Ross Hodge’s first season as head coach at West Virginia will come to a closure in Sin City
The Mountaineers are one eight participants in the second instance of College Basketball Crown, an eight-team postseason event being held April 1-5 in Las Vegas.
WVU will face Stanford on April 2 at 8 p.m. (EST) in the quarterfinal round on FS1. The winner plays again April 4 against the winner of Rutgers-Creighton.
The Mountaineers (18-14) were 16-9 after a win at Central Florida on Valentine’s Day, but dropped five of their last seven games, and in essence, played themselves out of NCAA Tournament consideration.
This will be West Virginia’s first postseason event since a first-round loss to Maryland in the 2023 NCAA Tournament that marked Bob Huggins’ final game as head coach.
Another opportunity for our group 🤝
💬 @coachrosshodge pic.twitter.com/8eikQPP28w
— WVU Men’s Basketball (@WVUhoops) March 16, 2026
WVU declined a bid to CBC last season after it was thought to be a likely NCAA Tournament team, but was omitted from the field.
The top two non-NCAA Tournament qualifying teams in NET rating from the Big 12, Big Ten and Big East are automatic CBC qualifiers. This year, those Big 12 teams are Cincinnati (49) and Baylor (50), though the Bearcats said they would not participate in postseason events after dismissing head coach Wes Miller last week. West Virginia is next at 59.
Stanford (20-12) finished 9-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and lost its first ACC Tournament game against Pittsburgh at the buzzer, 64-63.
The Cardinal have one of the best freshman in college basketball in 6-foot-2 guard Ebuka Okorie, who averages 22.8 points.
The top selling point of CBC is its $500,000 prize pool.
Last year’s inaugural Crown tournament featured 16 teams, including four — Arizona State, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Colorado — from the Big 12.
Nebraska defeated UCF in the championship and was awarded $300,000, while the runner-up Knights received $100,000.
Semifinalists Villanova and Boise State were awarded $50,000.
This year’s CBC features three Big 12 squads, with the April 1 quarterfinal matchups pitting Oklahoma against Colorado, followed by Baylor against Minnesota.
All four quarterfinal round matchups in CBC are at MGM Grand Garden Arena and will be televised by FS1.
Both semifinals and the title game are at T-Mobile Arena and are set for April 4 and April 5, respectively. Each of those three contests will air on FOX.