By james art 
Western Virginia guard Javon Small (7) shoots in the second half of the NCAA College basketball match against Texas Tech, Saturday, February 22, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Annie Rice)
Morgantown – Somewhere in the back of his mind, as Darian Devis is preparing the WVU basketball team for his last four games from the regular season, there are a magic wins that the mountaineers need to reach to be selected for the NCAA tournament.
“Deep down, I think I know what it is,” he said.
Not that Devries would reveal this issue: “Overall, let’s just win. Go win a game, try to win the next one and do this to complete the year. “
Rest assured that this number is not 16, where the mountaineers (16-11, 7-6 large 12) are currently located, as today they will host TCU at 21:00 in the Colosseum.
Indicators
WVU enters the game ranked No. 48 on the network, NCAA evaluation tool for the largest offers and sowing the NCAA tournament.
The climbers are combined 8-11 this season in Quad 1 and Quad 2 matches.
TCU (15-12, 8-8) is ranked No. 74, which makes today’s play in Quad 2 game for mountaineers.
The remaining WVU schedule remained just one more Quad 1 opportunity, the road game against BYU (No. 29) on March 1st.
The rest of the graphics: TCU, in Utah (No. 73) and then a home vs. UCF (No. 78) will be either Quad 2 or Quad 3 games and essentially mandatory mountaineers.
These are not indicators you will find posted in the WVU locker room.
With regard to the Tournament Bubble Talk Ncaa, Devries is not a person to go into too many details with his players, prefering to leave the focus on any upcoming game.
“Our communication with our team is that we are currently playing for something,” Devris said. “At the moment, most people would agree that if the season is over today, we are in the tournament. We have to do our role. These are meaningful games and we need to find ways to continue to put some victories there. “
According to computer forecasts found in Teamrankings.com, WVU Magic Number is 19 wins, which gives the mountains a 73.4% chance of making the tournament.
The 20 profit season takes WVU chances to 92.2%.
Bring the horned frogs
TCU, while ranking 26 seats smaller than WVU on the web, fights for its own capabilities after the season.
A victory against WVU on the road would actually be another Quad 1 victory for the horned frogs.
The match includes the two teams with the lowest rating in the large 12 and two of the poorest firing teams at the conference.
TCU won the first meeting this season 65-60, in a game that was tied to 58 with 1:29.
Vassein Alet continued at 7-0 in the last minute and WVU did not score again until Joseph Jesufus struck a pointless laying of the Zumer.
“We seem to be quite even,” Devris said. “Our first game certainly played out this way. He has reached the last few possessions. Like many games in the big 12, it comes down to who can make the most plays on that particular night, I predict (Tuesday) not be different. “
WVU key
The large 12 statistics will tell you that the horned frogs are the next team for shooting free throws at the conference at 65%.
These statistics lied to the first meeting, as the horned frogs went 20 out of 23. TCU went 14 out of 16 in the second half, a major source of unexpected points.
Either TCU has to meet your statistics in this one, or WVU just has to do better work to play for protection without getting dirty.
“We leave them to reach the rim and reach the line of free throws,” Devris said. “The difference in the free throw in this game was quite big. We can’t have this and expect to win games.
“We have to keep them outside the free throw line and part of this is to keep them in front of us.”