Bock: Predicting West Virginia’s NCAA Tournament Seed and Opponent

West Virginia will find out their NCAA Tournament bid on Sunday night during the selection show. Here’s my predictions for WVU’s bid.

Seed: 9

Opponent: No. 8 Iowa

Location: Birmingham

Others in Pod: No. 1 Houston, No. 16 Northern Kentucky

West Virginia’s tournament seeding has been very difficult to predict as the Mountaineers have been projected as high as a 6-seed and as low as an 11-seed, amongst 102 bracketologists. The thinking is WVU will play in the 8/9 first round matchup. I could maybe see West Virginia getting a 10-seed but I would bet on the 9-seed.

It seems like West Virginia’s two-day trip to Kansas City really did nothing regarding their NCAA Tournament seed. It wouldn’t surprise me if WVU’s seed has been determined since beating Kansas State last weekend. I think Iowa would be an intriguing first round matchup. Both West Virginia and Iowa have been inconsistent at times this season; both have looked good at home while struggling on the road. There’s also the storyline with Joe Toussaint, who played at Iowa from 2019-22, before transferring to WVU last offseason.

As far as the No. 1 seeds in the pod goes, it’s not as hard to predict. Kansas, who will most likely achieve the No. 1 overall seed, will not be able to matchup with West Virginia second round since the two have played three times this season. The other No. 1 seeds should end up being Houston, Alabama and Purdue. Texas could possibly slide in if Purdue loses to Penn State on Sunday. I can’t see the committee potentially matching up WVU and Purdue again for the second time this season. I think West Virginia will be in Houston’s pod down in Birmingham, Al. There’s a pretty good chance the Mountaineers will be down in Alabama next week with Houston and Alabama taking those regions next weekend.