WVU Players Closely Following Bracketology Projections, but Have Sights Set on Winning
Friday morning, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi moved West Virginia up from a projected No. 3 seed to a No. 2 seed. Yes, part of it has to do with the way the Mountaineers have played as of late but it's also due to some of the madness that has already started to take place with five top ten teams losing this week.
When you look at the Mountaineers' resume, it's pretty impressive. They swept Texas Tech, have a win on the road at Texas, one win against Kansas, and are the only team to lose to No. 1 Gonzaga by single digits this season (87-82). Not to mention, West Virginia is just one of seven teams that do not hold a loss outside of Quad 1 in the NET Rankings.
March Madness is a fun time of year for fans, but it's also fun for the players as well. They too, like to read up on the bracketology projections and guess as to where they may end up on Selection Sunday.
WVU senior guard Taz Sherman says he and his teammates have been keeping track of all the projections and they believe that with a strong finish to the regular season, they could have a shot at a top seed.
"We talk about it all the time," Sherman said. "We were talking about the Iowa game last night and in our group chat, Emmitt [Matthews] texted about how a lot of top teams are losing and that this is our chance to be a No. 1 seed. We try to get the highest ranking possible. I think right now, we're a three. I think we could possibly get up to a No. 2 over these next four games and possibly even a No. 1 seed. We don't really focus on it too heavily but at the end of the day we know that it's a possibility that we can get to the top seed so we're aiming for that for sure."
Even when they're not practicing or playing four games in seven days, the players like to take in some of the other games that are on TV, and even more so now that seeding for the NCAA Tournament is on the line.
"We watch college basketball like every day. It doesn't even have to be Power Five like I watched IUPUI yesterday. We always talk about seedings and just try to be as high as we possibly can. They [Miles McBride and Jordan McCabe] do a great job of telling us what we need to do to be a top seed and where we could be placed at."
Junior guard Sean McNeil echoed some of the same sentiments but said that all of the projections have not become a distraction to the team and they won't ever let it get to that point. Winning games is in their control, everything else will take care of itself.
"We've definitely got to stay focused on who we're playing next and that's Kansas State. We can't overlook any team. I feel like we've done that a few times this season but especially in the Big 12, anybody can beat anybody on any given night. So, we're definitely focused on Kansas State right now. That's why people love this time of the year so much because anybody can beat anybody and it's just an exciting time of the year. We're all excited especially with what's happening in the league right now, we moved up to 2nd, we've got four games at home here so we're head over heels. We're excited."
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