Exploring the options: How can WVU men's basketball still make the NCAA Tournament?

The regular season is over, and it's time for the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament. And for WVU basketball, if they're hoping to go dancing in the NCAA Tournament this year, they're going to need to put in some work in Kansas City.

The Mountaineers enter as the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but most folks assumed the Kansas State loss in the last week of the regular season put a major dent in any remaining hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

What's the Bracketology say, and how does the Big 12 Tournament factor in?

Since the Kansas State loss, the Mountaineers have still managed to hang onto the fringe of the bubble picture, consistently sitting just outside of the "Next Four Out" on Joe Lunardi's Bracketology projections, but still technically in consideration. But time has run out for the Mountaineers on the regular season and they haven't done enough.

WVU earned a first-round bye in the tournament with their finish in the Big 12 standings, and they'll either get to redeem their loss against a middling Kansas State team or fight for another Quad 1 win against BYU in their opening game. If they win that, they'll have to face off against Houston in the quarterfinals, who decimated the Mountaineers during the regular season.

But if WVU makes it that far and pull off the upset against the Cougars, is that enough? Well, it would mean six Quad 1 wins, but the losses are still putting in work. Most likely, if WVU want in the field, they'd need to advance to the semifinals after that and knock offf another Quad 1 opponent, which would be Kansas if things go to chalk – and the Mountaineers already have beaten the Jayhawks once this year.

Now, that's one option. If WVU could win the Big 12 Tournament, they would get an auto-bid. But hoping to reel off wins against Houston, Kansas, and Arizona in three consecutive days would be a lot to ask. So the Mountaineers will probably hope to see some significant chaos play out along the way if they want to capture a Big 12 Tournament Championship.