The West Virginia Mountaineers and TCU Horned Frogs, along with the rest of the major-conference teams in college basketball, are in the final two weeks of regular-season play. March 6 is the final day of the conference regular season, so there are only a handful of games left before the conference tournaments, the unofficial beginning of March Madness, and the lead-in to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Let’s see what’s at stake for each team and examine the online betting odds.
West Virginia Mountaineers vs TCU Horned Frogs
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021 – 7 p.m. ET
Location: Schollmaier Arena, Fort Worth, TX
College Basketball Odds: West Virginia -7
West Virginia Mountaineers
The Mountaineers have become the masters of the comeback. West Virginia was down by 19 points to Oklahoma State, but it came back and won. West Virginia was down by 12 points to Texas Tech, but it still came back and won. The Mountaineers, this past Saturday, trailed the Texas Longhorns by 19 points on the road, but they still climbed all the way back and won. The fact that West Virginia has pulled off three hugely impressive comebacks is a credit to the team, but it also raises the entirely fair question: Why does this team fall behind by large margins so often, and why does it have to scramble out of trouble so continuously instead of being able to establish a high standard and maintain it on a more regular basis? West Virginia has a considerable amount of talent, but that talent doesn’t always shine through, and coach Bob Huggins has to find a way to bring out his team’s best more consistently. The team lost one of its starters, Oscar Tshiebwe, to the transfer portal in the middle of the season. That roster disruption is one reason for West Virginia’s uneven season. Nevertheless, West Virginia has a lot of room to grow before March Madness begins. The Mountaineers have a lot to sort out, even though they are going to be a relatively high seed (4 or 5) in the NCAA Tournament.
TCU Horned Frogs
The Horned Frogs briefly harbored some hopes that they could make a late run and get into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. Those hopes are gone after a brutal loss this past Saturday against the Kansas State Wildcats, one of the two worst teams in the Big 12 Conference. Kansas State had lost 13 straight games until it solved TCU. The humiliating defeat clearly eliminates TCU from bubble contention. The Horned Frogs will have to win four games at the Big 12 Tournament if they want to make the NCAA Tournament this season. TCU simply doesn’t play defense well enough to rise to a higher level of quality and stature. The Horned Frogs are too erratic and undependable at that end of the floor. It makes it hard to trust this team in any game of consequence.
Prediction: West Virginia 75, TCU 65
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