Truck Bryant is out for the season and, obviously, it’s not good news for Sweet Sixteen inhabitant West Virginia. Then again, the worst-kept secret around the Mountaineers is Truck Bryant hasn’t played especially well lately. Hey, he’s tried. I don’t think he’s taken a wealth of terrible shots. He was actually pretty good Sunday. But the past six, eight, maybe 10 games haven’t been on the expected level.

And now he’s gone. Anytime you take a starter away from a legit Final Four contender, it’s big news. It led off the 11 p.m. SportsCenter last night. This is big. Awfully, unfortunately big for the Mountaineers.

Huggins wasn’t sure how he’d respond.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Honestly, the silver lining, I guess, is we’ve been through this before.”

But, it must me asked, how big is it?

I don’t think you can underestimate the loss of a starter from a Sweet Sixteen team. If it’s a starting point guard, it’s that much more significant. That said, this team’s backup is arguably more valuable than the starter and this is a team that’s still OK with playing five forwards.

So what now? Does Bob Huggins go simple and push Mazzulla into the starting lineup? Does he start the five forwards — Butler, Ebanks, Jones, Smith and Flowers are 3-1 when they start.

Say they start Mazzulla. You shorten the bench by a player, a position and minutes. Mazzulla owns the largest share of backup minutes and while there are other players who can play the 2, 3, 4, and 5 only Mazzulla can play PG. Take him away from the bench and there’s no backup unless you shift to the five forwards when Mazzulla takes a break. Then you shift from one style to another and then back to the original.

Then again, can Mazzulla play 40? His motor is unquestioned, but the request is pretty large.

In this scenario, Mazzulla would start and when he went to the bench Butler/Ebanks would slide to PG and Casey Mitchell or Dalton Pepper would play the 2. If not those two, perhaps Flowers enters to go small or Kilicli enters to go big  — and Thoroughman would be interchangeable.

But what if Huggins starts the five forwards? Again, this isn’t new. Flowers is capable as a starter and is a guy who gives you numbers when you give him minutes. Mazzulla would be in his familiar off-the-bench spot. Butler/Ebanks playing PG would be minimized … and WVU is better off that way. It also invites less of the unknown in performances from Kilicli and Pepper and Mitchell. On top of that, scouting opponents this late in the season involves a lot of the past five or six games. When’s the last time Washington saw WVU start/feature five forwards?