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The greatest

I wondered in Sunday night’s vlog whether the WVU women’s team’s win earlier in the day against Baylor was the best in program history. I doubted whether it was, but I’m also one of those people who needs time to look and think things over and can’t put a label on things right away, which means in some manner I’m not suited for the way we are these days.

A few days later now, I’m still torn. I happen to think the unranked team winning at No. 2 Notre Dame in 2012 and ending the 21-game winning streak for a team that would play in a second straight national title game is really big. And not for nothing, but as far as building blocks go, that team had six players who helped beat Baylor and that team would end up winning 24 games, including one in the NCAA Tournament.

But who am I? What do we know? So I asked Mike Carey if that was his greatest win. He said yes, because of what it might mean later tonight.

“We’ve had some great wins for the program, but they weren’t necessarily for the conference championship,” Carey said. “I would say for having an opportunity to win a conference championship that this one is probably the best.”

We sparred a little, and he got the point. It’s great for him and for his program that it’s not an easy call.

“You’re glad you’re in that position,” he said. “You don’t want to be in a position where you get one big win and say, ‘This has got to be the biggest win we’ve ever had,’ because you’ve never had any others.”

Back to his original point: Sunday’s win is made even bigger if WVU wins tonight at home on Senior Night against sub.-500 Kansas. The Mountaineers and Baylor are tied atop the Big 12 standings. If both win, or lose, they are co-champions. If WVU wins and the Bears lose on the road against 20-win Iowa State, the Mountaineers have their first league title since 1989.

– Meanwhile, WVU’s men’s team may have finally found a way, albeit a limited one, to become the one asking questions on defense. That’s kind of important late in the season.

– Speaking of which, here’s a look at the potential for crazy in the final week of the regular season: Thanks to Oklahoma State beating Kansas State last night, the Mountaineers woke up this morning knowing they could finish as high as tied for second in the standings or as low as alone in eighth place.

The former isn’t likely to happen, not when it involves four teams going 0-2 and TCU going 2-0 but the latter isn’t impossible. Oklahoma State (20-10, 8-9) plays at Iowa State Saturday while Baylor (19-10, 7-9) plays host to Iowa State tonight and at Kansas State Saturday. The tiebreakers for 9-9 teams can bounce WVU to eighth place.

That’s hard to talk about with much detail right now, and WVU’s work begins tomorrow at Okahoma. The Mountaineers beat the Sooners earlier this season and will play Kansas Saturday without Joel Embiid.

– Two more: Because I’m attempting to get through a series of flights that were canceled last night so that I can make it to Oklahoma in time for tomorrow’s game, here’s some conversation fodder: Rich Rodriguez, King of the Jungle.

Seriously, game over. Rush the field. Burn your couch. Cancel the return game. He wins.

– Pat Beilein joins me on Scoop & Score Thursday morning to talk about his career as a coach and player, as well as his recollections of March Madness with the Mountaineers. Questions for PB3?