Darryl Bryant

According to a report by ESPN's Mark Schlabach , West Virginia starting point guard Darryl "Truck" Bryant will miss the remainder of the NCAA tournament with a broken foot he suffered in practice.

The 6'2" Bryant averaged 9.3 points per game during the regular season and 3.1 assists per game.

His two performances in the NCAA tournament so far have been lackluster, recording eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

The point guard from Brooklyn posted his best performance in a loss against Pittsburgh. There he dropped 20 points and recorded four assists.

Coach Huggins initially was not sure whether Bryant had hurt his foot during practice or during Sunday's game against Missouri.

After Bryant complained about the pain in his foot during practice, they took him to get X-rays and found he had fractured his fifth metatarsal in his right foot.

West Virginia star Da'Sean Butler also plays point guard on occasion. He is one of the reasons for the lack of production by Bryant.

Bryant also had been sharing time with junior point guard, Joe Mazzula who will now have to step-up in order to help the Mountaineers progress through the rest of the tournament.

Mazzula was not the full time starter this season because he was recovering from a shoulder injury.

Two years ago, Mazzula almost recorded a triple double against Duke with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Daniel Kablack is founder of mySportsChat.com and a writer for Whotheman.com

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With this year's field of teams set for the 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, I took the chance to break down the regional bracket of my own favorite team, the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Probably the second or third strongest region out of the four, the East regional field of sixteen seems to benefit both the Mountaineers and Kentucky Wildcats.

Let's take a look at how it might pan out.

First Round

#1 Kentucky vs #16 East Tennessee State

Coming off a 32-2 season, John Wall and the Wildcats are poised to make a big run in the tournament this year.

That run will begin with a win over the Buccaneers of East Tennessee.

Prediction: Kentucky 78, East Tennessee 47

#2 West Virginia vs #15 Morgan State

The Mountaineers will start out the tournament against the MEAC's Morgan State, which should end up an easy win for the Big East Champions.

Morgan State is 0-1 against Top 25 opponents and played Louisville this year only to lose by nine points.

Prediction: West Virginia 74, Morgan State 61

#3 New Mexico vs #14 Montana

The 8th ranked (AP) Lobos of New Mexico will take on the Montana Grizzlies in the first round of play.

UNM's Darington Hobson in scoring (16.2 per game), rebounding (9.2), and assists (4.6). This should be a fairly easy win for the Lobos.

Prediction: New Mexico 69, Montana 57

#4 Wisconsin vs #13 Wofford

Coming off a 13-game win streak, Wofford is looking to make some noise in the NCAA tournament when they arrive to play Wisconsin.

But things look grim.

Last time they played a Big Ten opponent, it was at Michigan State where they lost by 13. With little scoring behind Noah Dahlman's 16.8 points per game, I can see Wisconsin taking this rather handily.

Prediction: Wisconsin 64, Wofford 48

#5 Temple vs #12 Cornell

I have friends that go to Temple, and I believe they may be celebrating at the end of this game (plus they beat Villanova this year). Both teams play terrific defense, but Temple lacks star power as well as aggressiveness.  Should be interesting since Cornell is the best three-point shooting team in the country.

Prediction: Temple 61, Cornell 56

#6 Marquette vs #11 Washington

This one is certainly closer than it looks.

Marquette is an efficient scoring team, (see: Lazar Hayward and Darius Johnson-Odom), but they lack depth and they're small.

Washington on the other hand has Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas who can put up points but sometimes turnover the ball.

My gut tells me the slight edge is toward Marquette, although this one could be a toss-up.

Prediction: Marquette 68, Washington 65

#7 Clemson vs #10 Missouri

Here are two teams I don't know a huge amount about. Missouri sophomores: Laurence Bowers, Marcus Denmon, and Kim English will have to continue playing great ball in order to keep this gravy-train rollin', and I believe they can.

I'll mark this down as my first, if not slight, upset.

