West Virginia basketball focused on now, but eyes possibilities ahead

West Virginia currently sits in second place in the Big 12 Conference with four games left to play for the Mountaineers.

The team that they’re trailing in Baylor is undefeated but has only played 10 conference games to date and will end up playing three less total than West Virginia on the season.

If everything goes off without any issues next week, West Virginia will finish by playing 17 league games, while Baylor can only end up with 14.

That difference in the games played between the two can be explained by the Bears dealing with two different pauses due to COVID-19 issues in their basketball program including most recently a lengthy 21-day absence from the court.

The Mountaineers dealt with their own pause as well which knocked out three games on the schedule including a trip to Baylor, which has since been canceled. The other two games on the slate are set to be played March 4 against TCU and March 6 against Oklahoma State in Morgantown.

Of course, West Virginia and Baylor will square off against one another as well effectively ending any argument that either team could have if the league race does come down to the wire.

None of this will matter if the Mountaineers aren’t able to take care of business, but what happens if Baylor finishes with fewer wins that West Virginia when the dust settles in determining a regular season champion? Well, the Big 12 plans to use winning percentage which is fine by head coach Bob Huggins.

“I’d feel different about it if they could pick and choose who they were going to play or not play. But if they have the highest percentage, they should be the league champion,” he said.

Huggins points to examples that West Virginia let get away from them such as losing both the Texas and Oklahoma games in Morgantown late into those contests as opportunities they allowed to slip through their fingers if it comes to that by the end of next week.

“Those are two games we had right there to win and we didn’t finish them,” he said.

The Big 12 was able to navigate many of the issues created by pauses caused by the virus throughout the league schedule and put together a way to get back as many games as possible.

“It would have been hard for anybody to do better I think in light of everything that’s happened,” Huggins said.

Obviously while only a week remains on the regular season slate, there is still a lot to play for across the league. That is no different in Morgantown where the Mountaineers are trying to position themselves for the highest seed possible not only in the league tournament but the NCAA bracket.

West Virginia players are cognizant of where they sit in the standings and know that they are currently perched on that two to three line come March. The Mountaineers have six quadrant one wins and each of their six losses are of that variety.

“We talk about stuff like that all the time. We’re trying to get the highest rank possible,” senior guard Taz Sherman said. “…We just keep going. We don’t focus on it too heavily but at the end of the day we know it’s a possibility we can get a top seed so we’re aiming for that for sure.”

Huggins is up front with his players when it comes to their resume and where they stand in regard to the league and the NCAA field. But players such as Deuce McBride and Jordan McCabe have developed into the unofficial bracketologists on the roster according to Sherman.

That means they communicate to their teammates what they need to do to be a top seed, what other teams lost and where the Mountaineers could possibly end up.

Even with all of this going on, West Virginia hasn’t lost focus of the task at hand. Up next is Kansas State and the Wildcats have their full attention after back-to-back wins including one over Oklahoma. There’s no chance at a high seed if the Mountaineers can’t take care of business in the first place.

“We definitely got to stay focused on who we’re playing next and that’s Kansas State,” junior guard Sean McNeil said. “You can’t overlook any team. Not in this league.”

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