Hey, at least WVU didn't end up in Kentucky's part of the bracket.
Mountaineer men's basketball coach Bob Huggins joked about that possibility following Saturday night's loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game.
"I don't think they could stand both of us at the Final Four," Huggins quipped. "[Kentucky coach John Calipari] always calls me and tells me, 'Now, you know we're playing?'"
Actually, this year, that meeting wouldn't take place unless the Wildcats and Mountaineers end up in the national title game. Before then, though, WVU's road through the bracket could potentially lead to a familiar foe.
But more on that in a minute.
The Mountaineers enter this season's NCAA tournament as a No. 4 seed in the West Region. First on the docket will be a Thursday showdown in Buffalo, New York with the 13th-seeded Bucknell Bison. In terms of advancing, the odds are squarely in the Mountaineers' favor. No. 4 seeds are 102-26 against No. 13 seeds since the field expanded to 64 in 1985.
But here's why WVU won't look too closely at that statistic - the 2016 edition of the Mountaineers became one of the 21 No. 3 seeds since 1985 to fall to a No. 14 seed. West Virginia lost to Stephen F. Austin, 70-56, in last year's first round. There are some other reasons West Virginia should be wary of the Bison. Bucknell holds a 75-72 win over Vanderbilt, which happens to be the West Region's ninth seed. The Bison haven't lost a game since Feb. 15 and plowed through Lehigh, 81-65, in the Patriot League tournament title game.
Here's something that works in WVU's favor ... you know how WVU likes forcing turnovers (the Mountaineers lead Division I with 20.44 forced per game)? Bucknell is not exactly great at avoiding turnovers. The Bison are 198th out of 347 Division I teams in that department, averaging 13.3 per game.
So if West Virginia can beat back the Bison, then comes the potential of that familiar face - former Big East stablemate Notre Dame.
(Of course, fifth-seeded Notre Dame would have to get past 12th-seeded Princeton first. Those 5-12 upsets always seem to pop up in the brackets, the Tigers haven't lost since Dec. 20 and they went undefeated in the Ivy League's regular season, then won the inaugural league tournament.)
The Mountaineer and Fighting Irish are in new homes these days, the Big 12 for WVU and the ACC for Notre Dame. Still, they're quite familiar with each other. If the two teams do meet Saturday, it would be their 40th tussle. Notre Dame holds a 27-12 record over WVU, though the two teams haven't played since 2012.
And if WVU shuffles out of that first weekend in Buffalo? Then comes possible matchups against Northwestern, who made the tournament for the first time in team history, or Vanderbilt. But the likeliest candidate would be the West's No. 1 seed, Gonzaga, which has lost a grand total of one game this year. And West Virginia's memories of Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament aren't fond ones. The Bulldogs bulldozed WVU by 23 points in the first round in 2012.
Beating Gonzaga would be a feat, and the prize would be a shot at the other side of the West Region with the likes of Arizona, Florida State and Maryland out there as potential foes. But there isn't much reason to think about that. After all, the path through the NCAA tournament begins with that first step Thursday.
I doubt the Mountaineers will overlook that step. They definitely don't want to stumble out of the gate like last year.
Contact Derek Redd at 304-348-1712 or derek.redd@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.