Brendan Haywood Doesn't Play for Either Team
WASHINGTON -- Shortly before this game started, Brendan Haywood meandered down the hallway near the media work room heading towards the workout room here at Verizon Center. A member of the arena security personnel, who evidently doesn't watch a whole lot of Wizards basketball, tried to direct him to either the Duke or WVU locker room before he flashed his ID.
Gilbert Arenas and Roger Mason Jr. have also been spotted carousing about, but I didn't see either.
In this game, WVU is within five in no small part because of their ability to rebound. Duke isn't getting any second chance points, which is good because tehy are doing a much better job than WVU scoring on their first chance. The Mountaineers aren't an especially big team, but boarding is a skill they say they've slowly acquired through Bob Huggins' first season in Morgantown.
West Virginia can't buy a bucket from beyond the arc. Normally reliable shooters are clanking everything. Unofficially, they're 0-for-5. You've got to figure that won't last forever. Joe Alexander has picked up the slack, at least in part, with nine points, mostly on midrange jumpers and contested layups.
