Another look back

Take a look at the photo to the right. Take a good look.








Yes, that's Canon-McMillan boys basketball coach Rick Bell. Anyone recognize the man a couple people to the right of Bell? Anyone?

That's former NBA star Doug West, who spent the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons as a volunteer assistant at Canon-McMillan following a 12-year NBA career. Nine of those seasons were spent with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Well, West, after a short stint as athletic director at Mount de Chantal in Wheeling, is back in coaching and is on the staff at Villanova, the No. 3 seed in the East bracket. Villanova plays Duke Thursday night, 30 minutes following the conclusion of the Pitt-Xavier game.

West, an Altoona native, ranks fourth on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 2,037 points.

In an interesting sidebar, should Pitt and Villanova win, two members of those Canon-McMillan teams would be reunited and one would make his way to the Final Four. C-M grad Sean Brown is a senior walk-on at Pitt, having joined the team a few weeks into the season. Brown played on the Big Macs' teams when West was an assistant.