MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The moment West Virginia was eliminated Thursday from the Big 12 tournament, its NCAA seeding became a major question.
Seventeen AP Top 25 teams were still alive in their respective conference tournaments Friday. Some of them were looking to cement a top NCAA seed, while others could make the case of improving theirs.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers (18-9) are left as spectators wondering if an unexpected deep conference run from a team in another Power Five Conference could bump WVU further down the NCAA seed line?
As for any predictions, WVU head coach Bob Huggins thought the Mountaineers would, “Probably follow the three line, I would guess,” but he also realizes it could have been so much better.
The Mountaineers fell to No. 25 on Friday in the NCAA’s NET rankings and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had WVU projected as a No. 4 seed.
But, it was just a couple of weeks ago — when WVU was about to end the regular season on a four-game home stretch — that the Mountaineers were looking at the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 and maybe even better for the NCAAs.
“I understand that if we sweep our last four games at home, which will be a big test going into tournament time, we should be comfortably on that one line, in my opinion,” WVU guard Jordan McCabe said after the Mountaineers’ win against Kansas State to open that home stretch.
“That would mean we beat Baylor, beat a very good TCU and Oklahoma State team, which is looking down the road and I don’t like to do that. Hypothetically, you would assume we would be in that conversation for being a No. 1 seed. That’s our goal and we don’t have to shy away from that.”
Except WVU went 2-2 in that final home stretch and the wins against TCU and Kansas State did little to help their cause, while the losses against Baylor and Oklahoma State were missed opportunities.
Falling again to the Cowboys in the Big 12 quarterfinals meant the Mountaineers finished 4-4 over their last eight games.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State has won seven of its last eight heading into Friday’s semifinal game against Baylor, which has been a part of Oklahoma State’s steady rise up the national rankings since February.
There will be other teams in other conferences that could make a push past West Virginia in the final days.
If Creighton were to win the Big East tournament, for example, the Blue Jays could move up in seeding and knock other teams down.
The same could be said about Florida State, if the Seminoles were to win the ACC tournament.
If either Colorado or USC — the two schools played each other late Friday — go on to win the Pac-12 tournament, that could be a bump up for either team.
WVU also didn’t get much help with Tennessee advancing to the SEC semifinals.
The Volunteers are already ranked above WVU in the NET and if Tennessee were to upset No. 6 Alabama on Saturday, the Vols could begin to jump seeds.
The COVID-19 pandemic will also play a large factor that could actually benefit the Mountaineers.
Both Kansas and Virginia withdrew from their conference tournaments Friday, putting their slots in the NCAA tournament in jeopardy.
Any participating team in the NCAAs need seven days of negative tests to be eligible and that clock began Friday.
If one or both schools became ineligible, that could juggle the higher seeds quite a bit.
However the Mountaineers’ seed turns out, WVU will be making its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in six years.
The 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
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