NEW YORK - With chants of "ACC! ACC!" and "Over-rated," the crowd at the Big East tournament sarcastically wished Boston College a not-so-fond farewell.

The top-seeded Eagles, who are moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference after the season, fell behind by 25 points against West Virginia and then came up just short of pulling off an incredible comeback in a 78-72 loss in the quarterfinals Thursday.

"I think people are down after losing this game right here," Eagles forward Jared Dudley said. "High hopes, high expectations for us to come in this tournament, make it to the championship game and win it. So, you know, with this loss, it's a setback.

"But that's all it is. We're going to bounce back."

The seventh-ranked Eagles (24-4) better hope so - and fast. They shared the regular-season title with Connecticut, but sputtered through their last eight games, going just 4-4 after starting off 20-0.

"Guys have to take a little pride in themselves and with their team and go out and work harder," Boston College coach Al Skinner said. "It's just that simple. Our preparation, our focus has got to be there. Right now, it's lacking."

The same couldn't be said of West Virginia (20-9), which very likely wrapped up at least an NCAA tournament at-large bid by impressing the selection committee with the surprising win over the Big East's top seed.

"Obviously, I'm biased, but they will choose the right teams and there's no doubt in our minds that we're one of the right teams," West Virginia coach John Beilein said.

Mike Gansey scored 21 points and Kevin Pittsnogle added 17 for the eight-seeded Mountaineers, who are 3-8 in the tournament. West Virginia also advanced to the semifinals for the first time, and will play Villanova tonight at Madison Square Garden. The other semifinal will pit defending national champion Connecticut against Syracuse.

"It's a great feeling to come in here, play against a good team and prove that we're a good team," Pittsnogle said. "We're having a lot of fun."

Making the win even more impressive for the Mountaineers was that they did it without top scorer Tyrone Sally, who missed the game with a stomach ailment.

Craig Smith scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Boston College.

"They came out and were aggressive," Smith said. "When you're top dog, people are going to come for you. You know, this is a wakeup call for us. We still have a chance to do something special."

The Mountaineers took their biggest lead - 25 points - just 19 seconds into the second half on Gansey's three-point play that made it 47-22. But Boston College went on runs of 10-0 and 11-5 and pulled to 62-58 with 4:41 left.

"We imploded there for I don't know how long it was - it seemed like a year," Beilein said.

West Virginia scored the next three baskets, including the third of the 6-foot-11 Pittsnogle's 3-pointers, to push the lead back up to 11 and prompt fans to chant "ACC! ACC!"

As the teams traded foul shots during the last minute, the fans got on Boston College even more, chanting "Over-rated!"