Prediction: Missouri 65, Clemson 60

#8 Texas vs #9 Wake Forest

Texas started out the year sharp, things were just working out for them (rankedNo. 1 on Jan. 17), but finishing in 5th place in the Big 12 was not what they had in mind.

Turnovers hurt the team and they need to get things together.

I think playing the up-and-down Wake Forest in the first round could be a gift to Texas.

Who know's who will show up?

Last season, Wake Forest was blown out as a #4 seed.

Prediction: Texas 74, Wake Forest 65

Second Round

#1 Kentucky vs #8 Texas

Athleticism, speed, and just all around better play by the Wildcats should give Kentucky a big advantage.

Of course, anything could happen to such a young team, but I advance the young Wildcats.

Look for a fast-paced game and some mistakes by Texas.

Prediction: Kentucky 77, Texas 71

#2 West Virginia vs #10 Missouri

This could be a great game.

The Mountaineers will likely still be riding high but will need to score in the paint in order to pull this one out, unfortunately they lack any real big players (Ebanks listed at 6'9").

Bob Huggins knows how to coach in tournaments, and this is probably West Virginia's best chance at a championship.

The Mountaineers can handle this team as long as they can get scoring.

Prediction: West Virginia 66, Missouri 59

#3 New Mexico vs #6 Marquette

New Mexico has a hot scorer in Darington Hobson, and they will need him.

Going up against Lazar Hayward's Marquette team is no easy task.

This Marquette team is very good at controlling the ball over and scoring on every possession.

Marquette could certainly pull this one off, but with a lack in depth, I will give the slight edge to New Mexico.

Prediction: New Mexico 66, Marquette 60

#4 Wisconsin vs #5 Temple

Temple's run will end in the second-round.

They simply don't have the guns to match-up with a Wisconsin team who many took as a Dark Horse favorite to get into the Final Four.

Prediction: Wisconsin 74, Temple 66

Sweet Sixteen

#1 Kentucky vs #4 Wisconsin

Some critics believe Kentucky could be ousted in an earlier round because of their lack of experience.

They also said half-way through the year Kentucky would start to fall.

The Wildcats have really shown them up.

Not only have they recorded a 32-2 record, they won the SEC Tournament Championship in overtime against Mississippi State (75-74).

Trevon Hughes will have to keep the Badgers in sync like he did in their last game, the Big Ten Tournament semi-finals in a loss against Illinois.

If they go down early, they won't stand a chance.

Prediction: Kentucky 64, Wisconsin 59

#2 West Virginia vs #3 New Mexico

This should be pretty interesting.

If New Mexico were to win this game, in most cases, it would be considered an upset.

The Lobos come out of a conference of nine, five teams of which have less then .500 records. Still, ranked 10th in the AP poll, New Mexico has a good shot.

They better figure out a way to play against the Huggins 1-3-1 defense though, if they don't they could be in for a rude awakening.

West Virginia has made tournament runs in the past, with much less depth in their roster. If there's any chance of this team reaching the Elite Eight, it's now.

Prediction: West Virginia 67, New Mexico 63

Elite Eight - East Regional Final

#1 Kentucky vs  #2 West Virginia

For all the marbles...or well, some of them.

The winner of this game will head to the Final Four and a chance at the Championship game.

Who has the better chance?

It's hard to tell.

Realistically, Kentucky holds the advantage.

With DeMarcus Cousins at 6'11", he has a few inches on any of the Mountaineer players, not to mention he's an elite re-bounder (10.2 rpg).

All the Huggin's 1-3-1 in the world can't help you if you can't keep Kentucky out of the paint.

Unless the Wildcats are tired out by this stage of the tournament, which I doubt, they will take the win and advance to the Final Four.

Prediction: Kentucky 75, West Virginia 71

Kentucky Wildcats Eastern Regional Winners.

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I've been a West Virginia sports fan for 18 years, seven months, and 23 days now. In that time, there have been a fair share of ups and downs.

