--- description: "They're going to be 36-1," a WVU freshman predicts title: West Virginia Gets Cocky Before Game Against Undefeated Kentucky image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea429ed35ca7ee2d/6987855a0b72e340166de5f2/467312186.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [College Basketball](/tag/college-basketball/) ## College Basketball Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # West Virginia Gets Cocky Before March Madness Game Against Undefeated Kentucky  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Mar 26, 2015 2:40 PM CUT  Daxter Miles Jr. #4 of the West Virginia Mountaineers reacts after dunking the ball during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 22, 2015 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Daxter Miles Jr. #4 of the West Virginia Mountaineers reacts after dunking the ball during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 22, 2015 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.Jamie Sabau—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Mar 26, 2015 2:40 PM CUT West Virginia freshman Daxter Miles Jr. made a bold prediction [to the media](http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/%5F/id/12557302/west-virginia-mountaineers-feeling-confident-going-ncaa-tournament-game-kentucky-wildcats "undefined") on Wednesday when he guaranteed that his team would beat undefeated Kentucky in their sweet 16 matchup Thursday night. “\[I\] salute them to getting to 36-0\. But tomorrow they’re gonna be 36-1,” Miles declared out of either confidence or hubris.“They should be more intimidated. Because they’re the ones who have the high standard, and we’re coming for them.” He went on to say the Wildcats wouldn’t be able to pass the ball under the Mountaineers’ press. West Virginia, a 5 seed , has just a 13% chance of snapping 1 seed Kentucky’s streak, [according to](http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/march-madness-predictions-2015/#mens "undefined") Nate Silver’s predictions at FiveThirtyEight. And bettors have the Wildcats as a 13-point favorite over the Mountaineers. Even West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was careful to hedge Miles’ claims. “I don’t know,” he said when asked if the press could stop Kentucky. “I hope so. It’s going to be a long day for us if we can’t.” But who knows. With Miles’ conviction, March Madness could just get _that_ mad. Kentucky and WVU play on Thursday at 9:45 p.m. EST. \[[_ESPN_](http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/%5F/id/12557302/west-virginia-mountaineers-feeling-confident-going-ncaa-tournament-game-kentucky-wildcats "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3759689/west-virginia-cocky-before-kentucky-game/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3759689/west-virginia-cocky-before-kentucky-game/"},"headline":"West Virginia Gets Cocky Before March Madness Game Against Undefeated Kentucky","datePublished":"2015-03-26T14:40:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:28:02.307Z","description":"\"They're going to be 36-1,\" a WVU freshman says","url":"https://time.com/3759689/west-virginia-cocky-before-kentucky-game/","keywords":["College Basketball"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea429ed35ca7ee2d/6987855a0b72e340166de5f2/467312186.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea429ed35ca7ee2d/6987855a0b72e340166de5f2/467312186.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dayton v Oklahoma","caption":"Dayton v Oklahoma","creditText":"Jamie Sabau—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/college-basketball/","name":"College Basketball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3759689/west-virginia-cocky-before-kentucky-game/","name":"West Virginia Gets Cocky Before March Madness Game Against Undefeated Kentucky"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Georgetown vs. Princeton: The Game That Saved March Madness","description":"No. 16 seed Princeton's near-upset of No. 1 seed Georgetown in a 1989 first-round game made sure Cinderella would always get invited to the ball.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/z2mnNZ9m/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-19T23:01:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z2mnNZ9m.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3759689/west-virginia-cocky-before-kentucky-game/","duration":"PT9M34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3759689/west-virginia-cocky-before-kentucky-game/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```