West Virginia got off to a hot start and quickly built a 21-point lead heading into the locker room, although it easily could have been larger.

The Mountaineers had some defensive issues in the second half when Maryland began to aggresively attack the secondary down the field.

They surrendered two long touchdown passes to wideout Torrey Smith and would have given up another except for that it was dropped in the end zone.

Things will get much tougher for the Mountaineers next week when they travel to LSU to face the Tigers.

The Mountaineers have two straight weeks of rivalry games over the next two weeks, beginning with the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Marshall isn’t exactly a powerhouse, but they have been known to give West Virginia some problems in the past.

West Virginia will then host the Maryland Terrapins, who looked sloppy in their first game of the season but still managed to pull out a victory.

The good news is that the Mountaineers have dominated the series of late and should be a significant favorite heading into this year’s contest.

The head coach tripped over something in his hotel room and fell into a coffee table, causing the injuries. The incident had nothing to do with any heart-related issues.

Huggins wants to return to Morgantown as soon as possible but doctors want to exercise caution with the head coach.

They are concerned that Huggins’ broken ribs could possibly cause issues with his lungs, but so far that is not the case.

He is expected to make a full recovery and be back 100 percent healthy to coach the Mountaineers in the 2010-2011 basketball season.

Rodriguez used to be the head coach at West Virginia and may have committed recruiting violations during his time in Morgantown.

Ironically, Michigan is already under investigation for the amount of time players have spent practicing.

I can only imagine how angry West Virginia fans will be with Rodriguez should he get his alma mater in trouble and hit with sanctions.

The school and its fans are already furious with Rodriguez over the way he rolled out of West Virginia for Michigan.

Butler was injured midway through the second half when he went to drive to the basket and his knee buckled awkwardly.

The forward immediately went down into a heap and grabbed his knee, rolling around on the ground in pain.

He continued to look distraught as head coach Bob Huggins made his way over and tried to calm him down.

He is projected as a second round pick or to go undrafted later this summer, but this will probably cost him any change of being selected.

The Mountaineers fell behind in the first half and then watched the deficit quickly grow in the second half.

It also didn’t help that star DeSean Butler went down with serious knee injury midway through the second half.

Either way, it was apparent that the Mountaineers did not have an answer for Duke’s inside-outside offensive game.

West Virginia did a poor job of recovering on shooters after Duke gained an offensive rebound, and the Blue Devils made them pay time and time again.

Bryant broke his foot during practice leading up to last week’s games and was unable to play.

The guard spent time down in the Duke area getting fitted for a special shoe that could allow him to play.

Bryant believes the shoe might be so good that he could play as if nothing ever happened to his foot.

Head coach Bob Huggins said he will continue to take a wait-and-see approach on his starting point guard.

West Virginia was never really threatened by the Huskies and eventually pulled away in the second half.

Kevin Jones led the way with 18 points and 8 rebounds while DeSean Butler finished with 14 points and 7 boards.

The Mountaineers advance to the Elite Eight where they will have their hands full with the Kentucky Wildcats.

It will be a reunion of sorts for Bob Huggins and John Calipari, who used to match up in Conference USA back in the day.

It’s a tough injury for the Mountaineers given that point guards are usually the most important position in the NCAA tournament.

That said, the point guard position isn’t one that garners a lot of attention in West Virginia’s system this year.

Bryant averaged 9.3 points and just 3.1 assists per game this year and shot barely over 30 percent from three-point range.

Junior Joe Mazzulla, who is still fighting a shoulder injury, will replace Bryant as the point guard.

Darryl Bryant sat on the sidelines with a broken foot, but the end result was the same for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Do it one more time, and the Mountaineers will head to Indianapolis and the Final Four.

Kevin Jones and Da’Sean Butler picked up the slack in Bryant’s absence, helping West Virginia take control in the second half in route to a 69-56 victory in the East Regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament in Syracuse, N.Y.

West Virginia (30-6), the Big East champion, is one victory away from a trip to the Final Four. The second seed in the East shook off the stubborn No. 11 seed Huskies, rallying from a 29-27 halftime deficit. A 16-4 run in the early minutes of the second half helped the Mountaineers take control.

Jones finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, and Butler added 14 points and seven rebounds.

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