I have no doubt that by the time WVU is knee-deep in Big East play and the rotation has been established and the dispersion of minutes has been mastered, it’s going to be very worthy of a very good tanking.

There’s too much talent and too many pieces to think otherwise and if and when they’re assembled properly and handling it capably, the Mountaineers could be very difficult to beat.

They can be beaten, don’t get me wrong. Something about their style of play is prone to off nights and if one person is in foul trouble or two people aren’t scoring, defense alone cannot always be relied upon to win the game.

More often than not, though, the defense will be good, depth can absorb foul trouble and others can pick up the scoring slack. WVU won’t every time it’s not at its best, but it will win some of those games for those reasons.

And for this reason: This is a team with an empowering edge. The Mountaineers are confident and skilled, they’re physical and bothersome. I’d predict they’re going to irritate opponents this season to the point it takes teams out of their game, but it’s already happened. It’s going to keep happening.

The approach is one thing. The attitude within is another. In addition to a defense that could best be described as harassing and an offensive approach that tests the opponent’s discipline, the Mountaineers talk often with officials and seem amazed by almost every whistle against them.

They laugh and smirk and nod their heads approvingly when they’re rolling. They applaud their good plays and rally around their good players. Leading it all is a coach with 643 career victories who somehow manages to bring out the worst and rudest in opposing fans.

More often than not, right now, the Mountaineers are having a blast when the opponent is battling just to prove it belongs on the floor.

“This is fun,” said sophomore point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant. “It’s what we want to do. We want to come out and win the game, but we’re relaxed. We joke around. We work hard to come out and win and we’re going to have fun doing it.”