West Virginia Basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout loss to No. 3 Kansas

3. In a season with two definite contenders, the possibilities after them are substantial – but the Mountaineers are not among those just yet

This may sound bizarre to say about a top-ten team with a 7-2 record that lost to the top-ranked team in the nation by just five – all the while belonging to one of the two best conferences in Div. I this season – but the West Virginia Mountaineers do not, yet, look like a team that can contend for a national championship.

Without a doubt, Gonzaga and Baylor have proven, presently, to be the best teams in college basketball – but the field has been wide open after them.  Again, three different teams – Villanova, Iowa, and Kansas – have all occupied the No. 3 spot in the AP Poll in the opening five weeks.  There will undoubtedly be more as the season progresses.

But that also means that there are just so many good and quality teams out there this season who should be – and/or potentially could be – considered national championship contenders.  Entering this game, I thought West Virginia to be among those, especially considering they played No. 1 Gonzaga within five points – the closest of Gonzaga’s six games, which also included Kansas and Iowa.

The Mountaineers will have several opportunities to prove themselves in the Big 12, but thus far, they have not produced results that indicate that they can win a national championship.  They have knocked off some of the best mid-majors in the country in VCU, Western Kentucky, and Richmond – but they have also struggled to put away middle-of-the-pack Georgetown and Iowa State squads.

Their showing against Kansas – in which they allowed the Jayhawks to shoot 44.4% from the field, knock down 16 three-pointers, haul down 40 rebounds, 19 of them offensive, and average 1.339 points per possession – was less than ideal for a team striving to prove themselves.

This is a West Virginia squad that returned 76.7% of its scoring from last year’s 21-10 squad that finished in a tie for third in the Big 12.  That is both great – that team was ranked as high as twelfth in the national polls – and bad – they lost six of their last nine games.  They have much to prove, to say the least – and they have not yet proven that they can defeat the teams above them.

None of this is to say West Virginia is bad – they are an excellent team with a Hall of Fame-caliber coach and the pieces needed to contend for a title, and they absolutely are a top-25 team.  But the issues presenting themselves currently in Tshiebwe’s slump and the lack of consistent help in the backcourt for McBride are too notable to ignore, and those problems presented themselves in the worst way possible against the Jayhawks.

The Mountaineers will not get an opportunity for a few weeks – but they can begin to right the ship in their next two tilts, when they take on Oklahoma (Jan. 2) and Oklahoma State (Jan. 4) on the road.  Any successes in those games would bode well for West Virginia, particularly before their two-game gauntlet the following week against Texas (Jan. 9) and Baylor (Jan. 12).