Bill Self makes case for West Virginia to make NCAA Tournament

After Kansas‘s narrow 76-74 victory over West Virginia on Saturday, there were some questions on whether or not the Mountaineers were deserving of a spot in the NCAA Tournament. But if you ask Kansas head coach Bill Self, there’s no question at all: West Virginia is an NCAA Tournament team and deserves to go dancing in March.

“Well, you guys saw play today,” said Self. “Does that look like an NCAA tournament team to you? And the answer is an emphatic yes. I mean, they’re good, and the leagues just really hard, and they’re really good.

The Big 12 is brimming with talent, especially in their top-tier teams. Currently, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has the conference occupying four of the top eight seeds. Kansas is on the No. 1 line. While Texas, Baylor, and Kansas State are all projected as No. 2 seeds.

When it comes to West Virginia, Self understands that not only did the strength of the conference play a role in their record, but also a few untimely injuries.

“The thing about it is when we played (Kedrian) Johnson the first time, he was hurt and didn’t play. He makes a huge difference because he’s so fast. And I don’t know if you know, we couldn’t run plays because he would deflect the pass or play between Juan and where the next pass is going; where you couldn’t throw it so your plays dead because obviously he’s totally disrupted it already. He’s really good, and (Tre) Mitchell had a great game. And, of course, (Erik) Stephenson scored the best of them.”

Since they lost to Kansas on Saturday, West Virginia improved their stock, bettering their case for a tournament bid. On Monday, they defeated the previously ranked Iowa State on the road 72-69.

The Mountaineers will have one more chance to tack on another quality win when they face Kansas State at home on Saturday. A victory against a projected No. 2 seed would go a long way into getting West Virginia and head coach Bob Huggins into this year’s NCAA Tournament.