Stevenson Believes WVU Can Return from PK85 Tournament & as a 'Top Five' Team

Can the Mountaineers put together a massive week in Oregon?

The first four games of the season have been a breeze for the West Virginia Mountaineers, winning by an average of 23.7 points per game. As the calendar turns to the Thanksgiving week, the competition ramps up for Bob Huggins' squad.

WVU will play its first round game of the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament on Thursday against the Purdue Boilermakers (3-0). If they win, they'll likely be pitted against Gonzaga in the semifinals. Duke, Florida, Xavier, and Oregon State are on the opposite side of the bracket. 

At the moment, West Virginia is rated 40th in the KenPom ratings and is not ranked in the AP Top 25. However, a solid weekend in Oregon could allow the Mountaineers to soar up both set of rankings. 

Senior guard Erik Stevenson knows that they have yet to be challenged but believes the team will be prepared to handle the rigorous road ahead.

"Honestly, man, with no disrespect to our first four opponents, we've been waiting to play somebody big-time. Every day in practice we're going at it and honestly, our second five is probably a starting lineup somewhere else. You know what I mean? Maybe a mid-major or high major. We just battle every day in practice. We come out, we play hard and it's just a matter of time before you run into somebody just as good as you. When you play those teams just as good as you, you've got to be meaner than them. You got to be tougher than them. And that's what this program is built on. We're going to try and go out there and do that in Portland for three games and come back hopefully top five in the country."

Top five in the country?!? What?!? 

I know that may seem like a far-fetched idea, but let's just say WVU does win the tournament and goes through Purdue, Gonzaga, and Duke. Stringing together three wins in a row against that level of competition will have voters believing very highly on the Mountaineers, and rightfully so. 

Because of the lack of stiff competition to this point in the season, Stevenson said there's only one thing that he believes still needs to be answered about this year's team.

"How are we going to respond when somebody punches us in the mouth? We haven't been punched in the mouth. At all," he stated. "In our scrimmages, in our first four games or anything like that. We haven't really been knocked out, if you will. We've pretty much been doing all of the hitting. We're going to play three really good opponents here within the next week, so they're going to go on runs and we're going to have to sustain those runs and fight back and punch back on our own. I hope they go like the first four games but I'm telling you right now, they're not. I think we're old enough and mature enough to take a punch and throw back too."

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