Big 12 Basketball power rankings, Kansas, Kansas State on top ahead of clash

9. West Virginia Mountaineers – 10-7 (2-5)

From a Bracketology standpoint, the Mountaineers aren’t in as bad of shape as Texas Tech, as they do have non-conference victories over Florida and Pittsburgh. But they’re also winless in Big 12 Basketball play and in danger of things fully falling apart. And now they officially won’t have Manhattan transfer for the rest of the season after the NCAA denied his appeal for eligibility.

After a home blowout loss to Kansas, last week was another pair of close games. Against Baylor at home, the game turned into a shootout, with both teams scoring at least 50 points in the second half. Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, they came up short, 83-78. Joe Toussaint had his best game in a WVU uniform, leading the team with 20 points off the bench, Tre Mitchell had 14 points and 15 rebounds as well.

Another close call was this past weekend, having multiple late leads against Oklahoma in a back-and-forth battle. But once again, the final minute didn’t go West Virginia’s way, losing 77-76. Mitchell and Toussaint led the way again, scoring 16 and 14 points respectively. One big problem has been the decline of Erik Stevenson, who shot 5/17 combined in the past two games and failed to score double figures. In the previous games, he was the one doing the scoring, and the other guards struggled.

The good news for West Virginia is that they’re at home this week for the next two games. The bad news is that it’s against TCU and Texas. They need to get at least one win to salvage their at-large hopes, or else things really will get dire.