NCAA Basketball: West Virginia, Pittsburgh to renew Backyard Brawl
Old Big East rivals will be renewing their NCAA basketball match-up starting in 2017.
Dating back to 1918, the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Pittsburgh Panthers have competed in a rivalry game (Backyard Brawl) on an annual basis. Both schools joined the Big East in the late 90s, giving the two teams an opportunity to expand their non-conference schedules without compromising a historic match-up.
But when the Mountaineers dashed for the Big 12 in 2012 and Panthers left the conference for the ACC in 2013, the rivalry was stalled. The last showdown came in February 2012 when West Virginia crushed Pittsburgh by 18 points, however, they haven’t played since.
Four years later, the teams have opted to renew the rivalry, agreeing to a new four year home-and-home that will begin in Pittsburgh in 2017. The series will return to Morgantown in 2018-19 before alternating the final two years (Pittsburgh in 2019-20, WVU in 2020-21).
There have been complaints this off-season in regards to the lack of marquee games during the non-conference slate. The goal for college basketball is to find a way to increase their viewership while football still is in mid-season form. The best way to do that is to build new rivalries, continue historic rivalries and have two blue bloods take center stage at a neutral site.
With that in mind, you must credit Bob Huggins and new Pittsburgh head coach Kevin Stallings for bringing the Backyard Brawl back to life. Despite losing Jamie Dixon (who has been the head coach of the Panthers for the last 13 years), Stallings clearly understands the importance of building a strong non-conference resume before ACC play rolls around.
For the 2017 game, the Panthers will likely have a new look roster. Pittsburgh has four seniors, Jamel Artis, Michael Young, Sheldon Jeter, Chris Jones, who will provide the majority of the production in 2016-17.
Without all four talents in 2017-18, Stallings’ squad will have to add six or seven new players.
Meanwhile, West Virginia will lose Tarik Phillip and Nathan Adrian, but they do return Jevon Carter, Daxter Miles Jr., Elijah Macon and others. As long as Huggins has depth and aggressiveness, ‘Press Virginia’ can rely on their scheme/system to guide them.
Regardless of how good the teams are in the first year of the series, it’s excellent news that these programs realize how critical this renewal can be to both fan bases and NCAA basketball in general.
More from Busting Brackets
This article originally appeared on 
