I think we can agree on one thing regarding WVU basketball: Bob Huggins has everyone’s attention.

He has his episode on his radio show. The Coliseum sells out with the attendance population hit by the Gator Bowl, the holidays and the students out of town. And, of course, it was a pretty exciting game. That never hurts. There was some pretty good coverage of the game, too. Almost exhaustive. SO it’s a win-win-win, I’d say.

I’d also say he’s got his team’s ear, too.

There’s no way the players are going to wander right now. They’ve been too close to that first defeat they’re trying so hard to avoid and I’d have to imagine close attention has been paid in these recent practices. Huggins has been harping on the same strings for a while now and one would think the close nature of the past few games has the players thinking, “Hmm, might be onto something there.” There’s also been a streamlining, of sorts, with playing time and roles and the like, which was kind of promised a while back.

These games, while not emphatic or sometimes very pretty, are still useful. Better now than later, better to win than lose, all that stuff, but they’re learning some pretty critical lessons right now that can only be good for the overall development. I even think WVU looked pretty confident late against Marquette. They knew they could do some things to rally and perhaps even win because it’d happened recently.

Say what you will about the Golden Eagles giving it away — and that was a factor — but WVU made some very key plays late: Jones’ rebound and basket, Ebanks’ dunk and Butler’s difficult shot he makes look so easy. And they really guarded late, too.

By the way, if, as Huggins says, Ebanks and Butler make the best pair of  forwards in the country, then WVU may very well also have the best frontcourt when you include Jones.