Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie (1) brings the ball up the court in front of guard Ryan Agarwal (11) during an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina in Stanford, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ross Hodge became the fifth first-year men’s basketball coach at WVU to lead the Mountaineers to a postseason tournament on Monday.

The Mountaineers (18-14) officially accepted an invitation to The College Basketball Crown tournament on Saturday, but learned on Monday they will face Stanford in the opening round in Las Vegas. Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 8 p.m. on April 2, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The game will be televised on FS1.

Hodge joined a list that also includes Bob Huggins, Fred Schaus, Lee Patton and John Brickles. Huggins and Schaus guided WVU to a NCAA tournament in their first seasons, while Patton and Brickles coached WVU in the NIT.

Stanford (20-12), out of the ACC, finished with a 9-9 record in league play. The Cardinal is led by freshman guard Ebuka Okorie, who averages 22.8 points per game.

It will be the second all-time meeting between the two schools, with the first meeting coming on Dec. 28, 1959.

The WVU-Stanford winner will face the winner of Rutgers-Creighton in the tournament’s semifinals.

The Crown is in its second year of existence and is run by the FOX television network. The field was reduced this season to eight teams from 16 teams in the inaugural season. It begins on April 1 and the title game is scheduled for April 5. Games are split between the MGM Grand Garden Arena and the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Big 12, as well as the Big Ten and Big East have tie-ins with The Crown to send two of its top teams not participating in the NCAAs to the tournament. The remaining two spots were at-large bids. WVU was one of three Big 12 teams in the field, along with Baylor and Colorado.

Oklahoma and Minnesota are the other two teams in the field.

Nebraska won the 2025 title, defeating UCF in the championship game. WVU declined an invitation last season, because the school was dealing with the departure of then head coach Darian DeVries.

What’s at stake?

The Mountaineers will either get an opportunity to close out Hodge’s first season at the school on a positive note or simply add more disappointment to the ending.

WVU was in position to make a run at an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, holding a 16-9 record after an impressive 74-67 road win at UCF on Feb. 14.

WVU finished 2-5 down the stretch, which included losses against Utah and Kansas State – the bottom two schools in the Big 12 standings – as well as a 20-point defeat against BYU in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.

Two wins would hand WVU its first 20-win season since 2020.

WVU guard Honor Huff will enter the tournament eight 3-pointers shy of Frank Young’s school record of 117 in one season. Young, himself, was able to pad that record with 24 threes over five NIT games during the 2006-07 season.

Money, money, money

The niche to The Crown is the tournament pays players through NIL packages for their participation. In 2025, the tournament offered a sum of $500,000, with $300,000 going to Nebraska players for winning the tournament. UCF players split $100,000 for finishing as the runner-up, while Villanova and Boise State players each split $50,000 for advancing to the semifinals.

The total sum handed out this season is also $500,000, but no official word yet has been released on how the money will be spread out.