WVU Basketball: West Virginia Opens NCAA Tournament With Morehead State
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It's time to start filling out NCAA tournament brackets -- and West Virginia men's basketball team is among the field.
The 68-team pool for this season's men's tournament was announced on Sunday afternoon, and WVU, which lost three of its last four games, was named the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region.
The Mountaineers open their tournament run on Friday, taking on the No. 14 seed Morehead State Eagles in the first round. Meeting three times in history, WVU has been victorious all three times, with the last meeting occurring in 2011.
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins, who spoke to the media shortly after the bracket's unveiling on Tuesday, said that he did not know much about the Eagles, who enter the tournament with a 23-7 record and are 19-1 over their last 20 games.
"I'm sure they're capable," Huggins said of Morehead State. "I really don't know anything about them right now. I will, but I don't know anything about them now. I don't know if, being 19-1, if maybe you're taking things for granted, or 19-1 means you're really excited and fired up to go."
Morehead State clinched its spot in the national field on March 6 with a 86-71 win over Belmont, winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the team's first national tournament appearance since 2011.
"First thing (that) comes to my mind -- they didn't play in the Big 12," Huggins said. "Bit of a difference. When you look at that bracket, and look at the respect that our league got -- seven teams in -- but I think, more importantly, look at the seeds."
Among all OVC teams, the Eagles paved the way defensively, giving up a conference-leading 63.4 points per game. For comparison, the Mountaineers will enter scoring an average of 77.3 per game.
Offensively, Morehead State is led by three players averaging more than 10 points per game: forward Johni Broome, as well as guards DeVon Cooper and Skyelar Potter. Broome also leads the team in rebounds, averaging nine a game.
The winner of the game will advance to the second round to face the winner of San Diego State and Syracuse. In the region, Illinois is the top seed, followed by No. 2 seed Houston. Big 12 foe Oklahoma State was named the No. 4 seed, while the region is filled out with notable teams like No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Loyola-Chicago and No. 10 Rutgers, among others.
Around the Big 12, Baylor was named the No. 1 seed in the South, and will also contend with No. 6 seed Texas Tech in the same region. Kansas (No. 3) and Oklahoma (No. 8) will play in the West, while No. 3 seed Texas is the conference's lone representative in the East.
Gonzaga, who WVU lost to on Dec. 2, is the tournament's No. 1 overall seed. Michigan is the final No. 1 seed.
Despite being broken down into regions, all of the tournament's games will be held in the state of Indiana, with Indianapolis serving as the primary host site. The location and start time of West Virginia's first round game has not yet been announced.
"I think these guys will be ready to go," Huggins said. "I think they'll be champing at the bit to be able to play in the NCAA tournament."