Cleveland State at West Virginia

West Virginia won 26 games last season, and they were carried on the shoulders of do-everything Joe Alexander. He is now gone and they will be hard pressed to find their way even in the top half of the 16-team Big East, which is loaded this season. The Mountaineers have a couple of holdover perimeter players in Butler and Ruoff, but the big void is under the basket. Even with Alexander doing the dirty work underneath last year, the Mountaineers barely outrebounded opponents and that will be a problem this year as well. The Vikings could present some problems with interior bully J"Nathan Bullock. Bullock is an NBA-caliber player, and W. Virginia does not have anyone that is a favorable matchup against him. A longtime doormat in the Horizon Conference, the Vikings won 21 games a year ago. They are an even better team this season and are poised to make a run at the Horizon title. The Vikings have enough to stay in this one, and I'll grab the points here.