In a year that marked a return to the Coliseum, the WVU men’s basketball team nearly made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997-98. The Mountaineers (17-12, 8-9) were considered to be on the selection committee’s bubble until the squad dropped their last two games of the regular season and bowed out of the Big East Tournament in the first round.
Although the 2000-01 team returned four starters from the previous year, head coach Gale Catlett had to find some way to replace power forward Marcus Goree. Goree had been the focal point of the team’s offense for the last two seasons. In order to be successful, someone had to fill the void left by Goree’s graduation. That person was Calvin Bowman.
The senior Brooklyn, N.Y., native not only met all expectations, but greatly surpassed them. The power forward averaged 17.6 points and 9.7 rebounds a game on his way to earning all-Big East first team honors. Bowman was the first Mountaineer since Damian Owens to be named to the first team.
The 2000-01 edition of the Mountaineers got off to a fast start by winning their first four games. It was the first time since Owens was a senior that the team started the season 4-0. 
The Mountaineers’ first true test of the season came on Dec. 2 when the No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers entered the Coliseum for a Saturday afternoon tilt. With a 10-point lead at halftime, it appeared West Virginia was on its way to pulling the upset. Even though the Mountaineers were still holding a two-point lead with 46.7 seconds left, Tennessee’s Terrence Woods knocked down a three-pointer 14 seconds later, putting the Vols in front.
The Mountaineers breezed through the next two home games against High Point (68-56) and Robert Morris (77-56) to reach the 6-1 mark entering the winter recess.
WVU then hit the road and had to suffer through one of their worst performances of the season. The Ohio Bobcats defeated WVU (79-67) for the third consecutive time overall and the sixth consecutive time in Ohio. 
The 6-2 team then returned to Morgantown to dispose of two more squads that were not that talented. As the year 2000 came to a close, wins over James Madison (83-70) and Delaware State (74-53) gave West Virginia an 8-2 record heading into Big East play.
With the students still on break, the undefeated No. 19 Georgetown Hoyas entered the Coliseum. Despite being tied at halftime, WVU was outscored 50-26 in the second half. 
With a record of 8-3, WVU traveled south down I-79 to the Charleston Civic Center to take on Marshall in the annual Capital Classic. Even though the Herd probably had more talent, the Mountaineers capitalized on 20-point performances from Bowman and Lionel Armstead (14.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg) to defeat the Thundering Herd for the fifth consecutive time.
The 9-3 Mountaineers then faced the daunting task of playing the No. 11 Syracuse Orangemen in the Carrier Dome.  WVU shot 52.7 percent from the floor (59.1 percent from beyond the three-point arc) and outrebounded the 14-1 Orangemen 37-33, but still fell short (86-80). 
After losing the first two conference games of the season, WVU (9-4, 0-2) then returned home to take on a Rutgers (8-7, 0-4) squad that was also winless in league play. The Wednesday night game featured one of the most dramatic endings of the season. Tied with 1.6 seconds left, Armstead connected on a fade-away hoop from the baseline to make WVU victorious (70-68). 
One of the most forgettable aspects of the season occurred the next weekend at Notre Dame.  Chris Moss, who was trying to deal with several off-the-court personal problems at the time, lost his cool after being whistled for his second technical foul of the game. After having to be restrained by Catlett and other teammates, Moss spit on a Notre Dame cheerleader on his way to the locker room. Following the game, Moss decided to take a personal leave of absence from the team that lasted two games. Even though All-American Troy Murphy was held to 3-of-12 shooting, the Fighting Irish proceeded to blow out WVU, 78-61.
The Mountaineers quickly rebounded, however, as they won at Rutgers (67-64) and beat No. 16 Seton Hall (81-75) in the Coliseum to bring their record to 12-5 and 3-3 in the Big East. 
Any momentum the Mountaineers had built up with the two wins against the Big East’s New Jersey schools was quickly dashed as the team was blown out in consecutive road games at Pitt and Georgetown. The Panthers and the Hoyas forced West Virginia (12-7, 3-5) into committing 23 turnovers. 