There was a run to the Elite Eight in 2005 led by a 6'11", tattoo covered white guy who looked like the big Mon Star in Space Jam. There was Jarrod West's buzzer beater to send Bob Huggins and the Cincinnati Bearcats home and get the Mountaineers to the Sweet 16.

I've witnessed the coaches of our two biggest sports bolt to Ann Arbor for greener pastures—and I've been very pleased with the results.

In one night I witnessed the man who many thought was the savior of the West Virginia football program transform into the devil and the most hated person in the state. I then witnessed a good ole boy from New Martinsville take a team that, after losing a shot at a national championship and their head coach, had lost all hope and lead them to a Fiesta Bowl win and then get his dream job as head coach.

I've seen buzzer beaters, game-winning touchdowns, triumphant, inspiring victories, and heartbreaking, humbling losses.

But this year's Mountaineer basketball team are able to bring about so many different emotions over the course of one game that at times you aren't sure if you're watching a basketball game or a hit television drama on NBC.

First, let me talk a little about what it's like to be a WVU fan, for those of you reading who have the wrong perspective on us, which if you go off of what you see on ESPN you're wrong.

You need to know that the fans here are just about as passionate about the success of this team as you can be, without going legally insane.

We're a lot like Red Sox fans before they won their first World Series in 2004. We give our all cheering, hoping, and praying that one day our team will win a championship—whether it be in football or basketball, heck any sport would be fine with me, I'm tired of only having rifle titles.

But over and over it always seems like there is something that goes wrong for us and keeps us from winning it all.

In that Elite Eight run, it was blowing a double digit lead to Louisville to keep us out of our first Final Four since 1959.

In the 2007 season, we even had a spot in the National Championship Game locked up but lost to Pitt at Mountaineer Field to, once again, kill the hopes of all fans in Morgantown.

This basketball team seems different though.

There's something about them that makes me think that this is the team that can do it, this is the team that could bring home that first championship.

But if experience has taught me anything, it's that you can never get to carried away expecting too much from these teams yet. As they said in the atrocious movie Fever Pitch (in an awful Boston accent), "Careful kid, they'll break your heart."

All the signs are there though, so let's start with what everyone around the country knows about.

Over the course of this weekend, there has been the emergence of the new "Mr. Clutch". His name, Da'Sean Butler.

I can't remember a single player that I've ever watched play, including the great Kevin Pittsnogle, that has been as much of a big time player as Da'Sean has become this season.

After his game-winner in the Big East Championship game, Butler had hit six game-winning shots this year. I haven't really done the research on it, but I'm pretty sure that that's at least in the top three in the country.

Just ask the Lakers how much having a big time clutch performer like that can help your chances of winning a title.

That's exhibit one, now reason number two is that, unlike when John Beilein was our head coach, we have an experienced coach who has actually been on the big stage before.

Bob Huggins gets a lot of attention for his sideline antics and his selection of clothing, but he is also a pretty good coach. In three years, he has turned a three point shooting team that thought that rebounding was overrated into a tough, physical team that's offense relies a lot on rebounding the basketball.

The players have bought in to the new philosophy and they are looking better than ever. These three years with Huggins here have solidified us as a legitimate national title contender and one of the best teams in the Big East year in and year out.

Another reason that you have to love Huggs is because as a fan, you know that he really wants to make this program a winner. He's from here, he knows how much this school and this basketball team means to the people of the state, and he will do whatever he can to make sure that this team will win a national title.

If you have any disagreements with that, you can just listen to his postgame comments after WVU's loss to UConn earlier in the year.

For the final reason that I think that this team can be different and make some noise in the tournament, I recently started reading Bill Simmons' new book The Book of Basketball.

This team has, what Simmons described in the book as, "The Secret."

The key to a team's success is not all about who is the most talented, or who has the most McDonald's All-Americans, but it's about chemistry and how well everyone gets along with each other.

On this team, no individual is going to have a lot of success without working with every other player on the floor.

