West Virginia Mountaineers
From Hoopedia
West Virginia University is an institution of higher learning based in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser; and a clinical campus for the University's medical and dental schools at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston. Since 2001, WVU has been governed by the West Virginia University Board of Governors.
The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams of West Virginia University. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is known as the Mountaineer. The two major sports at the university are football (played at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium) and basketball (played at the WVU Coliseum), although many of the other sports have large followings as well.
Men's Basketball
West Virginia men's basketball has competed in three basketball championship final matches: the 1959 NCAA final, the 1942 NIT final (at that time, the NIT was considered by many to be more prestigious than the NCAA), and the 2007 NIT Championship. They lost 71-70 to California in the 1959 final NCAA finals, while the Mountaineers won the 1942 NIT Championship by 47-45 over Western Kentucky and the 2007 NIT contest over Clemson 78-73, in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season.
The most points scored in a game was 132 points against Alaska-Fairbanks in 1994, while the largest margin of victory was against Salem College, with the Mountaineers winning 113-32 in 1945. The largest margin of defeat in Mountaineer basketball history came in 1978 against Louisville, when the Cardinals beat the Mountaineers 106-60.
Women's Basketball
Notable Players
- Kittie Blakemore - was the first women's basketball coach at WVU.
- Rosemary Kosiorek - member of the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.
- Cathy Parson - who was the first woman to be inducted in the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.
- Georgann Wells - who was the first woman to dunk in an NCAA Womens Basketball Game.
