Atlanta notebook: Endangered species

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Regular-Season Highlights: Duke | Texas | LSU | West Virginia

ATLANTA – The traditional basketball lineup may be facing extinction – at least at the most successful collegiate level.

Check out what coach Jay Wright has been doing at Villanova. Injuries forced Wright into a creative mode during the 2005 NCAA tournament. And since his four-guard lineup worked satisfactorily, he turned to it again when forward Curtis Sumpter injured his knee during a preseason workout.

Now the Wildcats, the top seed in the Minneapolis region, might win a national championship with that lineup.

Nothing quite that dramatic is going on inside the Georgia Dome. But take a look at rosters of the four Atlanta region semifinalists and it appears the center position is … well, gone with the wind. The probable starting lineups for LSU, Duke, West Virginia and Texas include the following: nine forwards, nine guards, one forward/center and one center.

That's right, one center.

His name is Kevin Pittsnogle and he leads the West Virginia Mountaineers in scoring, three-points baskets made and three-pointers attempted – but not rebounds. Pittsnogle is second in that category, behind swingman Mike Gansey.

Pittsnogle is 86-for-218 (39.4 percent) from three-point range. He's no J.J. Redick, but consider the fact the man plays center. Redick, Duke's All-American guard and national player of the year candidate, is 136-for-321 (42.4 percent).

"I shoot more threes, that's pretty much it," Pittsnogle said Wednesday when asked how the center spot in West Virginia's offense differs from the traditional center position. "I think it's pretty much the same as anything else, I just go outside more and shoot more threes."

And that means other big guys – guys like Texas forward Brad Buckman – will be chasing Pittsnogle to places they normally don't go.

"He's a shooter," Buckman said. "He'll step out and shoot whenever he can. He shoots shots. He'll take a lot of threes and he makes a lot of threes. We just have to slow him down as much as we can. We have to be there on the catch and make him do something else besides shoot the three."

Of course, it all comes down to terminology. When Duke plays LSU and West Virginia plays Texas Thursday night, the games won't be reduced to a bunch of little guys hoisting threes from Peachtree Street and beyond.

Duke's Shelden Williams is, without argument, the premier low post player in the nation and he will be matched against Glen "Big Baby" Davis from LSU in the first semifinal. Texas starts super sophomore LaMarcus Aldridge, a 6-foot-10, 237-pound specimen who looks like a center and plays like a center. Aldridge averages 15 points, nine rebounds, and 1.9 blocks.

But Williams, Davis and Aldridge are listed as forwards.

"I'm not one who puts guys at center' or forward,'" Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I'm into trying to get guys where they are effective. And like I've said before, [Aldridge is] just getting started. He's got a lot of different things he can do that he hasn't done yet because I don't think he's quite comfortable yet.

"He can shoot the ball. He's a very good shooter. He shoots the hook and a lot of different things he hasn't shown yet. That's just a matter of time and maturity. The best part about him is I'm not sure I have ever been around a player that wants to be coached any more than LaMarcus Aldridge."

Davis, 6-9 and 315 pounds, is the closest thing to a fullback on the basketball court. He loves to drive to the basket, handle the ball outside and mix it up inside. If the action isn't there, he will create it. And Davis has been ready to take on Williams all week.

"Basically, I am trying not to get too excited because a guy like me, who is kind of low on the radar, is licking his chops right now," Davis said. "This is an opportunity to show the world that you can play, that you can compete with the best. So I am seizing the opportunity that I have to compete against one of these elite players."

Williams, who last week moved past Mike Gminski as Duke's all-time leading rebounder, is the inside player others have measured themselves against the past two seasons.

"Somebody for that size that moves so well as he does, it's just amazing to watch," Williams said of Davis. "I know it is going to be a very physical game and a low post game throughout the whole course of the game."

Sounds like "center" speak from here. Maybe Bill Walton or Patrick Ewing won't be going at it in the Atlanta Region. But there will be no shortage of big men, doing big jobs, in the Georgia Dome.

TALES OF THE WEST

The legend of Jerry West has always been big around Morgantown, but the Mountaineers are stirring up all kinds of memories this week. The last time West Virginia reached the Sweet 16 in consecutive seasons was 1959 and 1960 – West's junior and senior seasons.

"I have had a thousand people tell me that, I used to go in a pickup truck with my father and drive up on a mountain and listen to the games on radio.' We must have had a heck of a gym because I have had a million people say they saw Jerry West play," coach John Beilein said.

These are special days for the Mountaineers. Beilein wants his players to cherish every moment.

"Had I known we were going to do what we did last year, I would have kept a journal to try to duplicate what we did – everything from what time we ate and everything," he said. "But I didn't do that."

"Last year was so unexpected. I think what we have accomplished this year has been even more complimentary to these kids and our staff because of the expectations. To go through the Big East, [get] 11 wins, then get to the Sweet 16 again, it's special."

COACH K REMEMBERS

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski took time Wednesday to reflect on the life of Ray Meyer, the longtime DePaul coach who died Friday at 92.

"Coach Meyer is the coach's coach," said Krzyzewski, a native of Chicago. "I am sorry that I was not able to be there [at Tuesday's funeral] because [of the NCAA tournament]. He was a real friend.

"He was the face of Chicago basketball and was a great example of what coaches should be and many, many of the people in business, politics, in medicine, were former campers of his. … He had a great life and we'll celebrate his life forever."

NO INTIMIDATION

LSU coach John Brady now has five NCAA tournament victories. He goes against Duke's Krzyzewski who holds the tournament record with 68.

"ESPN flashed Mike's tournament resume against mine," Brady said. "It did dwarf mine a little bit. But certainly didn't intimidate me any. He just had some opportunities and some different situations. I totally respect what he's done and what that program is about."

Ken Davis, a longtime college basketball writer for the Hartford Courant, is covering the Atlanta regional exclusively for Yahoo! Sports.