As West Virginia prepares to face Kansas at home this weekend, the Mountaineers are in full control of their hosting destiny, it seems.
WVU went 1-3 last week, dropping to No. 16 in D1Baseball's most recent rankings and No. 23 in the latest RPI rankings.
In two weeks' time, the top 16 teams in the country will find out they are hosting a regional in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, and WVU has the chance to control their destiny for a potential Morgantown Regional.
In the most recent projections for the NCAA Tournament's Field of 64, the Mountaineers were on the verge of hosting or not hosting in every single projection.
D1Baseball lists WVU as a host and the No. 16 overall seed (hence the ranking), while 11.7 College Baseball lists WVU as a host and the No. 15 overall seed.
Baseball America dropped the Mountaineers to a two-seed, projecting them to play in Florida State's regional, while On3 has WVU as a two-seed in Alabama's regional. Both BA and On3 had WVU as a host last week.
The mitigating factor for West Virginia and their chances for hosting are their metrics. The Mountaineers need to get their RPI into the top 20 to give them the best chance at hosting, and they can do so by taking the series against the Jayhawks and then have a strong showing in the Big 12 Tournament.
WVU's non-conference strength of schedule numbers are also lacking, as it ranks 247th in the nation. However, other top teams also don't have that strong of a non-conference strength of schedule ranking.
In terms of teams ranked in the top 20 of the RPI, LSU's non-con SOS is 222nd, and Tennessee's is 247th. There are seven teams in the top 20 of the current RPI rankings who have a non-con SOS ranking between 100-200.
All West Virginia can do at this point is just keep winning. WVU is one of 11 teams in the country to have already eclipsed the 40-win mark this season, and a byproduct of winning over the next two weeks is that the Mountaineers will likely have one of the highest win totals in the country heading into the tournament.
Overall, if WVU wins their series against Kansas and then wins a game or two in the single elimination style Big 12 Tournament, it will hard to deny them a regional this postseason.
If West Virginia wins the Big 12 regular season title this weekend (need just one win to do so), and then wins the Big 12 Tournament, it would make WVU almost a lock to be a top-16 seed.
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