By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
The Field of 64 is set. And the West Virginia Mountaineers enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 16 overall with Kentucky, Wake Forest and Binghamton.
The WVU bracket is also pairs with the top-seeded UCLA Bruins who also have Saint Mary’s, Cal Poly and Virginia Tech.
West Virginia will be playing four-seeded Binghamton while two-seeded Wake Forest and three-seeded Kentucky will play each other.
PREDICTION:
West Virginia will defeat Binghamton to advance to the winners bracket while Wake Forest defeats Kentucky.
WVU will then play Wake in a game that goes extras with WVU winning.
Kentucky will then win against Binghamton but ultimately lose to Wake setting up a series finale between WVU and Wake.
Wake will have one loss and in order to win the regional will need to win two games in a row against WVU, which I don’t see happening.
West Virginia advances to the Super Regional to play UCLA who runs through its regional with ease.
If this comes to fruition then it would be the third consecutive year that WVU has reached a Super Regional appearance.
Here is how WVU’s tournament outlook has been since 2019:
2019: Host
Exit after 3 games
2023: Lexington Regional
Exit after 3 games
2024: Tucson Regional
Won Regional
Advanced to super
Lost to UNC (2 games)
2025: Clemson Regional
Won Regional
Advanced to super
Lost to LSU (2 games)
Photo: Shanna Rose – WV Sports Chat
