Bob Huggins explains how he knew West Virginia was a tournament team earlier in season

West Virginia lost 14 games and finished four games under .500 in Big 12 play, but by no means is this a bad basketball team. The Mountaineers simply had the misfortune of competing against perhaps the strongest schedule in the country and played in by far the best conference in 2022-23. The NCAA Selection Committee was well aware of these facts and ultimately decided WVU was tourney-worthy, even placing them pretty far outside the bubble as a nine-seed.

Now, Bob Huggins’ squad will get to prove once and for all if they were just a mediocre team that snuck in the field, or, if they’re a force to be reckoned with that played a grueling schedule and were a few bad bounces away from landing a top-four seed. Per Huggins, this team is as capable as any club in the country, but they just struggled to win games early on in conference play.

So here was the WVU head coach after the Selection Show on Sunday cursing some of the head-scratching losses his team suffered earlier in the season which led to a lower seed:

“Well, we had Baylor, then we missed three free throws. We had Oklahoma beat and we missed two free throws. All we needed was to make one, either game or both games, and we would have won. And so we missed free throws and I think we were close enough. I think every game, to feel like we’ve could or should have won, and you you look back at at some of the games we lost — the Oklahoma State game, obviously we should have won that one.”

Huggins was then asked if the nine-seed was fair, all things considered. His answer:

“I’m all good with it. I mean, obviously we want to win more games, but I think, you know, we just had some things happen, we missed some free throws early on, like I said.”

He then proceeded to list more close games that could have gone either way or should have been wins for Mountaineers…but instead, were losses.

“We had some other games: Oklahoma State game, make four field goals at the end of the game and then do a stupid thing. And, you know, at the end of the K-State game, where we were up 16 or something like that, 16 or 18, at halftime. The Texas Tech game we rolled the ball out of bounds for some reason, right. I think if you look back, I mean, certainly we are a team capable of of winning another five or six games. And if we do that and and take care of that business or even if we just do half of them, I mean, look where we are.”

If West Virginia wins its next six games, they’ll be hoisting a national championship trophy. Even if they win three or four, that would include a victory over Alabama and an Elite Eight or Final Four appearance. Those are some lofty goals for a nine-seed that won seven conference games, but hey, confidence is king in March. We’ve certainly seen crazier runs to the Final Four than if West Virginia were to do so.

Bob Huggins is a believer in his team’s potential this month, that’s for certain.