Morgantown, West Virginia – Following West Virginia’s 19-point comeback victory over the the #12 ranked Texas Longhorns, the Mountaineers proved that they are in fact one of the elite teams in the nation.
West Virginia has won five consecutive Big 12 Conference road games and that is no easy task in one of the toughest, most challenging conferences in college basketball. This is particularly true when the Mountaineers face travel difficulties that no other team in the country has to deal with.
Not only should West Virginia jump Texas in the Top 25, they should/will leap Virginia (who lost to a really bad Duke team), Houston (who lost to Wichita State) and Ohio State (who lost to Michigan at home).
According to CBS Sports Insider Gary Parrish, “West Virginia is 10-6 in the first two quadrants with zero additional losses. In addition, the Mountaineers are 4-1 in their past five games with wins over Texas, Kansas and Texas Tech.” Parrish has West Virginia ranked #8 in his latest Top 25, ahead of Texas, Houston and Virginia.
If the Mountaineers can close out the season with wins on the road at TCU on Tuesday, at undefeated and #2 ranked Baylor on Thursday and Kansas State at home on Saturday in their regular season finale, West Virginia could potentially finish as a top five ranked team and a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, particularly if they fare well in the Big 12 Conference Championship.
While Baylor has been one of the most impressive teams in the nation this season, they have also not played since February 2nd (almost three full weeks) due to COVID issues within the team and will only have one game (a home game against Iowa State on Tuesday) to prepare for a hungry West Virginia team.
Don’t be surprised to see West Virginia in the top ten when the Associated Press Top 25 comes out tomorrow and be even less surprised if the Mountaineers win their remaining games this season, including an upset against Baylor this week.
West Virginia is peaking at the right time and will be an extremely dangerous team for the remainder of the season.
(Cover Photo Courtesy of WVU Athletics)