NCAA March Madness 2018: No. 5 West Virginia will play No. 12 Murray State on Friday

The Big 12 runners-up West Virginia Mountaineers (24-10, 11-7 Big 12) are a No. 5 seed in the East region of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Mountaineers will square off with the Murray State Racers in San Diego, CA on Friday, March 16. Tip off for that game has not been announced as of the time of writing. The Racers finished the season with a 26-5 (16-2 conference) record, winning the regular season and the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

If the Mountaineers make it past the Racers, they will take on the American Athletic Conference’s Wichita State Shockers or the in-state “rival” Marshall Thundering Herd. Possible Sweet Sixteen matchups include the Virginia Tech Hokes, Alabama Crimson Tide and Villanova Wildcats.

The Mountaineers were a No. 4 seed in the 2017 NCAA tournament, making it to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to the Gonzaga Bulldogs, 61-58.

No. 1 seeds in this year’s tournament are the Virginia Cavaliers, Kansas Jayhawks, Villanova, and Xavier Musketeers.

The Big 12 Conference has six other teams in the tournament this year; No. 1 Kansas, No. 3 Texas Tech Red Raiders, No. 6 TCU Horned Frogs, No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats, No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners, and No. 10 Texas Longhorns