MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — We welcome you back to the WVU Coliseum, where No. 14 West Virginia hosts No. 12 Oklahoma in a pivotal Big 12 match-up for both schools. We begin today with a spoiler alert: The Mountaineers are going to play in the NCAA tournament come March.
Other than that, not much is known, beginning with what WVU’s remaining Big 12 schedule will look like for the rest of the regular season. Officially, the Mountaineers will play Oklahoma today, but its next two games were supposed to be against Baylor, but those have been postponed. WVU is scheduled to play at Texas a week from today and then have games against TCU and Kansas State to wrap it all up.
Just one problem: WVU still has two home games against TCU and Oklahoma State (originally scheduled for Jan. 16 and 19) that need to be played, as well as the two games against No. 2 Baylor.
Huggins said it doesn’t surprise him that dates have not been set yet for the TCU and Oklahoma State games.
“No, not really. If you think about it, just last week, Baylor was out again (with COVID-19 restrictions),” Huggins said. “I really think the Big 12 wants to see us get through what we have scheduled to this point and then see what we have left.
“It’s conceivable another team, or two, will have to take a break.”
And that is where things get sort of dicey. The last scheduled game is on Feb. 27. The Big 12 tournament is not scheduled to begin until March 10, so there is an off week in between in which more games can be fit in.
Here’s the thing, though, would the Big 12 really schedule a week of three or four games for one team just one week before the conference tournament begins? The answer: Probably not. Two is conceivable. Three is really pushing it.
So, what’s left? Well, it’s time to begin thinking about a season in which WVU does not play Baylor during the regular season or maybe plays the Bears just once. Maybe WVU does not get that home game against Oklahoma State or TCU, in order to make sure the Baylor games get in.
Also, look at Baylor’s situation. The Bears are not scheduled to come off their latest COVID-19 pause until next Saturday, against Oklahoma State. After that, they have games against Iowa State and Kansas. If those get in, the Bears still have six games to make up.
A league that prides itself on its round-robin schedule probably is not going to have that luxury this season. The questions become: Will that have any bearing on NCAA tournament seeding, and more importantly, how do you seed the Big 12 tournament?
Say, for example, WVU and Baylor do not play in the regular season, sure, the Mountaineers’ overall record may be better, but their strength of schedule won’t be. It’s sort of a bad example, because WVU’s strength of schedule is already ranked ninth in the country.
But, let’s also say this: Both WVU and Oklahoma tie for second place in the Big 12. Oklahoma played Baylor once, but WVU does not. Think the Sooners wouldn’t have a major gripe if WVU was awarded the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tourney over them?
Should there be a bonus or advantage in the conference seedings for a Big 12 school that happens to get all 18 league games in?
One last question: With the two games next week against Baylor postponed, could the Big 12 try and schedule another Big 12 opponent in those spots for the Mountaineers?
“It’s not up to us, obviously,” Huggins said. “Like everybody else, we kind of sit here and wait and wonder what’s going to happen. That would be nice, rather than having everything being jammed up at the end. There’s a lot of factors involved. If it was just us and another team, that’s one thing, but it’s not.
“You’ve got a lot of people who haven’t played. We’ve already played some people twice, so we can’t play them again. There’s a lot of factors you don’t think about it until it happens. We don’t have control and it’s hard not having control.”
Both TCU and Oklahoma State already have games scheduled during the weekday of next week, so those games could not fill the Baylor spots. As for today’s game against Oklahoma, here’s what you need to know.
TV: ESPN+ (Online subscription needed) for the 1 p.m. tip-off. BETTING LINE: West Virginia is a 2.5-point favorite.
WHAT DOES BOB HUGGINS HAVE TO SAY?
Aside from scheduling problems, the WVU head coach discussed the importance of finishing well down the stretch for NCAA tournament seeding purposes. The Mountaineers are projected as a No. 3 seed at the moment, but it is obviously a fluid situation.
He was also asked about Derek Culver and the frustrating game he had last time out against Oklahoma. The Sooners gang-guarded the WVU forward at every opportunity and then some O.U. players went out of their way to get inside Culver’s head by doing things such as cutting him of while Culver was running down the floor.
The end result was Culver was held to just two points and six rebounds in a 75-71 loss last month.
“Believe me, Derek remembers,” Huggins said.
JUST BECAUSE IT’S OKLAHOMA
We take you back to March 12, 2016, in Kansas City, where Oklahoma and West Virginia played a classic Big 12 semifinal game that won’t soon be forgotten. The end of the game came down to Buddy Hield and his half-court heave … that didn’t count.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS
WEST VIRGINIA (14-5, 7-3 Big 12)
F–Derek Culver, 6-10, jr., 14.3 ppg, 10.2 rpg
F–Jalen Bridges, 6-7, fr., 4.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg
F–Emmitt Matthews Jr., 6-7, jr., 7.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg
G–Deuce McBride, 6-2, soph., 16.2 ppg, 4.5 apg
G–Sean McNeil, 6-3, jr., 11.1 ppg, 1.7 rpg
OKLAHOMA (12-5, 7-4 Big 12)
F–Brady Manek, 6-9, sr., 10.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg
G–De’Vion Harmon, 6-2, soph., 12.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg
G–Elijah Harkless, 6-3, jr., 6.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg
G–Austin Reaves, 6-5, sr., 15.8 ppg, 5.3 apg
G–Umoja Gibson, 6-1, jr, 9.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg
PREDICTION TIME
For some reason, Oklahoma generally finds a way to shoot the ball well against the Mountaineers, although the stats will tell you the Sooners aren’t exactly world-beaters when it comes to shooting the basketball. O.U. is fifth in the Big 12 in team shooting at 44.6%. The Sooners are eighth in the league in team 3-point percentage (33.1%), yet they hit 11 of them in the first meeting against West Virginia and they’re three-game winning streak against WVU is mostly predicated around good shooting.
I think it’s a game where both teams have good stretches and go on runs. Can Culver break out and have a good game against the Sooners? I think he will, and in the end, WVU wins a close one and covers the spread, 85-81.
Justin’s season picks against the spread: 7-9-1.
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