– Alex Ruoff — he had “the look” — got to play 36 normal minutes last night?
– Devin Ebanks played a sustained 36 minutes?
– Karl Hess (most egregious of the whistle-blowers) had done a bunch of WVU games already this season before last night?
– Levance Fields drove over Truck Bryant and shot a layup Wellington Smith swatted, Hess called a charge, Curtis Shaw called a block and Joe Lindsay had to make a decision on goaltending? I’d still be there, right?
– Will Thomas could just give WVU something?
– Da’Sean Butler hadn’t made everything in the warmup?
– Kevin Jones started?
– Jonnie West never got hurt?
– WVU played at Pitt first and at home second?
– Villanova wins Friday?

God, it seems so tired and so cliche and I’m going to try to avoid the generic phrasing, but the Mountaineers really, really need to win that one. Jay Wright will cast a temporary spell with his finely tailored suits and sparkling cuff links as his white-hot Wildcats look to extend a five-game winning streak that included wins against Pitt and Syracuse.

Villanova is ranked No. 13 and WVU, which is No. 17 in the RPI with the nation’s eighth-most difficult schedule, is 2-7 against ranked teams. That means all the losses this season are to ranked opponents, which is commendable, but also worth mentioning because A) we’re close to March and B) you must begin to wonder what it means to play a tough schedule and have a high RPI if you lost most of the computer-friendly games.