Several Teams with Worse Resumes Sit Higher Than WVU on NCAA Tournament Bubble

Another bracketology projection was released by ESPN's Joe Lunardi, and despite West Virginia's win over UCF, they have not moved, still sitting outside of his tournament bubble.

Lunardi's latest projection

Last Four Byes: North Carolina State, Missouri, Texas, UCF

Last Four In: Santa Clara, VCU, SMU, Auburn

First Four Out: Indiana, Stanford, Virginia Tech, New Mexico

Next Four Out: Cincinnati, San Diego State, California, Oklahoma

Next: West Virginia, Seton Hall, Arizona State, Boise State

What is going on here?

Mar 6, 2026; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Brenen Lorient (0) celebrates with teammates during the first half against the UCF Knights at Hope Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

West Virginia's resume is not perfect by any means and is rightfully on the outside of the NCAA Tournament heading into conference championship week. Losing games to Xavier, Wake Forest, Utah, and Kansas State just can't happen.

That said, they have five Quad 1 wins, which is more than 11 of the 16 teams that make up Lunardi's bubble. Here are a handful of the teams that I have an issue with, some more so than others. Listed in no particular order.

NC State - Has a Quad 4 loss

Santa Clara - Has a Quad 4 loss and is 1-4 in Quad 1

SMU - One fewer Quad 1 win, has 12 losses, including four straight

Auburn - Is 16-15...I mean, are we being serious here?

Stanford - Three of 11 losses are Quad 3 losses

Cincinnati - Has a Quad 4 loss, lost to WVU twice

WVU put themselves in a position to be left out, and that's on them. Still, it doesn't mean we can't question why certain teams are unjustifiably in a better position to dance than the Mountaineers.

I mean, Cincinnati, for example, has 14 losses and will have 15 by the end of this week. They're barely above .500, have a terrible loss, and got swept by West Virginia. In what world are they the first team in the "next four out" and WVU is completely out of that grouping? Not to mention, the Bearcats finished ninth in the Big 12, and West Virginia finished 7th.

Lunardi isn't the only one, either. CBS Sports has WVU as the last team listed on the bubble, far, far away from the first four out and behind many of the same teams Lunardi has them behind. To think that a 16-15 Auburn team could get an at-large bid, but West Virginia essentially has to win the Big 12 tournament to get in, is hard for me to wrap my brain around.