West Virginia has seven games to go in the regular season, meaning they have seven opportunities to improve their resume in order to be in the hosting conversation come NCAA Tournament selection time.
Currently, WVU is No. 20 in the latest RPI rankings, as they are 4-3 in Quad 1 games, 12-1 in Quad 2 games, 15-3 in Quad 3 games, and 8-0 in Quad 4 games.
This upcoming week is as important as any for the Mountaineers because they can do two things this week. The first is that they have four Quad 1 games, and the second is that they can wrap up the Big 12 regular season title.
Entering the week, both Pitt (No. 54) and Kansas State (No. 46) are in the top 60 of the RPI rankings. That's where they will have to stay if they are going to be Quad 1 games when all is said and done, as all away games against teams 1- 60th in the RPI are considered to be a Quad 1 game.
There is also room on WVU's resume to add Quad 1 games from a prior opponent, as UCF is No. 67 in the RPI rankings, and the Mountaineers swept the Knights, which would add three Quad 1 wins to WVU's resume.
WVU's Quad 2 record is very strong currently. WVU is 12-1 in Quad 2 games, and their three-game series to end the regular season against Kansas would all be Quad 2 games. The Jayhawks are No. 38 in Monday's RPI rankings, and they need to stay below No. 50 to remain a Quad 2 game.
West Virginia would also have another chance to add a Quad 2 game in the Big 12 Tournament, as if the season ended today, WVU would face either Texas Tech or Oklahoma State in their second-round game, with both being a Quad 2 game when played at a neutral site.
For West Virginia, winning is the name of the game right now, as their schedule metrics do them no favors.
WVU's strength of schedule is 127th in the country, and out of all teams in the top 20 of the latest RPI rankings, the closest strength of schedule ranking is UC Irvine at 60th.
In terms of non-conference strength of schedule, it's even worse for WVU, as they have the 236th-ranked non-con SOS. Tennessee, which is 14th in the latest RPI rankings, has the closest mark, as their non-conference schedule ranked 224th, but their overall strength of schedule ranks 30th.
Last season, out of the 16 hosts, Arizona (RPI No. 31) and ECU (RPI No. 22) were two of the teams that were on the bubble of hosting and were granted a bid despite having a lower RPI than others.
In addition, teams like Duke and Dallas Baptist were not granted opportunities to host last year, both with RPIs in the top 17, but Duke had a non-conference strength of schedule of 214th.
While WVU's non-conference strength of schedule metrics might trip them up, if they keep winning and get a little scheduling help by UCF playing well down the stretch, they should have enough Quad 1 wins to prove they are worthy to be a host school.
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