WVU basketball: Mountaineers earn No. 5 seed in NCAA Tournament
There was disappointment for the WVU basketball team on Saturday night as it fell to Kansas in the Big 12 Championship Game.
The West Virginia fanbase experienced some more off-putting news as the Mountaineers were given a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Many thought the WVU basketball team should have been a 3 or 4 seed.
But, here were are with the Mountaineers heading to the Big Dance. The first opponent for the WVU basketball team is a solid Murray State squad which won the Ohio Valley Conference.
This is the first match up between the two schools, but according to WVUstats.com, the WVU basketball team holds a 10-2 all-time record against teams from the OVC. West Virginia has lost to Middle Tennessee and Eastern Kentucky. Before Akron joined the Mid-American Conference, it was in the Ohio Valley Conference as Bob Huggins coached there at that time.
West Virginia enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 24-10 after winning a pair of games in the Big 12 Tournament. Murray State is 26-5 but riding in on a 13-game winning streak. The five losses came against Middle Tennessee, Saint Louis, Auburn, Jacksonville State and Belmont.
West Virginia can’t afford an upset like happened two years ago when Stephen F. Austin completely shellshocked the Mountaineers in the first game. Murray State doesn’t appear to be as loaded as that SFA team, however Stephen F. Austin is in the tournament again in 2018.
West Virginia just has to worry about itself and take it one game at a time. There is no sense looking too far ahead, but two intriguing match ups potentially loom for the WVU basketball team. The Mountaineers could (but probably won’t) face Marshall in the round of 32 and No. 1 seed Villanova in the Sweet 16. None of that will matter, though, if the Racers pull the upset.
Next: All-time WVU basketball team
Many people filling out brackets are fans of the 12-seed topping the 5-seed but that won’t be the case in this game. With Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles leading the way, the WVU basketball team is the easy pick to move on.