NCAA basketball rankings: Gonzaga, Villanova, Virginia headline Top 25
By Nick Villano
10. West Virginia
The West Virginia Mountaineers are the one team in the NCAA that might be happy the season stopped when it did. After an awesome start to the season, things fell apart with some quickness. From Feb. 8-29, the Mountaineers lost six of seven games. They went from a potential No. 2 seed to fighting for their tournament lives.
The Mountaineers had a shot to win the Big 12 tournament thanks to the seeding falling in their favor, but as you know the tournament never happened. Still, the way the Mountaineers played down the stretch, it felt like a one-and-done season.
So, how could they possibly make it into the top ten, with so many teams behind them bringing back really good teams with decent recruiting classes? WVU has the makings of a really good team, but when they were tested they fell apart. That kind of experience is the stuff that makes greatness out of Bob Huggins‘s teams. He’s due for a big season, and this team has the makings of one.
The reason the Mountaineers are even in consideration here is the return of Oscar Tshiebwe. He got checked out for the NBA Draft but announced he’s better off returning to Morgantown. The now sophomore is coming off a season where he had 11 points and 9 rebounds. The problem with Tshiebwe was consistency. He scored one point in a loss against TCU in overtime. That’s right if he scored one more the Mountaineers win. He can’t be taken out of games that easily.
Huggins has hinted at a return to the full-court press, which was his bread and butter a few years ago but seemed to tire out the Mountaineers towards the end of the season. If he can figure out the season-long conditioning, it could lead to the Mountaineers being one of the biggest surprises of the season.
And then there’s Isaiah Cottrell, a four-star recruit that picked WVU over conference rivals Kansas and Oklahoma. He can hit shots, straight up. That’s exactly what the Mountaineers need. This team is one of the most talented under Huggins, and they could compete for the Big 12 title, despite the two teams ahead of them on this list.