West Virginia men's basketball fell victim on Wednesday to a potential Cinderella run in the Big 12 Tournament.
The No. 8-seed Mountaineers dropped a close matchup with No. 16-seed Colorado (14-19, 3-17), who dropped their first 13 games in conference play this season. It was Colorado's second win in as many days after knocking off No. 9-seed TCU in the opening round of action. The Buffaloes will now look to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive as they prepare for a battle with No. 1-seed Houston tomorrow.
During one of West Virginia's worst streaks of basketball this season during early February, the Mountaineers dropped three contests over ten days where they held a halftime lead -- that tendency reared it's ugly head again Wednesday, as held a six-point halftime lead which was extended to as many as nine points in the second half.
"We lost the game with things we could control," WVU assistant coach Chester Frazier told Mountaineer Sports Network following the game.
Still Dancing?
Thankfully for the Mountaineers, this loss in the Big 12 Tournament is not likely a season-ending defeat.
While exactly how well the Mountaineers needed to do in the Big 12 Tournament was up in the air as recently as last week, a pair of wins over Utah and UCF to close the regular season have the Mountaineers safely off the bubble and sitting at a No. 9-seed in most of the latest bracketology projections.
The Mountaineers have the best resume of any potential bubble teams this season, with wins over the likes of Gonzaga, Arizona, Iowa State, and Kansas -- all teams that are considered locks for the tournament.
While the loss to a sub-par Colorado team will likely hurt the team's resume, it would be difficult to drop completely out of the tournament at this point. However, WVU fans should be rooting for Colorado throughout the rest of the Big 12 Tournament to make Wednesday's loss a bit easier to stomach for the selection committee.