Supposing it’s as fair as it is obvious to point out the schedule continues to do West Virginia no favors — more on that later — let’s then agree that the worst part of the present for the Mountaineers is that 52 hours after a humbling 20-point loss at Iowa State they are made to play host to Kansas, which is No. 1 in the RPI, holding a two-game lead in the standings and on the way to an 11th straight conference title … which is insane because, if you believe the hype, half this league would make the Eastern Conference playoffs. (Jokes aside: The collective winning percentage is 66.5, which would be the best in college basketball since the 1983-84 season and the fourth-best mark since 1925-26.  All 10 teams have beaten at least one ranked opponent, the first time this league’s done that. It’s not bad.)

So that’s bad news, and it’s compounded by the fact WVU can’t really rely on much of a home-court advantage these days because teams aren’t scared of the Coliseum and that this is a 9 p.m. game that was already going to have thinned attendance before Octavia.

If we’re speaking Resumese, a home loss is worse than a loss, and though it’s somewhat mitigated because it’d be against Kansas, it’s also heightened because the Mountaineers still have to go to Phog Allen.

But here’s the bummer, as told in two parts. Maybe it’s then the bummers. Whatever.

Part I) The Mountaineers, by their own admission, are not getting better, which is a habit — more on that later, too — and a bad one to have at a time they need to be at their best.

“It’s a matter of not continuing to make the same mistakes, not continuing to grab it and put your head down and dribble it and lose it, not dribbling into two defenders because you haven’t had a shot in a while, or whatever reason it is you do that,” Huggins said.

“We haven’t taken the next step to erase those errors. We are not a very good halfcourt defensive team, where I thought we were before. I knew we’d have some slippage because we have to play the way we play, but we’ve had way more slippage than what I wanted.”

There’s a double-whammy here: Teams are getting better against the Mountaineers. Zone defenses pop up. Juwan Staten isn’t being guarded around the 3-point line, and if he’s deterred from driving, he’s also not scoring on the bounce as much and he’s prevented from shooting free throws. Most, uh, pressing is that while WVU is turning the ball over much more and creating fewer turnovers on its own (plus-10 turnover margin in the 18-3 start, even in the past four games), opponents are attacking WVU’s pressure similarly and successfully. Film, man.

Part II) Kansas is getting better. For starters, the Jayhawks were better than a lot of teams already, that Kentucky debacle notwithstanding. And for the purpose of tonight’s game, know they shoot it way better than WVU, pass it better and rebound it better and are more careful about their turnovers. Overall, though, things have changed. What they did in previous years was what they tried to do this year, and they tried to get close shots and inside scores. That didn’t come as easily because the roster wasn’t specifically engineered that way. Now Bill Self has a perimeter prone team, though they can bounce it and they can stretch a defense and get the ball down low.

Brannen Greene shoots 50 percent from 3-point range, and we’re not talking 12 for 24 or 19 for 39. He’s 35 for 70. Frank Mason is 30 for 70 (42.9). Wayne Selden Jr. is 44 for 104 (42.3). Kelly Oubre Jr. is 27 for 71 (38). Those guys play a lot, frequently in combinations.

But that’s not what we’re talking about when we’re talking about how Kansas is getting better. This is a wildly improved defensive team that’s been one of the country’s best for the past month … which is to say in conference play. In short — and here’s the bad news for WVU and it’s offensive — you can’t score inside against them, and no major conference team allows a lower shooting percentage from 2-point range than the Jayhawks.