West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball
The West Virginia Mountaineers finished the regular season with a record of 20–11 overall and 11–7 in the Big East, good for sixth place in the conference. They earned a 5th seed in East region of the 2011 NCAA Tournament, one of the record eleven Big East Conference teams selected. They defeated the Clemson Tigers in the second round, 84–76, to advance to the Round of 32. In a rematch of last season's Elite Eight match-up, the Mountaineers played the Kentucky Wildcats. Despite holding a 41–33 halftime lead, the Mountaineers lost, 71–63. WVU finished their season with a record of 21–12.With 184 games played between 1906 and 2012, West Virginia's rivalry against Pittsburgh, whose campus is roughly 80 miles north of WVU, is West Virginia's most-played men's basketball rivalry. This was an in-conference rivalry for many years: 1976 to 1982 in the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League and Eastern Athletic Association (predecessors to the Atlantic 10 Conference) and 1995 to 2012 in the Big East Conference. Following the conference realignment, West Virginia moved to the Big 12 Conference in 2012, and Pittsburgh moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013 and the series was put on hold until the 2017-2018 season. West Virginia has a 97–88 series lead.
Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls
Wyoming's Men's Basketball program has a rich tradition. In 2006, Street & Smith’s published its “Greatest College Basketball Programs of All-Time” and the University of Wyoming was ranked as the 42nd greatest program in the history of college basketball. Back in 1943, it defeated Georgetown University 46-34 to win the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Two days following its NCAA Championship, Wyoming was asked to play the 1943 National Invitation Tournament Champion (NIT), St. John’s, in a game to benefit the Red Cross and raise money for the country’s war effort. Wyoming defeated St. John’s, 52-47, in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Kenny Sailors was the national MVP that year. He is the man credited with creation of the shot known today as the jump shot. When Sailors went to the NBA his coaches told him he could never be successful in the game if he didn't learn to shoot with his feet on the ground. Sailors created the jump shot in his youth on his family farm in Hillsdale, Wyoming, during pickup games with an older brother, who was considerably taller than Kenny. Fennis Dembo was a popular player in the mid-1980s. He led the Cowboys back to Madison Square Garden in 1986, as they advanced to the semifinals of the 1986 NIT. UW defeated Florida (67–58) in the semifinals before losing to Ohio State (73-63) in the championship game. Dembo also helped lead Wyoming to the Sweet 16 of the 1987 NCAA Tournament, defeating Virginia (64–60) and UCLA (78–68) in the first and second rounds before losing to UNLV (78–92) in the West Regional semifinals. Wyoming also made the NCAA Tournament in 2002 as a #11 seed, defeating #6 Gonzaga (73–66) before losing to #3 Arizona (60–68). Wyoming then won the Mountain West Basketball Tournament for the first time in 2015 and returned to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Northern Iowa 71-54 as a #12 seed.