College Basketball
WVU Basketball Remains in Favorable Position in Latest Bracketology
Despite dropping out of one major poll and barely hanging on in another, WVU basketball still appears to be in good shape for what matters more than a national ranking – a spot in the NCAA Tournament. While Joe Lunardi’s projections aren’t set in stone, he still has the Mountaineers in firm position to be part of March Madness.
A week after placing WVU as a No. 10 seed, Lunardi has flipped their seed to a No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region. He has Darian DeVries’ team having off with Nebraska in the first round. The matchup would take place in Cleveland, a favorable geographic location for WVU.
So even though WVU followed up their improbable upset win at Kansas with a loss to Arizona, Lunardi still feels they are worthy of a spot in his latest bracketology. He even had WVU as a No. 2 seed at one point.
West Virginia is currently coming off a couple wins over Oklahoma State and Colorado, granted those victories are not considered wins that would move the needle.
West Virginia’s overall resume does include three staple victories – Arizona, Gonzaga and Kansas – that are helping keep the Mountaineers on the right side of the bubble.
In addition to what Lunardi thinks, WVU also enjoyed a jump in KenPom, a computer ranking factored into who makes the NCAA Tournament.
Sunday’s win at Colorado bumped WVU basketball up six spots in the KenPom rankings, up to No. 42 currently.
It’s one of the largest jumps West Virginia (12-3, 3-1 Big 12) has taken in the rankings this season. For comparison, the Mountaineers only moved up one spotfollowing their improbable victory at No. 7 Kansas on New Year’s Eve.
WVU ranks eighth out of the 16 Big 12 teams, as the conference continues to dominate the top of the rankings.
WVU continues its two-game road trip at Houston on Wednesday (8 p.m./ESPN+). The Cougars are ranked No. 3 in KenPom and are riding an eight-game winning streak.
For a related story, WVU basketball plagued by scoring droughts in Big 12 play.
