Despite Another Loss, WVU Stays on the Bubble in New Bracketology Projection

Once again, West Virginia's offense puttered way too many times on Saturday, leading to another loss, its 11th of the season and seventh in Big 12 Conference play.

Rebounding killed the Mountaineers as they allowed 19 offensive boards to the Horned Frogs, giving them extra chance after extra chance. If they want to have any shot of doing something special down the stretch, they have to corral those and hold teams to one-and-dones. They just don't have the offense to be able to overcome it.

So, with the loss, you'd assume that West Virginia is clearly out of the picture for the NCAA Tournament now, right? Not so fast, my friend. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi still has the Mountaineers as a part of his "next four out" group. As a matter of fact, they didn't even drop a single spot.

In all likelihood, this is because of three things. One, the results of the other bubble teams. Two, not penalizing WVU harshly for losing a tight Quad 1 game on the road against another bubble team, and three, the opportunities that are still on the table for WVU to make a run.

Last Four Byes

Indiana

Texas A&M

Missouri

Auburn

Last Four In

Ohio State

UCLA

TCU

Santa Clara

First Four Out

USC

San Diego State

New Mexico

California

Next Four Out

VCU

Virginia Tech

Steon Hall

West Virginia

Considered

Cincinnati

Baylor

Stanford

Oklahoma State

Opportunities are slipping away for West Virginia, and head coach Ross Hodge is well aware of it. That said, the message to the team remains the same, but perhaps with an even more urgent tone.

“Like I told our team, the beauty of being in the Big 12 is you’re going to get quality opportunities – you had one today, we didn’t take advantage of it. More opportunities are still in our grasp and in our reach, but eventually, you have to take advantage of the opportunities and did feel like we had an opportunity today get one, and we weren’t able to do that today, but more opportunities are on the way. Obviously, Tuesday night in Stillwater will be another opportunity. [We] have a home game against BYU on Saturday. So, you have opportunities, but you have to start taking advantage of them.”

The Mountaineers will be back in action in Stillwater on Tuesday, taking on the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who have lost four straight. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.