WVU Climbs in New ESPN Bracketology Projection Following 2-0 Start

Ross Hodge's West Virginia Mountaineers haven't been tested in the first two games of the season, picking up dominating wins over Niagara and Stetson, but all of the computer models and bracketologists are wasting no time buying stock in this group.

Having Miles Sadler is a big part of that, but seeing that the pieces around him fit nicely and the depth WVU has is what will really grab people's attention, including ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, who had the Mountaineers as a projected bubble team for much of the offseason.

In his latest bracketology projection, Lunardi has the Mountaineers firmly in the field as a No. 10 seed in the Midwest Region.

Midwest Region Projection

No. 1 Duke vs. No. 16 Bethune-Cookman/Long Island
No. 8 Texas A&M vs. No. 9 Indiana

No. 5 Iowa State vs. No. 12 High Point
No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 13 Memphis

No. 6 Arkansas vs. No. 11 Grand Canyon
No. 3 Arizona vs. No. 14 Santa Barbara

No. 7 Marquette vs. No. 10 West Virginia
No. 2 Michigan State vs. No. 15 St. Thomas/Queens

Lunardi has West Virginia, along with Auburn, Iowa, and TCU, as part of his "last four byes" grouping with North Carolina State, Clemson, Oklahoma State, and VCU right behind them as part of the "last four in."

Major resume-boosting oppportunities upcoming

West Virginia University head coach Ross Hodge | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

West Virginia has one more buy game (Thursday vs. Mercer) before the competition gets ramped up. Next week, they will head out to Las Vegas to compete in the Players Era Tournament, where they will first meet up with Auburn. The second night, they will face either Kansas or UNLV, and the third and final day, they will play one of Houston, Notre Dame, Florida, or Rutgers. They will have another big opportunity for a quality win directly after the trip to Vegas with a neutral-court date against North Carolina on Black Friday in Charlotte.

So before the calendar flips to December, we will have a pretty good idea as to what this team is capable of and what type of year they will need in Big 12 play to punch their ticket to the dance.

I can fully understand the 10-seed projection as of right now. It's still a very young group that has to go through a very challenging schedule.

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