Not all wins are created equal.
That is certainly the case when looking at the NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET, rankings. For the uninitiated, those are the rankings used to help seed teams for the NCAA Tournament.
The NET takes into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency as well as the quality of wins and losses to sort teams in order. The system sorts wins into four different quadrants ranging from one to four, with one being most optimal.
In order for a game to be counted as a quadrant one win you must win a home game against a team ranked 1-30 in the NET, a neutral site game ranked 1-50 and a road game ranked 1-75.
West Virginia had previously sat at No. 73 prior to the matchup with Connecticut without even a single contest against a quadrant one opponent and only three against quadrant two teams. But after beating the Huskies, who were ranked No. 10 in the formula, the Mountaineers jumped 20 spots up the ladder to No. 53.
It’s exactly the type of boost that West Virginia needed at this early portion of the season as Bob Huggins’ team has taken care of business for the most part but lacked a resume building win. That isn’t the case anymore giving the Mountaineers a win over a nationally ranked club to move to 8-1.
The other previous seven wins featured five against quadrant four opponents highlighting the ease of the slate to date but there is a reason for that. Just take a look at the road ahead.
That Connecticut contest was just the first of many opportunities as the Mountaineers have another non-conference quadrant one matchup on the road against UAB (36) Dec. 18. Then the last major non-conference game will be played until Jan. 29 at Arkansas (42) providing another opportunity.
It goes without saying that the Big 12 is going to provide those opportunities as well as West Virginia will have quadrant one chances right now in home-and-home matchups with Baylor (5), Kansas (9), Texas (16), Texas Tech (17) and Iowa State (23). While other teams such as Oklahoma (55), Oklahoma State (63), TCU (74) and Kansas State (75) all could eventually fall into that bill depending on results.
That’s the entire conference currently ranked inside the top 75 of the NET rankings highlighting how difficult the league schedule is going to be for this team moving forward.
Needless to say, with a schedule that will end up being one of the more difficult nationally in a league as competitive top to bottom as the Big 12, the Mountaineers are just dipping their toes into the waters of what their resume for the tournament could look like in a few short months.
Still, you have to start somewhere and scoring their first quadrant one win in as many tries is a big step. They all count as one in the record book, but some carry a little more weight, especially when it comes to qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, than the others.
Beating Connecticut was one of those.
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