MORGANTOWN -
If the season were to end today and the Mountaineers found
themselves preparing for a trip to New York City, what would the bracket look
like?
Of course, regardless of when this is written, the picture
will likely have changed by the end of the day, but it is never too early to
look at the scenarios and examine the path WVU would take to make it to
Saturday's championship game.
As it currently stands, West Virginia (17-10, 7-7) is in
ninth place in the Big East standings, which sets up a meeting with the 16
seed, DePaul (11-16, 2-13). The teams would face each other in the first game
of the tournament, at noon on Tuesday, March 6.
If that matchup remains true, it would set up a rematch of
WVU's senior night, which is scheduled for Feb. 28 against the Blue Demons.
Just yesterday, the Mountaineers were in eighth place, which
would have allowed them to wait until Wednesday, March 7 to begin play in the
tournament with a first round bye. But on Tuesday night, Seton Hall (19-9, 8-8)
downed Georgetown 73-55 and in doing so pushed WVU out of that all-important
top eight.
The Pirates have two fewer games remaining than the
Mountaineers and while that leaves more opportunities for West Virginia to get
wins and jump back ahead, it is unlikely that Seton Hall loses to either
Rutgers or DePaul to close out the regular season.
Look higher in the standings, Cincinnati and Louisville
sport 9-5 conference records and play each other on Thursday before each
closing out with two games against top four seeds in the conference. Whoever
loses that head-to-head matchup Thursday will be WVU's main target if the
Pirates are able to close out strong.
There is the possibility that West Virginia gets caught from
behind and falls even lower in the standings. Connecticut, which beat the
Mountaineers earlier in the season, is just half a game back in 10th
place with three games remaining.
If WVU loses to Notre Dame at the Joyce Center, where it has
only one victory in 12 tries, it will be tied with the Huskies heading into the
weekend.
Beyond that, St. John's is the next closest contender, but
with a 5-10 record it would take a three-game winning streak and collapses from
WVU and UConn for the Red Storm to pass either team and even then would not
make its way into the top eight.
If WVU does finish as the 9-seed, and wins its first game,
it would face the 8-seed on day two, which is currently Seton Hall. The winner
of that game would go on to play No. 1 Syracuse in the quarterfinals, which
would be the Orange's first game of the tournament.
Since the Big East switched to a 16-team format in the
2008-09 season, the Mountaineers have not played on the first day of the
tournament. That year, WVU advanced to the semifinals before losing to Syracuse
in overtime, 74-69.
The following season, Da'Sean Butler guided the 3-seed
Mountaineers through a three-game run to the championship before making it all
the way to Indianapolis and the Final Four.
A year ago, 6-seed West Virginia got its first round bye,
but fell to No. 11 Marquette 67-61, ending its tournament run after just one
game for the first time since the 2005-06 season.
That year, it was a rematch of the Backyard Brawl that
brought down the No. 3 Mountaineers. If WVU and Pitt were to face off in the
tournament this year, based on how it all stands today, that matchup wouldn't
happen until Friday, March 9 in the semifinals.
So don't hold your breath.
For now, contemplate all the above information and memorize
it to impress your friends because as of about 9 p.m. this evening, it will
likely have been turned on its head.
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