ESPN Bracketology - August 2021

Although it's almost football season, we still keep our eyes on the college basketball bracketology projections. ESPN's Joe Lunardi recently released an updated projection which saw West Virginia slide from a No. 8 seed to a No. 9 seed.

The Mountaineers were a No. 6 seed in Lunardi's initial projections for the 2021-22 field but the losses of Miles McBride, Derek Culver, and Emmitt Matthews Jr. have lowered the expectations.

Skilled big man Isaiah Cottrell is expected to be healthy for the start of the season but he is going to be replacing arguably the best center in the Big 12 which won't be an easy thing to do. Although Culver's departure hurts, the loss of McBride to the NBA is the one that stings the most. He can do so much on both ends of the floor and not having him back in the fold will make it difficult for West Virginia to make a deep run next March. Old Dominion transfer Malik Curry is likely to replace McBride in the starting lineup. Curry led the Monarchs in scoring in each of the last two seasons.

Check out WVU's projected region below.

1. UCLA vs 16. Bryant/Prairie View A&M

8. Notre Dame vs 9. West Virginia

5. Tennessee vs 12. Loyola-Chicago

4. Ohio State vs 13. Buffalo

6. Florida State vs 11. BYU/Seton Hall

3. Kentucky vs 14. South Dakota State

7. Michigan State vs 10. San Diego State

2. Baylor vs 15. Furman

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