Best Virginia, Shell Shock look very similar heading into TBT quarterfinals

Dominion Post

6 days ago

MORGANTOWN — If Best Virginia is to make a run to The Basketball Tournament (TBT) semifinals for the first time ever, it just might have to beat itself.
The WVU alumni team faces Shell Shock (Maryland alumni) at 6 p.m. Monday inside the Charleston Coliseum with three more wins separating Best Virginia from the $1 million winner-take-all prize money.
On paper, the two teams are nearly identical. In winning the James Madison Regional, Shell Shock shot a combined 43.4% from the floor, averaged 74.7 points and 40 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Best Virginia won the West Virginia Regional while shooting 43.5% and averaging 77.7 points and 40 rebounds per game.
Both teams averaged just over nine 3-pointers per game. Shell Shock averaged 15.3 makes from the free-throw line. Best Virginia made 14.7 free throws per game.
'The blessing is we'll be back here in the friendly confines,' of Charleston, Best Virginia head coach Jarrod West said. 'The way we play, we'll have to rest up for a couple of days and get our legs back. It's funny, we've played three totally different teams. First game was 94 feet, run and jump and wear you down. Second game, throw the ball 15 feet and in. The third game was about veterans and professionals and isolation (plays).'
The quarterfinal game may simply be like looking in a mirror of sorts.
Both teams know about being in close games. Best Virginia's three wins came by an average of seven points a game. Shell Shock's margin of victory was 3.3 points per game.
Best Virginia has the more explosive scorer in former North Texas guard James Reese, who is averaging 21.7 points per game in TBT. Shell Shock has the more recognizable player in 6-foot-10 center Diamond Stone, a former 5-star recruit who was a McDonald's All-American and ranked the No. 6 overall player in the 2015 recruiting class. He was a one-and-done player at Maryland before becoming the 40th overall selection in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Shell Shock's leading scorer, Ronald March (17.0 ppg), just may be one of the better stories of the tournament, too. He began his college career at Houston Baptist, before transferring to a junior college. He finished his college career at tiny NAIA-level Philander Smith (Little Rock, Ark.) University, before embarking on a professional career that's taken him to parts of the world such as India, Sweden, France and Ukraine.
'We should be well prepared and ready to go for whatever we face,' West said.
One change West will likely make to his lineup is getting 6-foot-6 power forward J.D. Weatherspoon some more playing time. After sitting out the team's first-round game, Weatherspoon, who played collegiately at Ohio State and Toledo, has scored a combined 26 points and added 21 rebounds in Best Virginia's next two games.
'I could have pouted, but I didn't say anything to the coach,' Weatherspoon said about sitting out the first game. 'I didn't want to send negative energy towards the team, you can't do that. I just kept a positive attitude. I knew the team was going to need me.'
'I take all of that blame,' added West. 'I told him going into our second game to be ready and we've been riding him ever since.'
BEST VIRGINIA vs. SHELL SHOCK
WHEN: 6 p.m., Monday
WHERE: Charleston Coliseum
TV: FS1 (Comcast 271, HD 857; DirecTV 219; DISH 150)