WVU men’s and women’s basketball teams are having banner years ­– at the same time

Is Morgantown a basketball town?

Right now, it's hard to argue there's a better duo of basketball teams in the country.

West Virginia is just one of two schools to have a top 10 ranked men's and women's basketball team. The other is perennial powerhouse Duke.

"It just shows what both programs are coming to and how hard we work," said WVU point guard Joe Mazzulla. "For the most part, we don't get the credit we deserve for how hard we work. But, it's starting to become more noticeable to America."

The men's team has been in the top 10 since Jan. 25. The Mountaineers were ranked in the top 10 in each poll except for one this season.

The Mountaineers also guaranteed themselves a top-four regular-season finish in the Big East Conference and two byes in the conference tournament.

The women's team has been ranked in the top 10 since Feb. 1. The high ranking came less than four months after being selected to finish ninth in the Big East and received just a single vote in the first ESPN/USA Today Poll.

The WVU women finished the regular season in second place in the conference and also received two byes in the Big East Tournament.

"The programs are building," said WVU point guard Truck Bryant. "It's going to be a national powerhouse soon because of our fans, coaching staff, players. They're all on the same page. They want to win."

Despite the hectic schedule, the men's team has kept up with the success the women's team has been having this season. WVU senior forward Wellington Smith was sitting in the baseline seats of the women's game against Marquette Saturday. Bryant said he tries to catch any game he can in person when not traveling.

Being the hunted

While each team has had unprecedented success this season, they have also had to deal with the challenge of being a highly ranked team for the first time.

Now, opponents bring their best against both teams night in and night out.

In the past two months, the WVU men's team has faced bubble teams Louisville, Seton Hall, Connecticut and Cincinnati.

They've noticed a difference.

"For the past couple of games, we've been the team that teams have come in and tried to beat and get a good quality win," Smith said. "It's been tough to make the transition from being the hunter instead of the hunted."

Outside of the 73-62 loss to Connecticut, the Mountaineers pulled out wins in the other three games.

"UConn has swagger against us that they didn't have when they played Cincinnati," Smith said. "You just see that intensity with opponents now."

After being the team for so many years that looked for a quality win against the likes of Connecticut, Syracuse or Pittsburgh, teams now circle their game with the Mountaineers as a potential for a quality win.

"We hate playing those types of games, because we know they're just going to do anything to get a win," Smith said. "We're the same way, but you see the eye of the tiger type of feeling from them."

Forward Devin Ebanks said it was a challenge to develop as a team with so much pressure put on the Mountaineers by opponents. They've learned to just play like it was any other game.

"You've just got to go out and play," Ebanks said.

The women's team has felt the same type of pressure from opponents.

"We feel like every team is going to bring their best game against us because we're ranked," said point guard Sarah Miles. "That's why we have to continue to play good and not slack off at all, because it's that much harder when teams are coming after you, especially in the Big East."

That type of pressure helps motivate the team, Miles said.

"We play harder, because we know everyone is going to bring their A-game, so we have to bring our A plus-plus game," she said.

Finishing strong

After losing to West Virginia 69-56, Marquette women's basketball coach Terri Mitchell said she doesn't necessarily know how far the Mountaineers will advance in the NCAA Tournament, but she is rooting for them.

"I think they have the depth to go far," Mitchell said.

Seton Hall men's basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez called the Mountaineer men "elite" after facing them earlier this season, as well.

After games, it was a common occurrence to hear similar comments from coaches and players.

The consensus seems to be that the Mountaineers are one of the stronger teams in the country – both men's and women's.

Still, WVU head women's coach Mike Carey and head men's coach Bob Huggins knows there are things to improve.

Carey said after the win over Marquette, WVU had to be more consistent down the stretch.

"We're going to play some really, really good teams, and we've got to become more consistent, and we've got to take care of the pressure better and more efficient on the defensive and offensive side," Carey said. "We've done a good job up to this point, but for us to advance, we've got to get better."

Playing 40 quality minutes has been a key theme this year for the men's team, as well.

Throughout the season, it has led to all of its losses.

Huggins said after a sluggish second half against Seton Hall that his players had a tendency to do things that are out of their ordinary repertoire.

"We get it going, and then we have guys who start doing those things that are out of the context of what we're good at doing," he said. "We've proven all the things we can't do. There's nothing more there to prove."

The future is bright

The WVU women played its last home game of the season Saturday but didn't have a Senior Night for its players.

The Mountaineers don't graduate a player at the end of the year, so the entire core of the team return for the 2010-11 season.

In addition, starting forward Asya Bussie is a freshman and is a budding future star. Point guard Miles is a rising talent in the Big East, as well.

"We never really talked about (our success this year)," Bussie said. "We definitely want to go to the Final Four in San Antonio, so we just tried to win as many games and try to reach that goal."

On the men's side, WVU returns juniors to-be Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones and will have younger players including Deniz Kilicli, Danny Jennings and Dalton Pepper who are expected to contribute in the future.

In addition, a new, state-of-the-art practice facility should be completed by spring 2011.

"We've got all the ingredients to becoming a basketball powerhouse," Mazzulla said. "The basketball practice facility will help obviously along with two great coaches and two greats staffs. I think that's a great key to keeping it that way."

Mazzulla believes the strength of the programs are the coaches, and it's their ability to sustain programs that could make Morgantown a basketball town.

"I don't see why it couldn't be a trend because of the way they coach and what they expect of their players," Mazzulla said.

"I think it really could be."