A Few Scenarios for WVU to Make the NCAA Tournament

At 15-11 (4-9), the Mountaineers have a little work to do, starting with a pair of Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

There are a ton of scenarios for West Virginia to punch a ticket to the 2023 NCAA Tournament. We'd be here all day going through single one of those, but we will go through a few of them. Here are four ways I believe the Mountaineers can make the tournament, aside from winning out or winning the Big 12 Conference Championship.

Scenario 1: Take care of homecourt

If West Virginia beats Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State at home but loses to Kansas and Iowa State on the road - they're in. That'll be two more Quad-I wins and an additional Quad-II win. This puts WVU at 18-13 (7-11). I don't believe losing the first game of the Big 12 tournament would bounce them from the big dance in this scenario.

Scenario 2: Beat Texas Tech AND Oklahoma State at home, lose last three

Winning on the road is incredibly difficult. Mountaineer fans already know that, as the team is 1-15 in Big 12 road games over the past two seasons. Not only are these next two games at home but they're both winnable. Very few of those types of games remain on WVU's schedule. Getting to 17-11 (6-9) by Monday night positions them very well for an at-large bid. WVU could lose the final three games of the season and I would still feel pretty good about their chances. However, this likely means the Mountaineers would need to win a game in Kansas City.

Scenario 3: Splitting next four, lose to KSU + Two Big 12 tourney wins

Should WVU fail to go 2-0 in this upcoming homestand, they've got to steal at least one on the road. I don't even know why I bother putting Kansas in here because it's not happening, but Huggins believes they can win there. Winning either of these games cancels out a home loss and then some. That is if they split the TTU/OSU games. If they go 0-2...well, the hole is going to be pretty hard to climb out of. This is similar to Scenario 1 but since they don't beat KSU and they lost one other home game, they're going to need to advance in the Big 12 tournament.

Scenario 4: Hot finish

WVU loses BOTH home games to Texas Tech and Oklahoma State and then lose to Kansas on the road. They're cooked right? Nope. They round out the season with a road win at Iowa State, defeat Kansas State at home and make a run in Kansas City. How long does that run need to be? They would enter the Big 12 tournament 17-14 (6-12) and with those two home losses, they'll need to make it to the semis.

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