A month ago, the West Virginia Mountaineers were in great shape to earn a bye in the Big 12 tournament. Getting a spot in the Big Dance looked like a simple task. Things changed fast.
With five losses in their last six games, are the Mountaineers in trouble? Yes, they are.
West Virginia won 14 of their first 16 regular-season games in this campaign, but now the squad looks lost closing out the season.
The team is walking in that fine line between being in trouble and being doomed.
Will the team miss the March Madness tournament?
It’s unlikely, although finishing the season against Oklahoma, Iowa State and Baylor won’t do the Mountaineers any favors.
March Madness betting is a big deal during the tournament, but it’s hard to see a scenario where a bet over the Mountaineers winning the title can get far.
The good news for the Mountaineers is that two of their last three games will be at home. A bye in the Big 12 tournament is not out of the question.
“Getting a bye in a conference tournament is important,” Bob Huggins said. “Four games in four days is tough.”
What is the Mountaineers’ number one problem?
Desperation might be the right word here. The team is tired of losing, but the attempts to get out of the hole work as quicksand. The more they try to get out of the situation, the deeper they get.
Scoring has been a significant issue for the Mountaineers in the last month as the team averaged 56.8 points per game in their last five losses. It’s quite the drop from the 70.1 points per night they average on a regular basis.
West Virginia scored 97 points against the Texans back on January 20. The result feels so long ago.
Just days ago, the Mountaineers lost to the Longhorns 67-57, scoring 40 points fewer in the second meeting against Texas.
The team’s number one struggle comes from beyond the arc. West Virginia shot 27.3% in the loss against the Longhorns, keeping this awful trend. In their last five losses, the Mountaineers shot 27.1% from three-point land. In the loss against TCU, they recorded an astonishing 11.8% from three.
Can the Mountaineers’ recent struggles be fixed?
West Virginia has three regular-season games to get their act together before the Big 12 tournament. Even in the tournament, they might get hot and find a new rhythm.
The problem is, the Mountaineers don’t have much time to get it together. The corrections need to get done on the fly because the schedule will be tight in the next month.
It’s safe to say West Virginia picked one of the worst moments of the season to play this badly. The team is still inside the Top-25 ranked teams in basketball, but that might not last long.
The West Virginia Mountaineers are currently +4000 to win the National Title. The program has reached the Sweet Sixteen in three of their last four tournament appearances. The trend seems to be in jeopardy now.
Alonzo Solano is a sports analyst & picks writer @SBS_Authority who has covered a few Super Bowls and a couple of World Cups for different media outlets. He analyzes NCAA College Football and NFL games for SafestBettingSites, but don’t be surprised if you read him on any other sport. He’s a gaming analyst looking for winners every weekend. He’s the new guy in town “trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents.”
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