WVU's Odds to Win the National Title + What Their Path Looks Like

The West Virginia Mountaineers will begin their quest in March Madness this Saturday inside Hope Coliseum, taking on the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks. WVU has been great at home all season, posting a 14-3 record, and with a large crowd expected to be on hand, the Mountaineers will have a chance to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

But what about going the whole way? It's not likely, and it won't be easy, but this is without question their best shot to do so in quite a long time. According to the oddsmakers, the Mountaineers have the 12th-best odds to win it all.

Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook

UConn (-270), UCLA (+600), Texas (+850), South Carolina (+950), LSU (+2200), Michigan (+10000), Vanderbilt (+10000), Louisville (+10000), TCU (+10000), Iowa (+10000), Duke (+10000), Ohio State (+15000), Oklahoma (+15000), Minnesota (+15000), West Virginia (+15000), North Carolina (+15000).

The Mountaineers' path

RD1, Miami (OH): With all due respect to the RedHawks, WVU should be able to take care of business rather easily here. Miami is 1-2 against high-major opponents this season, with its only win coming over Cincinnati in overtime — a team West Virginia just beat by 58 two weeks ago.

RD2, Kentucky/James Madison: The Wildcats have gone downhill since mid-January. They got out to a 17-2 start before losing seven of their final eleven games in the regular season. During that stretch, they went 1-5 against Top 25 teams and 0-3 on the road against such teams. Meanwhile, James Madison is one of the hotter mid-majors in the country entering the dance, having won their last 12 games. That said, they are 0-2 against ranked teams and lost both games by a wide margin.

S16, Texas/Missouri State/Stephen F. Austin/Oregon/Virginia Tech: There's no point in running through the other teams here, if we're being honest. No. 1 seed Texas is going to win its first two games and would be the opponent for WVU, assuming they go 2-0 this weekend as well. They've been dominant all season long, winning the majority of their games by double digits. They have just three losses on the year, each of which is to teams inside the top 12.

Elite Eight: If the Mountaineers were to somehow get past the Longhorns, they would face one of the following teams: Michigan, Louisville, Alabama, NC State, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Vermont, or Holy Cross.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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