WVU was able to stop the losing skid at two, however, as the team returned home to the Coliseum to once again take on Pitt. Tim Lyles drained a running jumper in the lane with 18.1 seconds remaining to give WVU (13-7, 4-5) a 69-68 win in the Backyard Brawl.
Three days later, the Mountaineers welcomed No. 20 Notre Dame (15-5, 7-2) to Morgantown. Even though WVU was without the services of Armstead due to an ankle injury, the team was able to hang with the Irish. Senior Brooks Berry (6.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg) matched his career-high in the first half with 18 points. With the score tied at 66 with 1:16 to go, Murphy knocked down one foul shot and Danny Graves later added two more to take the game 69-66. Josh Yeager had an opportunity to tie the game with a three as time expired, but the shot was off the mark. The Mountaineer small forward said, “I rushed it ... I couldn’t believe that I was so wide open.”
The loss to Notre Dame was hard for the players and fans to take, but the team responded by putting together their best run of the season. Following a 72-69 win at Virginia Tech, the 14-8 Mountaineers took on the No. 10 Syracuse Orangemen in the Coliseum. Like their previous games versus Tennessee and Notre Dame, the Mountaineers got out to a fast start and led by 11 at the half.
The game once again appeared to be slipping away with four minutes to go when Lyles fouled out, but freshman Jay Hewitt (3.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg) stepped in to give WVU a solid defensive effort down the stretch. The Mountaineers held on for an 87-76 win in the raucous Coliseum. Bowman commented, “It’s crazy in here. I think we have the craziest fans. They get at the other team; they get the other players crazy.”
Three days later, the Mountaineers once again defeated a talented team in the Coliseum in one of the most exciting games in Coliseum history. Trailing by 13 points with 13:36 remaining, WVU stormed back and tied the game at 75 with 30.6 seconds showing on the clock when Yeager drilled a three-pointer from the left-wing. After neither team could separate itself from the other in the first overtime, the Mountaineers finally took the lead for good in the second extra session. WVU (16-8, 7-6), led by Moss (29), Armstead (24) and Bowman (22), won the game 107-100. Even though 50 minutes of basketball were played, WVU committed only 10 turnovers!
The Mountaineers continued their roll with an 82-71 win at struggling Seton Hall and set the table for a pivotal game at Miami. If WVU could win in south Florida and make a competitive effort against nationally ranked Boston College to close out the regular season, the NCAA selection committee would probably choose the Mountaineers for the field of 64. WVU’s run had to end sometime, however, and Hurricane forward John Salmons took care of that. Salmons produced a 30-point effort which included 13-of-16 foul shots. Miami won the game 73-66, but the game was much closer than the score indicates. With 25 seconds remaining, Moss had nearly converted a bucket in the lane, but Dwayne Wimbley blocked the shot as it was plummeting towards the hoop. Even though the ball appeared to be on the way down, the referees did not call goaltending on the play and the Hurricanes held on for the victory.
The WVU bubble was officially burst in the next two games. An embarrassing 96-65 home loss to No. 11 Boston College and another first round departure from the Big East Tournament at the hands of Villanova (82-71) relegated the Mountaineers to the NIT. The Mountaineers did not come out with much enthusiasm for their first-round game in Richmond and were blown out of the gym by the Richmond Spiders (79-56).
The 2001-02 season was obviously was one of the most up-and-down seasons in Catlett’s career. The return to the Coliseum gave the Mountaineers (17-12, 8-9) a homecourt advantage that was lacking the previous year. Home wins against Syracuse, Seton Hall and Villanova highlighted the year. Considering only two players (Bowman and Berry) graduated from a team that was close to getting an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, the future is bright. Combine the current core with incoming freshman phenom Jonathan Hargett and the rest of the above average recruiting class and the Mountaineers could be a legitimate NCAA Tournament team next season.