For instance, in last night's game, Butler's final shot means nothing without Casey Mitchell and Joe Mazzulla's free throws. And those mean even less without Wellington Smith having an awesome day defensively against Georgetown's lottery pick, Greg Monroe.

This team works so well together and everyone knows their role on the team.

Butler's the clutch scorer, Jones and Ebanks are the rebounders who can give a scoring spark, Smith is the defensive stopper, Truck's the shooting point guard and Mazzulla is the distributor, Kilicli, Thoroughman, and Jennings are the bodies off the bench and Mitchell is the sharp shooter.

But the fans are the heartbeat and that it doesn't plan on stopping for these "cardiac kids" just yet. 

The West Virginia Mountaineers may be the No. 9 team in the nation with a 17-3 record and a 6-2 record in the Big East, but this success hasn’t been nearly as pretty as coach Bob Huggins would like it to be, that’s for sure.

They’ve been able to squeak out games against Cleveland State and Marquette thanks to two shots in the closing seconds by senior Da’Sean Butler, and on Saturday, they fought back from a deficit to beat another unranked opponent, this time it was conference foe Louisville by a final score of 77-74.

WVU also got off to bad starts against Notre Dame, Purdue, and Syracuse that ended up resulting in their three losses of the season. It seems that even in the games that they end up winning, there always is a stretch where they let the opponent either extend their lead, get back into the game to make it close, or sometimes even take back the lead.

Two examples of this would be Saturday’s win over the Cardinals and their second conference game of the season against Seton Hall.

Against the Pirates, heading into the final minutes of the game West Virginia held a 10-point lead and the game looked to be over.

That was until their minute of self-destruction and the Hall’s Jeremy Hazell decided to turn into Stephen Curry and they ended up tying the game. Up 10 with one minute left and they come back and send it to overtime, that’s the kind of stuff that Mountaineer fans have had to go through.

Then on Saturday, ESPN’s Mike Patrick and Doris Burke, who were covering the game for the network, continually brought up in the pregame show how important it was for West Virginia to come out strong at the beginning of the first half to keep the momentum in their favor.

Out of the gates, it looked like they got the broadcasters message loud and clear, starting the game on a 13-0 run. Somehow by halftime, we had managed to lose the lead and not get it back until the final minutes of the game. Two controversial calls that prompted Louisville head coach Rick Pitino to criticize officials afterward and Huggins’ boys came out with another close win.

If the Mountaineers are ever going to get things straightened out and start playing 40 solid minutes of basketball instead of the 20 or 25 that they have been playing as of late, now is the perfect time.

West Virginia has the first of two huge matchups with No. 22 Pitt on Wednesday at the Coliseum and will be getting an added boost in the frontcourt as freshman Deniz Kilicli (pronounced Kill-itch-la) will be making his first appearance of his Mountaineer career after serving a 20-game suspension.

Then next week brings a Big Monday faceoff between West Virginia and No. 2 Villanova before the Mountaineers travel to the Petersen Event Center for their second game against Pitt.

From there, I don’t really need to tell you that the schedule remains hard, after all it’s the Big East, the conference where you can’t afford to take a night off...blah, blah, blah all the other things you’ve heard said night after night by the experts.

But it is true, the conference has become one of the best all-around conferences, maybe even the best, in all of America. I’m sure that Bob Huggins knows that his team can’t go out and play one good half of basketball and expect to win a lot of games down the stretch and in the Big East Tournament.

Over the course of the season, we’ve seen the Mountaineers take a half or so off against teams like South Florida, Notre Dame, DePaul, and Cleveland State; and they’ve paid for it.

Now DePaul and Providence may not be up to par with the Syracuse and Villanova’s of the world, but they aren’t Loyola or The Citadel either.

Like it’s been played out on ESPN over and over, any team can win any game in the Big East and 40 minutes of mediocre basketball might be able to sneak up and upset 20 minutes of great basketball on some nights.