Is WVU’s basketball team ready to go from simmering to boiling?
When it comes to WVU’s current basketball team, I feel many Mountaineer fans are like me – close to crossing the Rubicon, close to completely buying into this team heart and soul.
Thisclose.
We’ve been awaiting the Big 12 portion of the schedule, which begins Saturday at Kansas State.
But, hey, there’s evidence suggesting WVU fans should already be all in.
The Mountaineers are No. 24 both in the coaches and Associated Press polls. In the A.P. poll they sit right above North Carolina. (This, by the way, is the 130th week in the Top 25 under coach Bob Huggins.)
If you look at the NCAA NET rankings (which takes into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and the quality of wins and losses), WVU is No. 10 with its 10-2 record – right above Gonzaga.
Noted bracketologist (if you don’t know what that is you’re reading the wrong blog) Joe Lunardi has WVU as a No. 4 seed if the NCAA tournament were held today.
So, for what are we waiting? Did that lackluster 75-64 win over Stony Brook give pause?
Maybe. But let’s look at the season so far. When WVU whipped Pitt 81-56, it looked like the Panthers were in for an awful year. Yet they are 9-4 now. Just won at Syracuse. They’ve also won at N.C. State.
Yes, the Mountaineers were hammered by Purdue. But have you noticed the Boilermakers’ No. 1 rankings in both polls? It’s legit. Right after crushing WVU, Purdue manhandled both Gonzaga and Duke.
It’s OK to shrug off the WVU win over Florida. The Gators are 7-7, just losing to a good Auburn team. And that Mountaineer loss to Xavier? The Musketeers are 12-2 and ranked No. 22. Just won at St. John’s.
On Thursday, Huggins told the media, “I think we’re getting better.” The return of Emmitt Matthews to the lineup after suffering a bruised knee will help on Saturday.
You can tell Huggs likes this team. He said Matthews and Tre Mitchell are “getting better and better.” The team just needs to get better defensively, he said.
So, let’s now see if this goes from simmering to boiling.
Two home Big 12 games – Kansas and Texas – are already sold out. The Big 12/SEC Challenge game with the aforementioned Auburn is near a sellout. And, while on the subject of Auburn, alum Charles Barkley will be the guest at Huggins’ Fish Fry fundraiser on Jan. 27.
With all that’s happened with the WVU football program, Mountaineer fans could certainly use a jolt of electricity.
Perhaps this basketball team is ready to provide the current.
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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.