The West Virginia Mountaineers are still hoping to make the NCAA Tournament despite tough back-to-back losses last week, and luckily for the program, they're still clinging to a spot in the bubble discussion as the penultimate week of the regular season begins.
Most people assumed that the Utah loss last week would end the team's dreams of going dancing on the biggest stage of college basketball, and following that up with a loss to another bubble team in TCU only furthered those suspicions. But the Mountaineers appeared in Joe Lunardi's next bracketology projection after the TCU loss, and continued to persist in the same spot on Monday morning.
ESPN's Lunardi has been updating his projections practically every day, and the Mountaineers were listed as the final team in the 'Next Four Out' section on both Sunday and Monday, meaning that they are currently projected as the eighth team outside of the field.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) February 23, 2026
Some of the changes that were made in Monday morning's update don't bode well for the Mountaineers, however. Oklahoma State, which is one of WVU's four remaining opponents on the schedule, dropped completely out of the bubble discussion in the new projection.
Meanwhile, Ohio State, which defeated West Virginia in double overtime in December, lost yet another game and dropped from the "Last Four In" to the first team in the "First Four Out" section.
On a positive note, the Cincinnati Bearcats – who WVU swept in a two-game series this season – are still listed in the bubble discussion, and UCF, who the Mountaineers own a win over and will meet again next week, are firmly still in the tournament field. TCU is also still one of the "Last Four In" on the newest update after defeating WVU.