Comparing the West Virginia resume to the bubble
Comparing the West Virginia NCAA Tournament resume to the bubble.
Bracketology guys and their "computers" has us needing to win at Utah and home against UCF, then possibly a game in the Big 12 tourney in order to secure a spot. So if we lose one of our last two games, might be looking at a long March.......again.
On a brighter note, the women are projected to be a 6 seed in the Lexington regional.
It seems the Mountaineers' victory Tuesday over bubble rival TCU was only a temporary respite for their general trend of sliding tourney odds. On Saturday night, WVU let a game that was competitive in the first half get completely out of hand, eventually losing to BYU by 21 in Provo, Utah. The loss was West Virginia's fourth in six games and dropped its Big 12 record to 8-10, so this team is not necessarily trending in the right direction heading toward Selection Sunday. However, WVU has also faced a difficult schedule, and it still ranks among the top 40 in SOR and WAB with six wins vs. top-50 opponents and 10 against the top 100. That helps explain why the ESPN Analytics model still gives the Mountaineers 67% tourney odds despite their recent downturn. But it's worth noting that other models are closer to 50-50 on their odds, and the Mountaineers rank ninth in NET among a Big 12 that might send only eight teams to the Dance. West Virginia needs to beat Utah and UCF, and probably make some conference-tourney noise as well, to feel truly safe. (Updated March 2 at 9:02 a.m.)I don't know where this is coming from. Most have us at the 10 seed line and not among the last 4 in. Doubt they have us there while still needing to win 3 more games. UCF at home is they key as that would be a bad loss. Win that one with one more and it should be enough.
It seems the Mountaineers' victory Tuesday over bubble rival TCU was only a temporary respite for their general trend of sliding tourney odds. On Saturday night, WVU let a game that was competitive in the first half get completely out of hand, eventually losing to BYU by 21 in Provo, Utah. The loss was West Virginia's fourth in six games and dropped its Big 12 record to 8-10, so this team is not necessarily trending in the right direction heading toward Selection Sunday. However, WVU has also faced a difficult schedule, and it still ranks among the top 40 in SOR and WAB with six wins vs. top-50 opponents and 10 against the top 100. That helps explain why the ESPN Analytics model still gives the Mountaineers 67% tourney odds despite their recent downturn. But it's worth noting that other models are closer to 50-50 on their odds, and the Mountaineers rank ninth in NET among a Big 12 that might send only eight teams to the Dance. West Virginia needs to beat Utah and UCF, and probably make some conference-tourney noise as well, to feel truly safe. (Updated March 2 at 9:02 a.m.)