They lost 71–70 to California in the 1959 NCAA finals, while the Mountaineers won the 1942 NIT championship 47–45 over Western Kentucky, and the 2007 National Invitation Tournament contest over Clemson 78–72 in a rebuilding season.

In 1949, future Mountaineers head coach Fred Schaus became the first player in NCAA history to record 1,000 points.

[2] The modern era of West Virginia basketball history began in 1955, with the emergence of sophomore guard Hot Rod Hundley and newly appointed head coach Fred Schaus.

The Mountaineers finished with a 19–11 record, and earned the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history under Hundley's lead.

In Hundley's senior season, 1957, the team opened with eight straight victories, including an 83–82 upset over the Duke Blue Devils.

After Hot Rod Hundley's graduation and departure to the NBA, sophomore guard Jerry West emerged for the Mountaineers and Fred Schaus.

In the final regular-season game, against George Washington, the team went into double overtime to pull out a 113–107 victory, with West earning 25 points and 9 rebounds.

However, the one-loss squad lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive season, this loss coming to Manhattan, 84–89.

For the first time in Fred Schaus' coaching career at WVU, the Mountaineers advanced further than the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

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.

Jerry West was named the tournament MVP, having scored 28 points and gathering 11 rebounds in the championship loss.

Upon being ranked #2 in the nation, the Mountaineers won over the Stanford Cardinal and UCLA Bruins in the Los Angeles Classic, before losing to #3 California in the Championship game.

They did finish out their tourney resume with a 106–100 victory over St. Joseph's in the Regional Third Place matchup After the departure of Jerry West to the NBA draft, sophomore guard Rod Thorn stepped in to fill his place for new head coach George King, much like West did when star guard Hot Rod Hundley graduated for former head coach Fred Schaus in 1958.

The team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament before losing to Texas 74–71 due to a game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer.

Young started at forward, along with Da'Sean Butler, Wellington Smith, and Joe Alexander who all shared time.

The guard position consisted of starter Darris Nichols and Alex Ruoff, although Ted Talkington got small action in a few games.

The primary starting line up was Nichols, Ruoff, Young, Alexander, and Summers, although all other players shared fairly equal time, including forward Da'Sean Butler off the bench.

The Mountaineers failed to be selected for the NCAA tournament, to the surprise of many West Virginia fans, but they managed to accept a #1 seed in the NIT.

His official departure on April 4, 2007, was followed a day later by the announcement that Morgantown native Bob Huggins was resigning his post at Kansas State to take the vacant head coaching job at WVU.

They rebounded with a 77–65 victory at Providence, but then lost at #25 Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl on a buzzer-beating three-point shot by Pitt's Ronald Ramon to win the game, 55–54.

The run to the Big East semifinals paved the way for the team to reach the 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in coach Huggins' first season.

This advanced the Mountaineers into the second round of the tournament to play the Duke Blue Devils for the third time in school history.

However, they began the season 4–0, led by senior Alex Ruoff, junior Da'Sean Butler, and a freshman class highlighted by Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones and Darryl Bryant.

They lost the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament Championship Game to Kentucky 54–43, but then bounced back with two wins to move to 6–1.

West Virginia followed the loss to Pittsburgh with a 93–72 victory over #13 Villanova, featuring Da'Sean Butler's career-high 43 point performance.

The Mountaineers bounced back with consecutive wins against USF and DePaul, but lost to #6 Louisville 62–59 in Morgantown while hosting College GameDay.

The 2009–10 West Virginia Mountaineers team captured the first Big East tournament championship in school history and won the east region to advance to the second Final Four in school history, where they lost in the national semi-finals (Final Four) to eventual national champion Duke, 78–57 after Da'Sean Butler tore his ACL with 8:59 left in the 2nd half.

Da'Sean Butler scored nine game-winning baskets over the course of the season, including one in each game of the Big East tournament.

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.