The Mountaineers officially know which teams they will not have to worry about next week.
With one regular season series remaining for each team, qualifiers for the Big 12 Championships are official. Alongside WVU, the teams traveling to Arlington, Texas will be Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Cincinnati, Kansas, TCU, Kansas State, UCF, and Texas Tech.
The tournament field was finalized early due to Sunday’s cancellation of the game between Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. Without that game taking place, Texas Tech’s winning percentage cannot drop below that of the current 11th place team, the Baylor Bears, who are 9-18 ahead of their last three games. The Red Raiders currently stand at 12-17 in 10th.
Outside of the first seed Oklahoma Sooners, all seeds for the conference tournament are still up for grabs. West Virginia sits in third place in the Big 12 standings, tied with the Texas Longhorns, one win ahead of Cincinnati, and one game behind Oklahoma State.
The Mountaineers will take on TCU in Fort Worth this weekend in efforts to secure the second seed and, with it, a first round bye in the conference tournament. The series begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday and will be available on ESPN+.
The Big 12 Championships begin Tuesday, May 21 and will end with the championship game on Saturday, May 25.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports