Why the West Virginia Mountaineers Deserve the Final No. 1 Seed

Over the past few days I have watched more basketball than at any point during the last 12 months. I have taken in more ranked teams than I thought possible and I have compared more teams than ever before.

Through all this I have come to one realization. This realization has been proved wrong, and then late Saturday night in Madison Square Garden it was reaffirmed once again.

West Virginia deserves a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

It seems that Syracuse, Kansas, and Kentucky have already locked up three of the available one-seeds, leaving the final spot up for grabs.

Ohio State and Duke are the other two teams with the best chance at landing the spot but both of those teams have serious flaws.

The Buckeyes have a strength of schedule of just 82, while both Duke and West Virginia rank within the top 15 in the nation. Ohio State also depends on one player, Evan Turner.

Turner is the surefire National Player of the Year but having one player lead your team in points, rebounds, and assists as well as placing second on the team in both steals and blocks does not speak well for your overall team talent.

Ohio State is also just 7-6 away from Columbus, something that is obviously important when you will be playing as many as six neutral-site games in a row.

The Dukies are better in both strength of schedule and road/neutral record but the Blue Devils, when compared to West Virginia, are inferior in both statistical categories.

West Virginia has an advantage over both Duke and West Virginia in those two categories and finished with a conference record that nearly matched the Devils and Buckeyes even though they play in the insanely tough Big East rather than the mediocre ACC or Big Ten.

Another dimension that factors into seeding is the eye test.

Watching West Virginia against Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and then Georgetown proved to me that they can—and do—beat just about anyone in the country no matter the circumstances.

They have a dominate defense that puts unbelievable pressure on the opposition because of their freakish length, Da'Sean Butler has turned himself into a bona fide star by knocking down shot-after-shot when the Mountaineers need it most, and they have a deep, talented roster filled with different players who can step up and make plays.

West Virginia also does not have a bad loss on the season, while Duke has an embarrassing 14-point blowout loss at North Carolina State.

Regardless of what happens on Selection Sunday it appears that one team will be left with a bad taste in their mouth, feeling that they have been wronged by the committee because of their bad judgement.