MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A pair of blowout wins last week have West Virginia moving in the right direction in both major polls, but a move into the Top 10 will have to wait.
The Mountaineers are ranked 12th in the AP Top 25 and 11th in the USA Today Coaches Poll. West Virginia was 14th in last week’s AP poll and 15th in the Coaches Poll.
Oregon is team switching spots with West Virginia, ranked 11th in the AP and 12th in the Coaches Poll.
Two Big 12 teams reside in the nation’s top three, with Baylor and Kansas ranked first and third in both polls, respectively.
The computers continue to respect the Mountaineers more than the humans.
West Virginia is seventh in the NCAA’s NET rankings, which are used in part to seed the NCAA tournament. KenPom.com, a predictive analytics site the NCAA tournament committee also takes into consideration, has the Mountaineers at No. 6 in the country with the nation’s top-rated defense.
West Virginia faces one of its tougher remaining road tests this week with a trip to Texas Tech on Wednesday night. The Mountaineers return home on Saturday afternoon, where they’ll have an opportunity to avenge their recent loss to Kansas State. Their meeting in Manhattan remains K-State’s lone Big 12 win, which likely explains why WVU is not yet cracking the Top 10.