WVU Basketball
WVU Basketball Sticks in Tournament Projection Despite Losing Streak

Three straight losses haven’t downgraded WVU basketball from being a tournament team, although it did knock the Mountaineers down a few seeds in the latest Brackegoloty update.
Friday’s update to Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology on ESPN has WVU basketball as a No. 9 seed in the East Region. The Mountaineers had climbed as high as a No. 6 seed to begin last week, but have dropped all three games they’ve played since then.
Lunardi’s projection has WVU facing off with former Big East foe UConn in a first-round matchup between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds. The back-to-back defending champion Huskies are just hanging onto their No. 25 ranking and have gone 3-3 over their last six games. UConn takes on No. 9 Marquette in a nationally televised game Saturday night.
West Virginia had been steadily gaining ground in Brakegology before last week, climbing from a No. 10 seed up to No. 7 before peaking at No. 6. Lunardi’s current projection would have the Mountaineers playing in Newark, N.J.
The last 10 days haven’t been kind to the Mountaineers, however, as they’ve lost three straight games to Arizona State, Kansas State and Houston. WVU faces former Big East rival Cincinnati this Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN+) looking to right the ship and get its season back on track. The Bearcats are in a similar three-game losing skid.
In addition to falling out of the top 25 for the second time this season, WVU also took a hit in the computer rankings, falling down to No. 48 in KenPom following the loss to Houston.
For a related story, WVU basketball trying to find answers for recent slow starts.