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.
West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball
The following season, West's junior season at West Virginia, the squad posted a 29–5 record with another undefeated conference record, 11–0. The squad's highest ranking of the season was at a #4 ranking after a Penn State victory in the third game of the season. However, they lost shortly afterwards to Virginia to drop to #7. The Mountaineers posted two more wins, but lost in the Kentucky Invitational Tournament to #2 Kentucky, 91–97. They rose to #5 after the loss, but then lost the following game to #12 Northwestern in double overtime, 109–118. The Mountaineers bounced back however, with a victory over the #11-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. The team dropped to #11 in the rankings, but posted ten straight victories afterwards. The streak included an overtime victory over Penn State and a Backyard Brawl victory over Pittsburgh as the Mountaineers were ranked #10. As soon as the team rose to #9, they lost in overtime to New York University, but posted two straight wins following. The team ended the season with wins over Pittsburgh and George Washington University. They swept the Southern Conference Tournament for a third straight season. For the first time in Fred Schaus' coaching career at WVU, the Mountaineers advanced further than the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The team eventually won the East Region with victories over #14 St. Joseph's in the semi-finals and Boston University in the finals. In the two games, West scored 69 points in leading the Mountaineers into the Final Four, the furthest ventured in school history. The Mountaineers won their semifinal matchup against the Louisville Cardinals, 94–79; with West scoring 38 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. However, in the Championship game, the Mountaineers were bested by California, 70–71. Jerry West was named the tournament MVP, having scored 28 points and gathering 11 rebounds in the Championship loss.