MORGANTOWN — While its season-opening loss to Buffalo propelled the Bulls into the national rankings, West Virginia faces its first top 25 opponent of the season at 7 p.m. Wednesday, when No. 11 Texas Tech (11-1) visits the WVU Coliseum.
As the Big 12 season opens with four games — Baylor and TCU don’t play until Saturday — the Mountaineers (8-4) are not alone as teams in the conference who have yet to face a top-25 opponent.
Also in that category: TCU (11-1), Kansas State (10-2) and Baylor (8-4).
At the other end of that tale is No. 5 Kansas (11-1), who is 3-1 against top 25 teams and has already been ranked No. 1 in the country twice this season.
Kansas’ games against Michigan State, Tennessee, Villanova and Arizona State during non-conference play could play a factor into why the Jayhawks are in position to make a run at its 15th consecutive conference championship.
That is still a road to be determined, and so, too, is where the Mountaineers fit into the Big 12 puzzle this season.
Let’s take a look at some different things:
The schedule
“I don’t know how much [the non-conference schedule] helped our older guys, to be honest, but it helped our younger guys,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “What we tried to do was find out who was picked to win their league and then go and play those people.
“The Rhode Island things was an ESPN thing and the Myrtle Beach [Invitational] was an ESPN deal, but aside from that we tried to play people we thought could win their league and be in the NCAA tournament.”
Heading into today’s game against the Red Raiders, West Virginia’s strength of schedule according to the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is 69th in the country.
That number will improve. According to RPI projections, once the Mountaineers have completed Big 12 play and face Tennessee in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, WVU is projected to have the 12th hardest schedule in the country.
Projections aside, Kansas (1), Oklahoma (2) and Texas (6) currently have played the toughest schedules in the Big 12. Oklahoma State (20), Kansas State (29) and TCU (44) have higher-ranked schedules.
Below West Virginia are Iowa State (136), Texas Tech (151) and Baylor (271).
The injuries
While the Mountaineers enter Big 12 play without star center Sagaba Konate, who could miss the first few weeks of conference play, the rest of the league is getting healthy just in time for Big 12 games.
Kansas center Udoka Azubuike (ankle) and Iowa State point guard Lindell Wigginton (foot) both returned from injuries last week.
Azubuike missed four games, but scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebound sin his return against Eastern Michigan.
Wigginton missed 10 games with a strained foot, but scored 15 points and added three assists in 18 minutes against Eastern Illinois.
Kouat Noi and Jaylen Fisher both missed the first three games of the season with knee injuries, but have come back and become consistent double-digit scorers since their return.
Baylor guard Makai Mason missed the first three games of the season with an ankle injury, but has averaged 14 points per game since.
Kansas State is the only Big 12 school that probably matches up in the pain department with the Mountaineers.
The Wildcats lost senior forward Dean Wade to a foot injury and the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year is expected to miss up to the first half of conference play before his return.
Wade was averaging 13.6 points and 7.8 rebounds before the injury.
The NET ratings
The NCAA Evaluation Tool ranks all 353 Division schools as a way to help the NCAA selection committee choose at-large teams for the NCAA tournament.
Heading into conference play, here’s where the NET has Big 12 schools ranked:
5. Texas Tech, 15. Kansas, 18. Oklahoma, 28. Iowa State, 30. TCU, 32. Kansas State, 75. Oklahoma State, 76. Texas, 101. West Virginia, 109. Baylor.
With the exceptions of Oklahoma State, Texas and Baylor, the Mountaineers are about to embark on 12 conference games with teams all ranked in the top 35.
RPI projections predict the Mountaineers to finish 6-12 in Big 12 play and have them losing against Tennessee, which would put WVU at 14-17 heading into the Big 12 tournament.
The first opponent
Had it not been for a tough closing stretch, Texas Tech may have a win over Duke and be undefeated heading into today’s matchup.
The Red Raiders were held without a field goal for the final 6:22 and lost to the Blue Devils by 11, at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
After a promising freshman season, 6-foot-5 guard Jarrett Culver has developed into one of the Big 12’s top players.
He’s averaging 19.6 points and is shooting 45 percent from 3-point range.
Matt Mooney (South Dakota) and Tariq Owens (St. John’s) are graduate transfers in their final seasons of eligibility, who combine for 19 points per game.
Davide Moretti (8.4 ppg) is a holdover sophomore guard who is getting more playing time, while forward Deshawn Corprew (7.4 ppg) is a junior-college transfer in his first season with the Red Raiders.
In all, coach Chris Beard plays a rotation of nine guys who are all defensive minded.
Texas Tech leads the Big 12 in points allowed (52.3 ppg) and hold opponents to just 32.8 percent shooting.
“We know we have a big challenge ahead of us,” West Virginia point guard Beetle Bolden said. “Texas Tech plays really hard and they come right at you. We can’t look at the whole Big 12 yet, because we can’t afford to look past the first game.”
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