West Virginia’s Tumbling Tournament Seed Projection Could Be a Blessing in Disguise
After dropping its first game in the Big 12 Conference tournament (the second round) against a really bad Colorado team, the West Virginia Mountaineers have seen their NCAA Tournament stock take quite the hit, as it should.
Fortunately for them, they won’t have to worry all that much about making the field unless there’s an unusual load of bid stealers from he mid-major level.
In the past three to four weeks, the Mountaineers have floated anywhere from a seven to a nine seed, but with the loss to the Buffs, we’re starting to see them be projected a little lower. In Jerry Palm’s latest bracketology projection on CBS Sports, he has WVU as a No. 11 seed in the West Region, facing No. 6 Memphis.
Palm’s West Region projection
1. Florida vs. 16. Bryant
8. Creighton vs. 9. Utah State
5. Ole Miss vs. 12. Drake
4. Purdue vs. 13. High Point
6. Memphis vs. 11. West Virginia
3. Texas A&M vs. 14. Utah Valley
7. UCLA vs. 10. Vanderbilt
2. Texas Tech vs. 15. Montana
Falling stock is a good thing?
While you would typically want your NCAA Tournament seed to be as high as possible, when you get to this stage of the season, you know where you’re hovering around. And if we’re being honest, there’s a significant disadvantage being a seven, eight, nine, and ten seed because if you win your first round game, you’re playing the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the round of 32.
Falling to an 11 isn’t the end of the world. Sure, you get a little tougher first round opponent, but there’s not much difference between a six and a seven seed. There can be a huge difference between a two and a three, especially in this year’s field.
