by Jim Buzzerd
Surprising three seed
The West Virginia University Men’s Basketball Team lost three of their last four games of the season. Prior to that ending many had projected the Mountaineers as a potential two seed in this week’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. After the overtime loss to Baylor and back-to-back losses to Oklahoma State, one in the regular season finale and the other a three-point loss in the Big 12 Tournament opener, most of the pundits moved WVU to a four seed.
That seemed to be a logical spot for the Mountaineers. One wouldn’t think close losses to two quality teams would cause the Mountaineer stock to crash, but a fall to a four seed looked realistic. In something of a surprise, when the brackets were announced on Sunday, West Virginia was a three seed. That’s not shocking in itself, but Oklahoma State was a four seed and that defied some logic.
This is not me complaining, I’m all for any break the NCAA may afford WVU. Still, WVU finished the season 18-9, and let’s not forget they lost two in a row to OSU. Oklahoma State had a better record at 20-8 and they also knocked off one seed Baylor in the semi finals of the Big 12 Tournament. Bracketologist Joe Lunardi pointed this seeding out as one of the selection committee’s blunders of the day.
Well, that’s done, and West Virginia now has to play Morehead State in one of Friday’s late matchups. The game is scheduled to tip at 9:50 p.m. in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The game will be televised on truTV. All the games for the entire tournament will be televised on CBS, TNT, TBS or truTV. If you haven’t heard, all the games will be played in the Indianapolis area.
If you want something to worry about, try this. Friday’s game with 23-7 Morehead State will fall on the fifth anniversary of WVU’s 70-56 loss to Stephen F. Austin in the 2016 first round. West Virginia was a three seed that season also. If WVU takes care of business on Friday they will meet the winner six seed San Diego State and 11 seed Syracuse on Sunday. Sunday’s game times won’t be announced until late Friday or early Saturday.