball dreams.
“Anytime you get to continue to play, it’s hard to not take advantage of those opportunities,” Hodge said this week. “When you have a group that legitimately wants to keep playing and gets opportunities to be together, I’ve always been of the mindset that you need to honor that and have an appreciation level.”
Stanford (20-12) had a four-game winning streak snapped in its most recent outing, a 64-63 loss to Pittsburgh in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on March 10.
Accepting a bid to the Crown tournament allows Stanford fans at least one more chance to see prized freshman Ebuka Okorie, an All-ACC first-team selection who had averaged 27.3 points over the final eight games of the conference regular season before he was limited to just 14 points by Pittsburgh.
Stanford coach Kyle Smith realizes his star will have options in the offseason.
“I’m prayerful,” Smith said this week. “I do think it’s going to be us or the NBA, and I support whatever Ebuka chooses.”
