MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia has some more impressing to do before breaking into the men’s basketball Top 25.
The Mountaineers’ 7-0 start has been enough to earn some attention from voters in both the AP and coaches polls, but WVU failed to earn enough votes in either poll to catapult into the rankings following last week’s Cancun Challenge championship. Both polls were released Monday.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins knows it is far too early in the season to concern himself with such trifling matters.
“I’d be happy for [the players] because that’s what they want, but at this point in time I could care less,” Huggins said. “We’ve been really good and not ranked where we should be, and not as good and ranked higher than we should be.”
West Virginia is considered the top team in the nation by the Ratings Percentage Index. Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, the NCAA no longer uses the outdated RPI formula for purposes of seeding or determining at-large resumes for the NCAA tournament. It has since been replaced by the new NET formula, which won’t be updated until later in the season.
West Virginia’s next game will be on Saturday against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden. With a win, the Mountaineers would move to 8-0 for the first time since 2009-10 — a season that ended with a trip to the Final Four.
AP TOP 25: West Virginia ranks 32nd with 28 votes
USA Today Coaches Poll: West Virginia ranks 35th with 12 votes
Tshiebwe earns Big 12 honor
Freshman power forward Oscar Tshiebwe was named the Big 12 newcomer of the week on Monday. Tshiebwe was honored for his 19-point, 18-rebound performance against Wichita State in the Cancun Challenge championship game. It’s the second time he’s earned the honor in the young season.