WVU heading back to NCAA Tournament

No. 11 West Virginia (26-8, 12-6) is heading back to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed in the West Region.

West Virginia will play No. 13 seed Bucknell (26-8) from the Patriot league in the opening round Thursday in Buffalo. If the Mountaineers win that game they will play the winner of No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 12 Princeton Saturday.

The Mountaineers finished second in the Big 12 Conference during the regular season with wins over Kansas, Baylor and Iowa State twice. West Virginia also went on the road to beat Virginia during the non-conference portion of the schedule to further bolster its resume.

For the second straight year, West Virginia advanced to the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Kansas City but for the second time fell short this time to Iowa State 80-74.

Junior guard Jevon Carter is the leading scorer for West Virginia at 13.1 points per game, while also being named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year for his efforts on that end. Sophomore forward Esa Ahmad is the only other player in double figures at 11.2 points per game.

Both senior forward Nathan Adrian at 9.9 points per game and senior guard and Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Tarik Phillip comes in at 9.4 points per game also are key contributors for the club.

Head coach Bob Huggins has taken West Virginia to the NCAA Tournament now in eight of his ten seasons since coming back to lead the basketball program. The Mountaineers were awarded a No. 3 seed last year but fell in the first round to Stephen F. Austin.

Huggins has taken West Virginia to the Final Four in 2010 as well as a pair of Sweet 16 appearances.