WVU not worried about seeding, now has to go play
Bob Huggins is fine with it.
Fine with the No. 5 seeding and fine with traveling out to San Diego. Then again, what choice does he really have in the matter?
“I don’t know why or what goes on. Whatever it is you’ve still got to go play,” Huggins said. “We’re going to worry about going and playing not the seed.”
West Virginia was given the No. 5 seed in the East and will have a first round meeting with Murray State, winner of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Some prognosticators projected the Mountaineers as a high as a three seed, but instead conference mate Texas Tech was given that nod in the East Region.
The two teams played three times this year with the Mountaineers holding a 2-1 edge while the other metrics between the two resembled each other with their respective RPIs at 27 and 23 and KenPom at 13 and 12. But the Red Raiders also dealt with a rash of injuries which could come into play.
“They didn’t have Keenan Evans at the end, maybe they took that into consideration,” he said.
But regardless the reasoning behind the committee’s slotting of teams across the map, the onus is now on West Virginia to win games.
“Truth of the matter is if we’re a three or five what does it matter? We’re still going to play the same people,” Huggins said.
Huggins is just learning the details about Racers but there is one connection to the program.
“Beetle (Bolden) played when he went to Europe this summer with their point guard is all I know,” Huggins said. “He’s obviously pretty good, he’s getting 21.5 points per game.”
This will be the second time that a Huggins’ coached team will play in San Diego after his Cincinnati club played there during the early 2000’s. At the time he thought it was a great place and a great venue and now will be taking his West Virginia team out there.
The Mountaineers are looking to try to bounce back from its third consecutive Big 12 Championship game loss and the results have been mixed with last season advancing to the Sweet 16 and the year before that being bounced in the first round by Stephen F. Austin. Still, throughout the course of his career teams coached by Huggins have been able to pick themselves up.
“It was as uninspired and as bad of practices as I’ve had since the whole time we’ve been here then we go and lose to Stephen F. Austin,” he said. “Other than that we’ve been pretty good.”
West Virginia will travel to California Wednesday to begin preparation for the game allowing his team to adjust to the differences in times and travel.
Tipoff for the game is set for approximately 4 p.m.
“We’ve got until Friday so we’ll be recouped and ready to go,” Huggins said.
