West Virginia coach Ross Hodge reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against BYU, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/Kathleen Batten)

MORGANTOWN — It’s a list that includes former WVU men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries, who finished 18-14 in his first season at Indiana. Virginia Tech, Seton Hall, San Diego State, Cincinnati and Florida State added their names to the list, too.

What’s the list? Schools who opted out of playing in a postseason hoops tournament after not getting an invite to the NCAA tournament this season.

“I don’t feel that playing in another postseason event would benefit us,” San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said in a statement.

And then there is the current bunch at West Virginia. By finishing 18-14 overall and 9-9 in Big 12 play, the Mountaineers also found themselves as a bubble team for the NCAAs, only to have that bubble burst.

Taking the option to sit on the sidelines, though, Hodge said that was never really an option.

“Any time you get a chance to put on a college uniform and represent a university and, in our case, an entire state, you’ve got to take advantage of those opportunities,” Hodge said. “For our group in particular, they enjoy playing basketball, so it makes it an enjoyable experience to keep playing.”

Six WVU seniors could have played their final college game back on March 11, when the Mountaineers lost to BYU, 68-48, in the second round of the Big 12 tournament. All of them came to WVU as one-year transfers to play for Hodge in his first season as the Mountaineers’ head coach with the intention of getting their final sendoff in the NCAA tournament.

That didn’t work out, which brings us to the College Basketball Crown tournament. This is where Honor Huff, Treysen Eaglestaff, Harlan Obioha, Jasper Floyd, Brenen Lorient and Chance Moore will conclude their college careers.

They took a gamble coming to WVU. Fitting that gamble led them to the bright lights of Las Vegas.

“I think we have a great group that wants to give it their all for this last go round,” Huff said. “Our group, we just love each other too much. I think that’s the greatest part about us playing longer is us being able to be with each other. I don’t think it was in anyone’s mind not to play.”

At 8 p.m. Thursday, inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the Mountaineers will have one final opportunity to put a positive bow on the 2025-26 season when they play Stanford (20-12).

The winner of the game advances to the Crown semifinals on Saturday to face either Rutgers or Creighton.

“To be able to keep some momentum going and win a national tournament would be great for this program and for us,” Huff said. “We’ll still, obviously, remember this season, but if we could end it with confetti coming down and being in such a great mood with each other, it would be the opposite of how we felt after BYU. It would be a good emotional journey to go win something like that, even though it’s not the NCAA tournament.”

Hodge, too, is all-in for the Mountaineers extending their season.

“If you can win the last game of the year, it’s a cool experience,” Hodge said. “How many players, how many coaches really get to win the last game of the season? It’s very rare. Now, does that mean you wouldn’t trade that off with being in the NCAA tournament? Probably not, but the reality is when you go through these experiences, any time you get the chance to continue to play, I think it’s hard not to take advantage of those opportunities.”

In Stanford, the Mountaineers will find an opponent that was likely viewed very much the same as themselves in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee.

WVU finished 59th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, while Stanford was two spots behind at No. 61. Both teams finished with five Quad 1 victories and they were both eliminated in their first games of their conference tournaments.

If you want to lean on the Ken Pomeroy ratings, Stanford is No. 62, while WVU is No. 63 overall.

The niche to the Crown is the financial component. The tournament offers up a $500,000 package that goes directly to the players on each team. In order to finish in the money, a team must win its first-round game.

After that, $50,000 will go to each of the two teams who lose in the semifinals to be split amongst the players. The team that loses in the championship game will earn $100,000 for its players and the team that wins the championship will earn $300,000.

Hodge said the financial aspect of the tournament hasn’t come up in team conversations.

“My messaging is these guys love each other. I think that’s been well documented,” he said. “They just enjoy being around each other and you want to spend one more time together.”