Odds and ends and a few things I think I think while wondering if Dave Hickman would mind me borrowing a column gimmick he borrowed from someone else.  

– We can agree on this: The best thing about WVU-Cincinnati is we had just 22 hours to hear about the obvious Huggins-U.C. storyline. I was at an establishment last night and a bartender leaned over to me and said, quite sarcastically, “Gee, ya think they’ll play up the history there?” He was Irish, by the way. Everyone is over it, OK?

– WVU is has won 8 of 13 in the BET and 13 of 19 at MSG. I think, in some regard, this is encouraging for the Mountaineers. First, no longer are they wowed by the stage. They kind of feel like they should be here and waiting until Thursday to play. Second, and this has been true probably for all three seasons with Huggins, WVU is good away from home and sometimes better on the road.

Huggins is 73-29 with the Mountaineers (most wins in the first three years in school history) and 37 of the wins have come away from the Coliseum. That includes 12 this season and a school record six Big East road wins.

“I think it’s a mindset of going in thinking you can win,” WVU Coach Bob Huggins said. “Too many times guys are convinced it’s going to be hard on the road when actually it’s not all that harder than it is winning (at home).”

– I suppose you could worry that momentum gained with Saturday’s victory might be fading during the break, but that doesn’t seem to be what the Mountaineers believe. They’re not worried about rust or jitters because … well, let Huggins explain.

Concerns about playing for the first time here and battling some butterflies against a team that has already played and settled in are dismissed by WVU’s reality.

“It shouldn’t affect us because we have jitters every game, apparently,” Coach Bob Huggins said.

– Today is the best day of pre-NCAA Tournament basketball of the year. Not just here. Across the country.

– Among the biggest lobbyists for Seton Hall to be included in the NCAA Tournament? Not Coach Bobby Gonzalez. Oh, he’s gonzo for his team’s inclusion, but Notre Dame’s Mike Brey is convinced SHU fits.

– Pitt and Notre Dame. Two of the greatest home-court advantages. One neutral court. So, what, 14 overtimes?

– A lot of talk here, as you’d imagine, has to do with major conference expansion. I’ll probably give a little more time to this in the future, but one common idea suggests a college landscape in which the six major conference no longer exist. Could drop to five large ones. Could rise to eight by absorbing mid-majors.

– Opinion on the NCAA Tournament expansion is split, but just about everyone agrees the current system can be tweaked. The Huggins Plan — reduce Division I membership; remember, there’s no Division I-AA in men’s basketball, as there is in football — has some traction as long as you keep the field at 65 and maybe 68 if you want to add three more play-in games. Allow the remaining I-AA teams to have their own tournament. An expanded tournament, it is said, shouldn’t be more than 96 teams and the first 16 games — essentially play-in games — would be at on-campus sites. This might cause the opening round to start a day or two later.

– Someone among the MSG security detail was telling a story last night in which he spoke/rendezvoused with Pat Riley. Former Knicks coach Pat Riley. He’s here scouting on behalf of his Miami Heat and departed the conversation to return to his seat. Said security guard would not allow Riley’s uncredentialed friend through and couldn’t have been more proud of his diligence.

– The officiating — save a bad technical foul against St. John’s Tuesday and a bizarre huddle/reversal that went against Marquette and in St. John’s favor Wednesday — had been very good here. And then Louisville-Cincinnati happened. One of your favorite refs was there.