Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Predictions: West Virginia Mountaineers

The Kansas Jayhawks barely escaped for the second straight game, and travel on short rest to Morgantown to face the West Virginia Mountaineers on Big Monday. Can the Jayhawks pull off the road upset and move into first place in the Big 12?

Fizzle406: Kansas has a 0% chance of winning tonight. This is one of those games where I am so confident of the Jayhawk’s defeat that I’m not even going to bother watching the game. Best we can hope for is no injuries. I would be good with resting Dok and giving Silvio all the minutes he can handle. West Virginia 87, Kansas 70, Episodes of The Office I plan to watch instead of watching the game 3.

David: My optimism level is very similar to Fizzle’s. The path to winning for KU is to limit turnovers and shoot the lights out. I do believe the Jayhawks are capable of doing both those things. It’s just that the odds of both happening aren’t very good. I don’t think it’ll be a blowout, but I expect a game where the Mountaineers get out to an early lead, and KU never really makes it that close. West Virginia 79, Kansas 67

dnoll5: Of all the years where KU could break the hoodoo that they seem to experience in Morgantown every winter, this one seems the most unrealistic. But remember a couple of weeks ago when many on this forum believed that KU was going to get smashed by TCU as well? That was one of their better recent performances. That said, I just don’t think KU can do it in West Virginia this time unless the referees decide to call all the fouls that actually occur while West Virginia are pressing like maniacs. If that’s the case, the crowd will rebel in such a manner that the Kansas players will be lucky to make it out of WVU Coliseum alive. I’ll take a simple beating this time over raging hillbillies, thank you. West Virginia 77, Kansas 70.

Mike.Plank: I feel like you can fit a lot more than three episodes of the office into 2.5 hours, but what do I know? Like the rest of this board, I am not confident in KU’s chances tonight. KU will need to do two things well to win this game: defense and rebound. And avid readers of this site will know that KU has struggled all year long in those two categories. There’s absolutely no reason to think that will change tonight, especially considering how bad KU struggled to put away a not-good K-State team. Give me West Virginia big, and I mean BIG. The narrative after tonight will be that Kansas has been dethroned. West Virginia 90, Kansas 64.

Andy Mitts: It won’t be easy, and the game Saturday probably doesn’t inspire much confidence, but West Virginia is heavily dependent on the refs refusing to call them for fouls. And despite what dnoll said, this Kansas team doesn’t foul very much, so only a fraction of the actual WVU fouls need to be called. That being said, Kansas needs to be on fire from beyond the arc, since there is no way Silvio De Sousa can be counted on to contribute in both ends effectively. I’ll pick it to be closer than many think, but West Virginia escapes with the win. West Virginia 73, Kansas 71.