MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Saturday's West Virginia-Oklahoma game is for all of you NCAA Tournament bracket watchers out there trying to figure out who is in and who is out.
 
Right now, according to ESPN.com Bracketologist Joe Lunardi, West Virginia is in, and Oklahoma is out, but that could change if the Sooners can get their eighth straight victory over the Mountaineers, and their fourth straight at the WVU Coliseum, on Saturday night.
 
WVU, at 13-9 overall and just 2-7 in the Big 12, joins Kentucky, Nevada and Oklahoma State among the last four teams in Lunardi's field of 68. Oklahoma, at 12-10 and 2-7, is among the first four out with Texas A&M, Florida and Charleston.
 
That's what is on the line tomorrow night when the Sooners and Mountaineers hoop up at 8 p.m. in a rematch game that will begin on ESPNews before transitioning to ESPN2.
 
"We've got to win," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Friday. "It's going to be that way the rest of the way. There is no sense lying to them."
 
Based on what the Mountaineers have done this year in conference play, it behooves them to take care of business at the coliseum from here on out. Win Saturday and win your remaining home games against Iowa State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Kansas State, and that puts West Virginia at 18 wins heading into the Big 12 Tournament.
 
That's just seven Big 12 victories, which is not typically ideal, but then again, the Big 12 is, by no means, your typical basketball conference.
 
Oklahoma owns a 24-point home win over Alabama, which Lunardi considers a one-seed as of today. West Virginia has a 25-point road win at Pitt, which swept North Carolina earlier this week and is currently third in the ACC but only a nine-seed in Lunardi's bracket, and a 29-point neutral site victory over Florida, who is coming off a 13-point home win over second-ranked Tennessee.
 
Mountaineer guard Erik Stevenson has played in the Pac-12, the SEC and the American Conference and said there is no comparison between those three leagues and the Big 12. 
 
"It's the Big 12, man," he said. "It's not the NBA, but it almost feels like it because there are no off-nights.
 
"This is completely different," he continued. "In all those other leagues, you have a couple of off-nights, and you can get by. We played Georgia and Vanderbilt (in the SEC) … you can play bad and still win those games. I was on a team (Washington) that you could play bad against and get a win in the Pac-12. In this league, you're playing against pros every night and guys who know how to play and coaches who know how to coach."
 
What has really impressed Stevenson are the constantly changing tactics employed on a nightly basis in the Big 12.
 
"My favorite part of it is the brains of it. The IQ," he said. "There are a lot of adjustments that are made and a lot of adjustments the players must make during the game. It's definitely been my favorite league to play in."
 
Stevenson admits the bottom two teams in the Big 12 would likely be near the top of many of the other power conferences in the country.
 
"You put us in the Pac-12 this year, we're top three or four. You put us in the SEC we're top four. If we're in the American, we're top two – us and Houston," he projected. "You put Texas Tech in the Pac-12 and they're top four. It's just a different level of basketball, and I don't think people understand it."
 
Stevenson said he's never gotten to experience March Madness as a player. During his sophomore season at Wichita State in 2020, the Shockers were slotted as a 10-seed in Lunardi's bracket when the season was shut down because of COVID.
 
"I will be crushed if we don't get in," he said.
 
Stevenson said he's paid attention to Bracketology ever since he was a kid, filling out his for-fun brackets. He understands the many variables that go into it, and he believes the overall strength of the Big 12 will ultimately get its marginal teams on the right side of the bubble.
 
He also believes 18 is the number West Virginia must reach to be in a good place come Selection Sunday.
 
"I'd like to win them all to be safe," he mentioned. "If OU wins, they trade places with us, and if we win, we move up, so (Saturday is) important. All these games are important - especially these two (home games) coming up. We're playing two good teams, and hopefully, we can get two wins and get some momentum.
 
Huggins also thinks 18 is a solid number. That was the regular season win total his team posted in 2012 when it made the field of 64; West Virginia was in a very strong Big East that year.
 
"You would think 18 would get us in, and that's in the hardest league in the country. We've played pretty well in the nonconference, but who knows?" he said.
 
"I think we will. If we take care of business at home, I'm sure we will," Stevenson added.
 
Which is why Saturday's game is so vitally important.
 
By the way, these things are all spelled out on the white board the players see in their film room – the conference standings, the team's NET ranking and the number of Quad 1, Quad 2 and Quad 3 wins it currently has. Even the KenPom rankings show up.
 
"I don't want them to come into us later and say, 'I wish you would have told us,'" Huggins said.
 
Added Stevenson, "If (a player doesn't) know what's going on, then you're just not paying attention."
 
Tip off for Saturday's game is 8 p.m. Mountaineer Sports Network coverage with Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and studio host David Kahn begins at 7 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile apps WVU Gameday and The Varsity Network.
 
OU defeated West Virginia 77-76 in the last meeting in Norman on Saturday, Jan. 14. Three of Oklahoma's last five victories against the Mountaineers have been by four points or less.
 
"If the fans show up, the students show up and there is excitement in the building, that helps us considerably," Huggins said.