ESPN Bracketology Update: West Virginia

Mountaineers keep pace in latest bracketology update

Photo by Ben Queen-USA Today Sports

It's been a wild seven days for the Mountaineers (15-3, 4-2) to say the least. 

One week ago, West Virginia bullied their way past visiting TCU, 81-49. Big men Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe were a walking bucket and TCU had no match for their size. There were about three to four consecutive trips down the floor where Gabe Osabuohien would have the ball at the high post and Tshiebwe and Culver would almost effortlessly get in great position to score.

Saturday was a completely different story.

West Virginia looked like a totally different team. The effort, intensity and physicality was not present in the 84-68 road loss to Kansas State. 

However, about 48 hours later, the Mountaineers came out and gut punched Texas from the jump. The Longhorns could not get anything offensively, shooting only 35% for the game. Everything that was absent on Saturday, returned on Monday night. For a team to be able to put a 16 point loss behind them and beat Texas the way they did is impressive and says a lot about this team's toughness.

Earlier this morning, ESPN's "Joey Brackets" aka Joe Lunardi, unveiled his newest bracketology projections. The Mountaineers drop from a two seed to a three, but still appear to have some favorable matchups.

Here is a look at the projected field in the East Region:

1. Gonzaga vs  16. Princeton

8. Marquette vs  9. Illinois 

5. Kentucky vs  12. Akron

4. Oregon vs  13. New Mexico St.

6. Rutgers vs  11. Liberty

3. West Virginia vs  14. Stony Brook

7. LSU vs  10. BYU

2. Florida State vs  15. Winthrop

This current projection would pit West Virginia up against the winner of No. 6 Rutgers and No. 11 Liberty, should they make it out of the first round.