… and Bob Huggins was impressed by the another Big 12 battle. (Aside: Jameel McKay…)

What a league! K-State with a great effort in Aimes. Worst moment @ISUMayor32 bailing from crawling contest as a toddler. Cm on Fred lol.

— Bob Huggins (@CoachHuggs) January 21, 2015

I will now welcome your translations. I do know Huggins really likes Fred Hoiberg and the Mayor respects Huggins and all he’s done, so there’s nothing there to suggest this is an extension of the rivalry between these two teams. I think it’s great.

Meanwhile, the Cyclones, who needed circumstance to prompt them to throw a junk defense at WVU and won by a bucket, have now beaten 10-time defending league champion Kansas and then-first place Kansas State in the past five days. They’re 4-1 in the Big 12 with wins by 2, 2, 5 and 6 points and a loss by 1.

That’s how you’re going to win this league. Close games, escapes, survival in spite of the occasional blip (which might be a blowout).

Remember when you thought K-State was a gimme or two? Forget that. You know about Marcus Foster, but have you seen what statistical anomaly/grizzly bear Thomas Gipson is up to this season?

This is nuts. You’ve got people engaged in thoughtful conversations based on a seemingly crazy question: Is the Big 12 the best conference … ever?

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been in,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who came to the Big 12 after helping guide the Mountaineers through annual Big East grinders. “You’ve got 10 really quality coaches and 10 teams who are obviously very good. In most leagues, you have an upper level and a lower level, and say we hope we can get these guys down here.”

That hasn’t been the case in the Big 12, which has six teams in the top 25 and if the season ended today, would have an excellent chance of sending eight of its 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament.

There are a million different metrics to measure the strength of a conference. If the season ended today, the Big 12 likely wouldn’t have a team boasting a top-two seed in any of the four brackets. Does that mean the 2009 Big East, with three No. 1 seeds, has a case as the better league?

What about the ACC back in 2004? Six of its nine teams went to the NCAA Tournament. That’s 67 percent. The Big 12 would need seven teams to make the tournament to top that percentage.

Additionally, all nine teams were inside KenPom.com’s top 100 that season. He gave it his unofficial nod as the best conference of all time, but where does the Big 12 belong?

Today, the Big 12 has seven teams in the top 24 of Pomeroy’s ranking (it is updated at least daily). TCU (No. 51), Kansas State (No. 85) and Texas Tech (No. 191) are the Big 12’s only teams outside the top 25.

“It’s one of the best conferences in the past 10 years,” Pomeroy said. “It’s hard to say it’s the best, but it’s in the top three or four.”