Bracketology 2023: Duke, Auburn, Texas and UCLA among biggest winners

West Virginia Mountaineers

Next to Utah State, there’s no team that the metrics love more that is on the bubble than West Virginia. They have a NET ranking in the top-25, just one loss outside of the Quad 1 range, and play in the top conference in the Big 12. The issue is that the losses have piled up, with 13 entering this past week.

A split would’ve kept them alive entering the conference tournament, starting with Iowa State on the road. It was a game in which the Mountaineers got an early lead and were able to hold onto the 72-69 victory. Erik Stevenson had 23 points to lead the team, while Joe Toussaint had 19 off the bench. It’s a Quad 1 win that adds to the talley but they had a chance to effectively clinch a bid for the NCAA Tournament on Saturday against Kansas State at home.

The game went similarly to the previous one, as West Virginia got a double-digit lead and despite multiple comeback efforts by the Wildcats, ended up with the 89-81 win. Three players had 20+ points for them, including 20 from Emmitt Matthews.

These are two more Quad 1 wins, giving the Mountaineers a 6-12 record overall in that range. It’s not the ideal record and assuming they lose in the conference tournament, will have 14 losses entering Selection Sunday, But ultimately, everything else about the resume is great and it’ll be good enough to get them in the Big Dance. The question now is can they avoid the play-in game.