What the ESPN BPI Says About West Virginia’s Chances of Sweeping Cincinnati

Wednesday evening, the West Virginia Mountaineers and Cincinnati Bearcats will meet for the second time this season, each looking to make its case for the NCAA Tournament.

According to the ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI) matchup predictor, West Virginia has a 58.5% chance to snap its two-game skid while Cincinnati has a 41.6% chance to split the season series with the Mountaineers.

Although WVU won the first matchup comfortably and is now the host for the second go-around, I agree with the BPI giving the Bearcats a chance on the road here. For some unknown reason, WVU has struggled in mid-week games all year long, and Wes Miller’s squad has played much better of late.

Last week was a double-whammy for West Virginia, which lost a pair of games by a combined seven points to BYU and Baylor. The Mountaineers led the Cougars for over 30 minutes and maintained a five—or six-point lead for much of the night. BYU tried some different things offensively in the second half, and they paid off, leading to several open looks.

The overtime loss to Baylor could have been prevented by playing more disciplined defensively. Baylor got to the line a bunch and made WVU pay, connecting on 27 of 32 attempts from the charity stripe. And yes, while there were several questionable whistles, the Mountaineers had several bad fouls on reach-ins.

Since falling to West Virginia at home, Cincinnati has won three of its last four, with its only loss coming on the road to No. 8 Iowa State over the weekend. West Virginia held Cincy to just 50 points a couple of weeks ago, but the Bearcats have been terrific offensively ever since, posting 93, 84, 85, and 70 points. In that stretch, sophomore guard Jizzle James has caught fire, averaging 22.2 points per game.

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