Good seed, bad seed and projection misdeeds
March 5, 2014 by Mike CasazzaYou know, that’s not the best celebration picture I’ve seen, but that’s a pretty good encapsulation of what happened last night and what it meant for West Virginia’s women’s team. The Mountaineers beat Kansas and clinched a share of the Big 12’s regular-season title. Baylor won last night, too, which means the Bears are co-champs and actually the No. 1 seed in the weekend’s conference tournament.
Things are less definitive for WVU’s men’s team, which can still finish as high as tied for second place in the conference standings or alone in eighth place.
Let’s begin with the most optimistic outlook, because that’s all the Mountaineers are concerning themselves with as they push for the postseason. They believe they’ll go 2-0 and then have concrete plans for the rest of the month.
“I just think if we win the next two games, we’re in,” said guard Eron Harris, whose 3-pointer at the end of regulation and two more 3s in overtime led the way to a 91-86 win against the Sooners last month to snap a 16-game losing streak against ranked teams.
“Regardless what our record is right now, we’ve got to focus and win the next two games. If we do that, we’re in the tournament. Your chances of winning the (Big 12) tournament aren’t big. It’s the best league in the nation and everyone going in doesn’t have the same chance to win. We’ve got to get these two games. These are the two most important games of the season right now, the next two games.”
Easier said than done, but it’s not easy to say what can happen the next few days, either.
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