(Getty Images)

Following West Virginia’s win over Maryland, Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins was asked the obvious question about his team’s next opponent: 36-0 Kentucky. But while Huggins rhetorically asked if he could enjoy making the Sweet 16 before thinking about the mighty Wildcats, he shared a little nugget about John Calipari predicting that the NCAA tournament selection committee’s “convenient” scheduling practices would lead to a Kentucky and WVU game in the 2015 tournament. Huggins told CBS:

“Cal called me about three weeks ago and said, ‘you know they’re going to put us in the same bracket, don’t you?’ This is the last three times we’ve been in the NCAA tournament we’ve had to go through Kentucky to get anywhere.”

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

Though I don’t doubt the call happened, Huggins’ recollection is slightly off. The teams have had two matchups in the tournament of late, not three. The Mountaineers weren’t in Kentucky’s region when they lost as a No. 10 seed in 2012, but they did see the Wildcats in both 2010 and 2011.

In the first of those years, Huggins’ team upset the top-seeded John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins squad in the Elite Eight to advance to WVU’s first Final Four since 1959. The next year, Kentucky, this time led by Terrence Jones and Josh “Jorts” Harrellson, got revenge in the third-round en route to Calipari’s first Final Four in Lexington.

But it is interesting that the coaches think the selection committee plays conspiracy-laden games with its bracketing too. I’m sure Bill Self (Kansas) and Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) would agree.