Not the finish they wanted, still not bad
April 6, 2016 by Mike Casazza
Villanova’s win formally concluded the 2015-16 college basketball season, one that ended 17 days earlier for West Virginia with its first-round loss to Stephen F. Austin. The book was pressed shut and placed on the shelf Tuesday when the final USA Today coaches’ poll was released, and the Mountaineers were ranked No. 14, third-best among the Big 12 teams and trailing only Kansas (3) and Oklahoma (4). It’s (only?) the fourth time in Bob Huggins’ nine seasons that his team made the final poll.
WVU, of course, was ranked in last season’s final poll, slipping in at No. 18 after the forgettable loss to Kentucky. WVU was also ranked in back-to-back season-ending polls in 2005 and 2006. You need to go back a long way to find a longer streak. The Mountaineers were ranked at the end of seven straight seasons, and in the top 16, no less, from 1957-63.
The USA Today’s poll has been around since 1993, and this is just the seventh time WVU was included in the end and the second-highest ranking (No. 3 in 2010 was the only one better). That’s not a lot of appearances, but consider that when United Press International ran the poll before USA Today took it over, the Mountaineers had only six appearances from 1960-92, and four of those were part of the historic seven-year run.