WVU avoided another Senior Night nightmare and not only beat Georgetown Monday to grasp a two-round bye in the Big East Tournament, but did so in style.

Granted, it was the Mountaineers’ ever unsteady style that sees big leads and big rallies from one team or the other, but why shouldn’t the last home game have been like seemingly every other game this season?

An 81-68 Senior Night triumph was more about goodies than oldies for the Mountaineers (23-6, 12-5), whose season that continues Saturday against No. 9 Villanova at Philly’s Wachovia Center could have been performed to a Frank Sinatra playlist.

How about “Night and Day,” or “I Get a Kick Out of You” reflecting this at-times confounding team? There’s the “The Way You Look Tonight” or – very apropos for Monday’s home finale – “The Last Dance.”

There’s also “New York, New York” as an ode to a conference tournament that features five of the top 13 teams in the RPI and could send seven or eight teams to the NCAA bracket.

Of course, WVU Coach Bob Huggins would likely go with “My Way,” and whatever happens from here, the capper could be “It Was a Very Good Year.”

No love for Homer J, but what of the home team?

Opinion on the double bye was evenly split. That is, WVU was glad to have it, but not really sure what to think of it.

This, after all, is a team expected to finish in the top four, which it will. And this is a team that, to be very honest, would be better off playing in that tournament with some rhythm and momentum, but will now sit and watch for two days, practice in some city gymnasium a few times and then show up Thursday for a quarterfinal game against one of two types of team.

WVU will see either a team that’s won two in a row and feels pretty good about itself and may need to beat WVU to get into the NCAA field — and what if it’s a NYC area Cinderella? — or a team that is, by seeding and by standings, a stronger opponent than the alternatives, had an extra day of rest before winning the day before and has a little of the rhythm and momentum working.

The other side of the argument is obvious. The byes give WVU a more manageable path toward the tournament championship.

Bob Huggins wasn’t and isn’t sure how to embrace it.

“I think it’s kind of hard to sit there for two games, honestly,” WVU Coach Bob Huggins said. “You let people get one or two games under their belt and kind of feel comfortable. The first time you play in a tournament like that you have some jitters. I think to win it, it’s an advantage, but that’s if you get past that first one.”

The players, many of them from that NYC area, seem to like it and will definitely appreciate the time to rest as well as the time to visit some friends and family. The Mountaineers also know the double bye guarantees nothing and they can assume nothing.

If it was’t clear before a 27-point second-half lead slipped to nine against the shorthanded Hoyas, it is now: Even when it’s easy, it’s just not easy. Not with this team. Not in this league. As Da’Sean Butler said — and perhaps this is a motto that should have been and should now be adopted — “You never know with us.”

“But at the same time, it really doesn’t mean anything,” WVU’s Da’Sean Butler said. “Some people get those high seeds and they lose. It’s rare, but it happens, too, and you never know with us. It’s a matter of us taking it for what it is, but keeping our eyes on the prize and understanding what we still need to do to get there.”