West Virginia caps off Ross Hodge's first season with a postseason crown

With an 89-82 overtime win over Oklahoma, the West Virginia Mountaineers capped off Ross Hodge's first season as champions. Not the type of championship WVU fans were hoping for entering the season, but a championship nonetheless. After trailing 41-37 at halftime, WVU managed to hang with the Sooners enough in the second half to eventually mount a comeback and claim the crown of the College Basketball Crown.  West Virginia's star point guard, Honor Huff, who finished with 38 points in 44 minutes and was named the tournament's MVP, even had a chance to win the game in the final seconds of regulation.  His shot didn't fall at the end of regulation, but he led his team to a title thanks to winning the extra session 13-6, a difference that was sparked by a 13-0 run to close the game.   Huff was 9-for-19 in the game and also made all 12 of his free throw attempts, closing out his college career as West Virginia's hero in Las Vegas. Without Huff making a trio of foul shots to send Thursday night's game into overtime, WVU would've lost to Stanford in the quarterfinals. HONOR HUFF IS YOUR 2026 CROWN MVP @WVUhoops pic.twitter.com/RNH1i8bsRz And despite missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, the longest drought without an appearance since 1999-2004, winning the second-annual College Basketball Crown provides a nice silver lining for year one of the Hodge era in Morgantown.  Including the postseason, Hodge led the Mountaineers to a 21-14 record in his first season, marking the first 20-plus-win season for WVU since going 21-10 in the 2019-20 season that ended without an NCAA Tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  West Virginia's Crown championship is also historic for the program. While anything shy of missing the NCAA Tournament is below the standard of WVU basketball — WVU has 31 NCAA Tournament appearances, 11 Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and two Final Fours — 2026 becomes only the third time the program has ever wrapped up a season by winning a tournament championship and the first since 2007. West Virginia basketball has ended a season by winning a tournament championship three times. 1942 NIT (WVU claims this as a national championship due to the NIT being more prominent at the time)2007 NIT2026 College Basketball Crown There's also the added bonus of taking home an extra $300,000 for the school's NIL bank, which makes fans a bit more satisfied with the season than they were just a couple of weeks ago. Having already signed five-star prospect Miles Sadler, there's now reason to expect postseason success of a different kind next year.  Mike Asti is an experienced media personality and journalist with a vast resume and skillset, most notably from time with TribLIVE Radio and WPXI-TV. Asti now serves as the Managing Editor of WV Sports Now, where he leads the coverage of WVU sports. He has also covered the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and other teams within the Pittsburgh market Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!