WVU slides up in latest tournament forecast

A combination of a West Virginia 1-1 split and a slew of college basketball upsets last week moved the Mountaineers (17-4, 5-3 Big 12) up in the latest NCAA Tournament projections.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has WVU as a No. 2 seed in the West Region in his latest Brackology forecast. That’s one seed higher than the Mountaineers were in Lunardi’s previous projection. ESPN has WVU playing in the Cleveland pod and opening against 15th seeded Eastern Washington. Rutgers (seven seed) and Norther Iowa (10) are in the Cleveland pod opposite WVU. The Mountaineers beat Norther Iowa, 60-55, in the semifinals of the Cancun Challenge in Mexico in December https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology.

CBS Jerry Palm also moved the Mountaineers up a spot this week. He has WVU as a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region. Palm moved WVU up a seed in his forecast from the fourth seed he had West Virginia last week. CBS has the Mountaineers playing in the Cleveland pod. Palm has WVU opening against Wright State (14). CBS has Kentucky (6) and Northern Iowa (11) on the opposite bracket in the Cleveland pod https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/bracketology/.

Andy Katz at NCAA.com also has the Mountaineers as a three seed in the Midwest Region. Katz has WVU playing in the Cleveland pod and opening against UC Irvine (14). Katz has Creighton (6) and Mississippi State (11) on the opposite bracket in the Cleveland pod https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2020-02-03/2020-bracketology-ncaa-tournament-field-68-predicted.

The NCAA Selection Committee will have its first NCAA Tournament revel on Saturday. In the reveal, the committee unveils the top four seeds as it currently stands.