ESPN Bracketology: West Virginia Skyrockets in Latest Projection

Joe Lunardi moves the Mountaineers way up the NCAA Tournament seeding order.

Ben Queen-Imagn Images

A strong start to the season turned into a special start to the year one week ago when West Virginia went into Phog Allen Fieldhouse and took the Jayhawks, notching the program's first-ever win in the storied venue.

After a big win like that, it's expected that any team would have some sort of a hangover their next time out on the floor, but WVU didn't experience that whatsoever. They jumped out to a 32-7 lead against Oklahoma State on Saturday and coasted to a 69-50 victory, pushing their record to 2-0 in Big 12 Conference play.

What may be even more impressive than winning at Kansas and following that up with a dominant win is the fact that the Mountaineers led for every second of both games. Winning wire-to-wire is a hard thing to do.

Last week, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had WVU as a No. 10 seed in the East Region. Thanks to those two wins over Kansas and Oklahoma State, he pushed the Mountaineers all the way up to a No. 6 seed in the East in the projection he released Tuesday morning.

Lunardi's East Region Projection

1. Iowa State vs. 16. Kansas City/Navy

8. Nebraska vs. 9. Arkansas

5. Purdue vs. 12. McNeese

4. UConn vs. 13. Charleston

6. West Virginia vs. 11. Vanderbilt

3. Illinois vs. 14. UTEP

7. Baylor vs. 10. Dayton

2. Alabama vs. 15. Norfolk State

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