What the ESPN BPI Says About WVU at Cincinnati
It's finally here. West Virginia fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the end of the 2023-24 regular season has arrived.
It's been a long, challenging year for Josh Eilert and co. and they've done their best to manage. However, they roll into today's game at Cincinnati with a 9-21 (4-13) record and need to pick up a few wins at the Big 12 Conference tournament to avoid the worst season in Mountaineer basketball since 2012-13.
West Virginia won the first matchup with the Bearcats, 69-65 in Morgantown. Big man Jesse Edwards proved to be a problem that day for Wes Miller's club, going for 25 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks. The bad news for Cincinnati is Edwards comes into the game off the heels of a career night in which he totaled 36 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks. WVU has won just one game since last seeing Cincy.
As for those Bearcats, they've had their fair share of struggles as well, going 3-7 in their last ten. The Big 12 slate has not treated them kindly, facing a total of 10 ranked opponents in league play, including six straight to open. Those are games Wes Miller can live with, but it's the losses to West Virginia and Oklahoma State that really hurt their resume in addition to falling to bubble teams TCU and Oklahoma (twice).
According to the ESPN BPI, West Virginia has just an 8.5% chance to win while Cincinnati has a 91.5% chance.
