There is a question that surrounds WVU during this losing streak, no different, really, than how the Mountaineers surround a point guard on the sideline or a power forward near mid-court. If the non-stop press and the waves of fresh bodies and flailing arms crafts a cumulative effect that lets WVU put together a run or runs and be more spry and thus better late, might it also create a gradual cumulative effect on the team running this defense?

Think about it for a moment: We’re three months into constant practices and games, to say nothing of travel, long trips and short nights. WVU already had its week-long in-season break and doesn’t have another extended time off for the remainder of the season. There are two freshmen and five other first-year players who are altogether new to this style, this schedule and this string of strenuous events.

That has to add up eventually, no? And are you already seeing it from new players like Dax Miles and/or Jaysean Paige? Are veterans like Nate Adrian showing signs of giving in to this new way?

I’ll give you one guess what Bob Huggins says.

“I’ve done things this year because of that that I’ve never done,” he said.

Such as?

“Such as, before the Oklahoma game, we did not do a thing on Sunday but watch film. That was a total day off. We only went, I think, maybe an hour-and-a-half on Monday,” he said. “I’ve never done that.”

Let’s pause and inject some discussion here.

Huggins saw bad habits as far back as three weeks ago and has seen those habits contribute to a three-game losing streak. You want better practices and more practices, sure, but you want legs, too, which then means Huggins just takes his guys off their feet for a whole day.

Those desires contradict.

And now let me add another ingredient and shake this up some more, an ingredient that ought to show you how delicate and at the same time complex this whole ordeal can be: Huggins believes the way he plays forces him to incorporate a lot of players into practice, perhaps more than he needs to be incorporating, because he needs all those players  in a game. The thinly spread reps keep others from getting a heavier helping of action in practice and as such prevents them from improving or getting out of a rut.

I’m not saying WVU looked like a team that didn’t practice before Oklahoma, but the players did say they lacked energy and rhythm and never found it until it was too late. In short, the cumulative effect here, at least as I see it, isn’t merely a matter of having fresh legs. That’s part of it, and a big part if we’re being honest, but the constitution of practices and the construction of practice plans matter, too. It’s a big picture, which makes this such a big issue … to us.

“I turned on SportsCenter and somebody — I forget who it was, but I want to say Sacramento, maybe Oklahoma City — was just getting ready to play their fifth game in five days in four different cities,” Huggins said. “They do that (82) times a year and they’re 30-some-year-old guys, and (WVU player) all want do to that? It looks like they’re screwed, doesn’t it, if they can’t have two days off and come back and play again? If what they say is their lifetime goal is to play (82) times and play four times in five days, they’re probably going to have to change it.”

That’s a point that’s both fair and unfair. WVU doesn’t have 12 NBA players. The NBA has globally elite athletes, and teams are going all over the map to find one. Those 30-year-old men are in markedly better shape and are more conditioned to do this for a living. They also don’t press.

But the point is if these guys want to do what those guys do for a living, even if it’s just a few who have the dream and a few less who have the ability, they better be able to handle fewer games with more time between them. I get that, but, again, the point can only stretch so far.

The whole topic bugs Huggins — and in my experience with any coach, be it here or in Iowa, where guys are getting poked in the eye or Syracuse, where the guy just just keeps going, coaches dig in when they know they’re being opposed by a point they can’t concede — but he doesn’t see why this team has to behave or be treated differently from others.

“In ’92 and ’93 we pressed. In ’93 we pressed when Erik (Martin) was a senior, and we played seven guys and we pressed every minute of every game all the way until getting screwed in the Elite Eight,” he said. “It didn’t bother them. I don’t get it. We’re playing 12 guys. Wanny’s minutes are down about eight minutes minutes, eight-and-a-half minutes. Devin’s minutes are way down. Why are they tired?”

He asked that to deflate the question and insist they are not tired, not to admit they are tired. Tonight, WVU gets a thin Kansas State team down its best player and stuck in a four-game losing streak. The Mountaineers are at home and have had an extra day of preparation after going Saturday-Tuesday the previous two weeks.

Let’s press onward …