Doug Johnson - Sports Illustrated: Mountaineer Maven
West Virginia Lands Four Seed in Latest Bracketology
In the most recent Bracketology predictions by ESPN's Joe Lunardi, Bob Huggins' Mountaineers sit as the fourth seed in the Midwest Region. Lunardi's projection sets a matchup with the Bruins of Belmont. Under first-year coach Casey Alexander, Belmont is currently 8-4 and is coming off of a tournament appearance in longtime coach Rick Byrd's final season.
The current Bracketology poses some interesting postseason possibilities for West Virginia, with multiple opponents from the regular season in the Midwest Region. An upset of fifth-seeded Arizona would put together a second round matchup with Northern Iowa, an opponent that gave the Mountaineers fits, forcing a comeback for a 60-55 win in the semifinals of the Cancun Challenge. Additionally, West Virginia's opponents for this coming Sunday, the Ohio State Buckeyes, are Lunardi's projected number one seed in the region after a rapid rise to the top of the polls.
A major factor in West Virginia's lofty position is the most recent NCAA NET rankings, a system of ratings produced by the highest body in college athletics to replace the old RPI rankings. The quality of the Mountaineers' opponents also has to be a factor, coming in 15th ESPN's strength of record metric and both opponents from the Cancun Challenge, the previously-mentioned Northern Iowa and Wichita State, clocking into the top 25 in the NET.
As the season progresses towards conference play, it is good to see West Virginia getting some recognition after a rough 2018-19 season. However, the 2019-20 season is far from complete and there is a lot of work left to be done to achieve these projections.
