Bid-Stealing Watch: A Rooting Guide for West Virginia Fans

See which teams West Virginia needs to win this weekend to avoid chaos.

Mar 21, 2024; Spokane, WA, USA; A general overall view of the March Madness logo at center court of the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

It's shaping up to be a pretty relaxing couple of days for the West Virginia Mountaineers, who await their postseason destination. By all indications, the Mountaineers will receive an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, likely as a No. 10 or 11 seed.

While it may appear that WVU is a lock and in the clear, some crazy stuff could happen which could leave them on the outside, looking in. Let me be very clear about this: no one, and I mean no one, has any clue as to where WVU sits in the committee's eyes. We can all look at bracketology projections and form our own opinions, but their perception could be slightly different.

Most tournament projections have West Virginia in the "Last Four Byes" category, but who knows? The selection committee may have them as part of the "Last Four In," meaning they don't want multiple bid stealers to put them in an uncomfortable position.

Of the conference tournaments that are still going on, there are only four where a "bid stealer" could take place. The two that have the most bid stealing potential are the AAC and Atlantic 10. You could argue that the Big West and Mountain West are one-bid leagues, but UC San Diego and Boise State are highly regarded because of their NET ranking, so there's a chance that they could still get in if they don't win their respective conference championship.

To make it easy for you, I put this mini rooting guide together for you. It's a breakdown of who plays who, when, where you can watch it, and who you and the Mountaineers want to pull for to avoid any sort of uneasy feeling heading into Selection Sunday.

To be honest, it's likely going to take three or maybe four of these bid stealing scenarios to play out for WVU to be left out.

American Athletic Conference

Semifinal: No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 4 Tulane, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Semifinal: No. 2 North Texas vs. No. 3 UAB, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Final: March 16th at 3:15 p.m. ET, ESPN

Who needs to win: Memphis

Potential bid stealers: North Texas, UAB, Tulane

Atlantic 10 Conference

Semifinal: No. 1 VCU vs. No. 4 Loyola Chicago, 1:00 p.m. ET, CBSSN

Semifinal: No. 2 George Mason vs. No. 6 Saint Joseph’s, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN

Final: March 16th at 1:00 p.m. ET, CBS

Who needs to win: VCU

Potential bid stealers: Loyola Chicago, George Mason, Saint Joseph's

Big West Conference

Final: 1 UC San Diego vs. 2. UC Irvine, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Who needs to win: UC San Diego

Potential bid stealer: UC Irvine

Mountain West Conference

Final: No. 2 Colorado State vs. No. 5 Boise State, 6 p.m. ET, CBS

Who needs to win: Boise State

Potential bid stealer: Colorado State

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI

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ESPN Bracketology: West Virginia is in Danger of Playing in the "First Four"

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Is West Virginia Getting Enough Respect in ESPN's Bracketology Projection?