College Basketball
Bracketology Removes WVU Basketball From NCAA Tournament Picture
On the heels of Saturday’s disappointing loss to Baylor, Ross Hodge’s WVU basketball team has dropped out of the NCAA Tournament picture.
At least as of now, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has removed West Virginia from his latest Bracketology update. After being at least among the teams Lunardi was considering on his most recent updates, the Mountaineers are off the map all together at the start of the first week of February.
And to further paint the picture for WVU, the loss to the Bears led to a signifiant drop in KenPom as well. Two weeks after enjoying their best KenPom ranking of the season, West Virginia is barely inside the top 70 at No. 69 as of Monday.
West Virginia center Harlan Obioha slaps hands with players on bench during game against Baylor. (WVSN photo by Kelsie LeRose)
West Virginia has a resume of a 70-54 win over Mount Saint Mary’s, a 73-65 win over Campbell, a 69-47 victory over Lehigh, a 71-49 domination of Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, a 81-59 blowout win over Lafayette, a 70-38 routing of Mercyhurst, a 91-49 blowout win over Coppin State, a 90-58 win over Little Rock, an 86-51 win over MVSU, 62-60 win over Cincinnati, a 86-75 upset over Kansas, a convincing 72-61 win over Colorado, 75-63 road win at Arizona Stateand a gritty 59-54 win over Kansas State.
WVU started last season at No. 87 in the KenPom rankings and ended at No. 51.
WVU basketball will play again at 7 p.m. on Thursday when the Mountaineers travel to Cincinnati
Find more coverage of WVU basketball at WV Sports Now.
jackson five
February 2, 2026 at 6:25 pm
and we should not be in the big dance right now…… when you get beaten by the worst team in the big 12 and on your own court, that’s terrible, terrible performance , absolutely poor preparation by the over paid coaching staff,,,,and ross, look in the mirror, you didn’t have them ready, it was a total let down game and you just screwed out chances at getting into the big dance.. well maybe next yr,,