West Virginia Receives Disappointing Start in NCAA's Initial NET Rankings

A disappointing weekend in the Charleston Classic a week ago has already put a major dent in West Virginia's NCAA Tournament resume.

It's still way too early in the season to panic, but the Mountaineers have dug themselves a bit of a hole. The good news is they work their way out with wins over Wake Forest and Ohio State in non-conference play, and then, of course, they'll have several opportunities for Quad 1 wins in the Big 12 portion of the schedule.

Monday morning, the NCAA released its initial NET Rankings for the 2025-26 season, and West Virginia checks in at No. 103, which shows they have a ton of work to do. Their loss to Clemson is a Q1 loss, while the Xavier game is a Q3 loss.

For those who don't know the breakdown of each Quad is or if you need a refresher, here you go.

Quad Breakdown

Quad 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quad 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quad 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quad 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353

As the rankings change throughout the course of the season, so will West Virginia's record in each Quad. While the Xavier loss looks bad now, it could change to a Quad 2 or even Quad 1 loss if the Musketeers catch fire and become a quality team in the Big East.

Five of West Virginia's six wins are of the Quad 4 variety — Mount St. Mary's, Campbell, Lehigh, Lafayette, and Mercyhurst. The win over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl currently qualifies as a Quad 3 win. As of today, the Mountaineers do not have a Q1 or Q2 win, but Clemson has been their only opportunity.

After another Q4 vs. Coppin State on Wednesday, WVU will have a Q2 opportunity against Wake Forest (No. 56) in a neutral-site game in Charleston on Saturday. The neutral court game against Ohio State (No. 63) in Cleveland on December 13th is also a Quad 2 matchup as of today.

Quad Breakdown

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