Huggs on WVU's Tourney Odds: 'I Think We're Going to Get In, I Think We'll Advance'

As things currently stand, West Virginia is projected to be in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 Seed, according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. However, they are a part of the "Last Four In" alongside Kentucky, Nevada, and Oklahoma State, meaning there is a lot of work left to be done.

The good thing is, any single loss from this point on should "hurt" the Mountaineers with six of the final nine games coming against ranked opponents. Even the three non-ranked teams are respected in the NCAA's Net Rankings: Oklahoma State (39), Oklahoma (56), and Texas Tech (63).

Five of WVU's final nine are also at home and senior guard Erik Stevenson said Friday that if they win all five at home, "we're in for sure". Head coach Bob Huggins echoed a similar sentiment, explaining the magic number of wins they feel they need to reach to be safely in.

"You would think that 18 would get us in in that we're playing in the hardest league in the country. And we played pretty well in the non-conference, but who knows? Our non-conference wins are very good. UAB is playing well. You go right down through the list, I think we've played much better in non-conference. We beat Auburn. [Florida] just had a big win over Tennessee and Tennessee was what? Two in the country? And we didn't just beat 'em, we significantly beat 'em. So, yeah, we've got great non-conference wins. We've just stubbed our toe in the conference."

As everyone is well aware of by now, it doesn't really matter what your record is when you begin tournament play. Obviously, the better record, the better seed you'll receive but teams with double-digit losses make runs all of the time in March. It might be the opposition overlooking them but it could also be a sense of a fresh start.

"I think we're going to get in the NCAA Tournament," Huggins said confidently. "I think we'll win games in the NCAA Tournament. How many? I don't know. But I think we will win games. I think we will advance. You can look at it a couple different ways. You can look at it as it's a new beginning. It's a second chance. Everybody that goes to college wants to play in the NCAA Tournament. Hell, I wanted to play in the NCAA Tournament. I don't have any doubt whatsoever though that we can get in the NCAA Tournament."

Typically, Huggins doesn't pay much attention to what the media says, nor do the players. They're zeroed in on the task at hand and block out all of the outside noise. That said, they do take the bracketology stuff pretty seriously. Huggins has talked about it before in the past about how close guys like Lunardi and company get in terms of projecting seeds and regions. On Friday, he explained why he talks about tournament projections with his team.

"I don't want them to come into us later and say, I wish you would have told us. If you would have told us, we would have played harder, been more cognizant of what was in store, whatever."

Huggs and the Mountaineers will begin their road to 18 Saturday night when they host the Oklahoma Sooners. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. EST.

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