MAKING A CASE: Huggins believes WVU’s strength of schedule should be enough to get in NCAA tourney field

MORGANTOWN — With the month of March closing in, Bob Huggins wasted little time Saturday in making a public proclamation as to why the WVU men’s basketball team deserves a shot to play in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

Just minutes following the Mountaineers’ 76-74 loss against No. 3 Kansas inside Allen Fieldhouse, Huggins sent a clear message to the NCAA selection committee.

“We have far and away, and it’s not even close, the best strength of schedule in the country,” Huggins began. “If that doesn’t mean something to the committee, well shame on them.

“Not just that, but if you look at our scores, we deserve to be in the tournament.”

WVU (16-13, 5-11 Big 12) looked every bit as a postseason-worthy club going shot for shot with the No. 3 Jayhawks. The Mountaineers took the game down to the final possession, but were unable to get off a shot.

Joe Toussaint was called for traveling with 0.4 seconds remaining, WVU’s 21st turnover of the game, a season high.

Yet one game does not define a team that will play 31 of them before the end of the regular season.

WVU travels to Hilton Coliseum at 9 p.m. Monday for its final true road game of the regular season to face Iowa State (17-11, 8-8).

The No. 23 Cyclones are dealing with their own struggles at the moment, losing three in a row, including Saturday’s 61-50 loss against Oklahoma that will surely knock the Cyclones out of the AP Top 25.

The NCAA selection committee, “Gives you all that B.S. about play a strong schedule, and then you play a strong schedule,” Huggins continued. “Well, if they continue to tell you to do that, then by God they ought to hold up their end of the bargain.”

For clarity purposes, WVU’s strength of schedule is not tops in the country, it’s not even the toughest among Big 12 members.

WVU’s strength of schedule is ranked seventh in the nation and fifth among Big 12 schools, who make out six of the top nine and 10 of the top 25 in that category.

As to how challenging Big 12 competition is, the NCAA’s NET rankings fit all 10 Big 12 schools inside the top 65 in the country with the Mountaineers falling in at No. 27.

WVU’s NET ranking is above that of Virginia, Northwestern, Providence and Miami, all of which were nationally-ranked in the latest AP Top 25.

“We belong,” WVU guard Erik Stevenson said. “There’s no question about it.”

Whether or not the selection committee sees it the same way is still to be determined.

A victory against Iowa State would certainly help WVU’s cause, as well as coming back home and beating No. 14 Kansas State in the regular season finale.

And this is where Huggins and the selection committee may differ, because Huggins believes WVU’s position on the bubble is stronger than most others.

“We need another win, but we really shouldn’t,” Huggins said. “I say we shouldn’t, because of the continual talk the committee does about strength of schedule. We have the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country. That ought to say something.”

Oddly enough, WVU was in a similar situation last season, when it had faced an identical strength of schedule and played more Quad 1 games than anyone else in the country.

Yet its final 16-17 record kept WVU out of the NCAA and NIT.

If WVU is hovering around .500 by the end of the Big 12 tournament, the Mountaineers’ strength of schedule may be their only case for the postseason.

“I told our guys, I don’t think we really have anything to worry about,” Huggins said. “And I will blast (the committee’s) ass as far and as long as I can if they don’t let these guys into the tournament.”

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