MORGANTOWN — It is the most over talked, over publicized bit of non-news in all of sports, these NCAA guessing games called “Bracketology” at this time of year.

Better to call it “Racketology,” because it just doesn’t matter what a team’s record is on Feb. 3 for a tournament called MARCH Madness.

There’s no doubt that when West Virginia plays Oklahoma at 8 p.m. tonight at the Coliseum, it’s an important game as far as qualifying for the NCAA Tournament goes.

But, it’s probably not as important as you might think, even though the Bracketoligists are saying the Mountaineers are in the final four teams to make the tournament and Oklahoma is among the first five to miss.

Should Oklahoma beat the Mountaineers at home, as they did on the road, that would probably flip those places … but there isn’t any reality as to where WVU or Oklahoma stands right now because the final games of the season and conference tournament will determine that.

Will the Mountaineers make the tournament?

Coach Bob Huggins says they will.

“I’ll be surprised if we don’t get in,” Huggins said.

“I don’t have any doubt that we will get into the NCAA Tournament,” he said on Friday before putting in a practice for the Sooners, the two teams possessing equal 2-7 records in the Big 12.

Huggins goes even farther than saying his team will be in the 68-team field.

He believes they will advance.

“I really honestly don’t think (one and done) will happen,” Huggins said. “I think we’ll get into the NCAA Tournament. I think we will win games. I don’t know how many, but I think we will advance.”

No one doubts that they haven’t played to date like a team that is set up to make a deep run into the tournament, but a lot can happen between now and then.

“You can look at it a lot of ways,” Huggins said. “It’s a new beginning. Everybody wants to play in the NCAA Tournament. I wanted to play in the NCAA Tournament.”

Certainly the players want to play. Erik Stevenson leads the way, for as many places as he’s been, he’s never played in the NCAAs. He had one team that would have gone with Wichita State but that was the COVID year when the tournament was canceled.

“I’ll be crushed if we don’t get in,” he said on Friday.

So what will it take to get in?

Stevenson predicted 18 wins while playing in the Big 12 would do it, WVU currently possessing a 13-9 record.

“Eighteen for sure is safe,” Stevenson said. “It’s doable.”

There is no argument that Huggins’ team has played one of the nation’s most difficult schedules and that won’t end in the Big 12.

“It’s the Big 12. I won’t say it’s the NCAA Tournament, but it’s close. Put us in the Pac 12 or the SEC and we’re in the Top 4,” Stevenson said. “Put us in the American and we’d be top 2, us and Houston. Put Texas Tech in the Pac 12 they’d be top 5. It’s just a different level of basketball.

“This is exactly what I thought it was. You’re not going to get many calls. You go to the rim and you get hammered. It’s physical, it’s tough, but my favorite part of it is the IQ, the brains of the game. You have to make a lot of adjustments on the fly.”

It isn’t just the Big 12, though, why Huggins believes WVU should get in and fare well.

“Our non-conference wins are pretty good right now. UAB is playing well now. We played much better in non-conference. We beat Auburn. You look at our non-conference wins and they are probably better than our conference wins,” he said.

And Pitt is now third in the ACC and WVU mauled the Panthers on their home court early in the year.

Then there’s Florida.

“Florida just had a big win over Tennessee and Tennessee was No. 2 in the country … and we didn’t just beat them. We significantly beat them,” Huggins said.