Morgantown, WV – It was a tough way to end the regular season and Big 12 tournament, but West Virginia’s overall body of work is the primary reason why these Mountaineers find themselves with a #3 seed and promising path in the NCAA tournament.
Much of that ‘body of work’ can be summarized in the widely respected KenPom ratings. We will take a quick look at those as well as how we stack up with Morehead St. in few more of these interesting stats.
First, you have to understand the statistics; both the adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency ratings are based on points scored or points allowed in 100 possessions against an average D1 team. WVU comes in the tournament ranked VERY strong in adjusted offensive efficiency at #11 out of 357 D1 College Basketball teams. For comparison, Morehead St. ranks #214 in the offensive rankings. There’s a reason West Virginia didn’t drop out of the Top 15 all season… And it wasn’t because of our defense…Contrary to recent years this isn’t a classic Huggs defensive team, coming in at #65 out of 357 in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Morehead St. ranks #96 in the adjusted defensive rankings, which is more of a testament to how bad we’ve been defensively down the stretch than it is Morehead St. being an above average defensive team. Remember, they aren’t seeing the offensive juggernauts these Mountaineers play against every night.
This goes to show two things:
1. The level of competition they’ve played (winning 19 of their last 20) certainly isn’t the Big 12 caliber we are used to… actually not even close!
2. These Mountaineers SHOULD be FAR superior.
A couple other interesting comparisons include (out of 357 teams):
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- Strength of Schedule:
WVU – 19th in D1
Morehead St. – 217th in D1 - ‘Quadrant 1 wins’
WVU – 7
Morehead St – 0
- Strength of Schedule:
We will end with a good one… From 2014 through 2016 there were 5 upset wins in the 3 vs. 14 matchup. Since then? None….
Needless to say the Mountaineers are better in almost every category. But as we all know, nothing is promised in March.
