Time for a history lesson — and, really, barely enough time since it took me 54 minutes to start the laptop tonight — before we tip for No. 8 Kansas and No. 23 West Virginia. In 2011, West Virginia finished the regular season in impressive fashion: three straight wins, including a momentous Wednesday-Saturday at home against No. 16 Connecticut and No. 11 Louisville. Overall, it was five out of seven, and it started with a home win against No. 8 Notre Dame.

And then WVU lost to Marquette in the Big East Tournament, Dalton Pepper happened against Clemson in the NCAA Tournament and Bob Huggins lost to John Calipari two days later.

In 2012, WVU lost seven of 11 at the end of the regular season — it was seven of nine before a timely visit from DePaul and then a gritty 50-44 win at USF, which won 22 games, including one in the NCAA Tournament — then lost to UConn in the final Big East Tournament game and then to Gonzaga in Pittsburgh in the NCAA Tournament.

In 2013, WVU lost the final six games of the regular season, all by double figures, and then lost to a poor Texas Tech team at the merciful buzzer in the Big 12 Tournament to end the season 13-19.

In 2014, WVU was 15-10 after crushing No. 11 Iowa State at the Coliseum, and then lost three in a row and four of six to end the regular season. Every loss there was by double digits, and the Mountaineers, who managed to end the regular season by beating No. 8 Kansas (sans Joel Embiid), added two more double digit losses to Texas in the Big 12 Tournament and then Georgetown in the NIT.

People — not necessarily yoooou people — like to give Dana Holgorsen grief for late-season collapses, and it’s certainly something that arches a brow, perhaps even a Thing, but we need to turn the spotlight here, no? WVU’s lost three of four and five of 10 and, counting tonight, has five more games against ranked teams. The exception is Texas which is where all WVU’s hexes live.

We’ve been over contributing factors to what we’re seeing this season. It’s a young team. The press can tire a defense. The weight of the offense is a lot to bear. Travel isn’t fun. The schedule is ridiculous. This team might not be that good. Good, sure. But good enough to bear all its burdens and power across the finish lone? Eeeeh.

I’m not going to try to solve that here. I’m going to point at the schedule, which is backloaded. Bob Huggins tends to believe conferences schedule their marquee games toward the end of the season to satisfy television partners, to say nothing of preparing teams for the postseason, and there’s nothing but truth to that. But we’re not calling this one of those games, are we? On Feb. 16? We’re not saying the team picked to finish in sixth place in the preseason poll was a keystone to programming plans, are we? No offense to WVU and what it done, truly in spite of whatever doubt I just cast, but let’s be realistic for a moment.

And I say that for a specific purpose. A bottom-half-of-the-league team is facing a schedule that can hammer a team tightly into the bottom of the standings. The eighth, ninth and 10th place teams are all in the rear view mirror — metaphorically, of course. By the time WVU was done with Kansas State, Texas Tech and TCU, Baylor (three), Iowa State (two), Kansas (two), Oklahoma (three), Oklahoma State (three) and Texas all had multiple games left with that trilogy. Hell, TCU, which is one of those three teams had a game left against Texas Tech and Kansas State.

Let’s allow for some hindsight here. Kansas State was picked fourth in the preseason poll. Oklahoma State was eighth. If we look through the same prism to the past, we see WVU got purportedly tough Kansas State out of the way early and was granted two supposedly simple games against the Cowboys late in the season. (Then again, what does the media know? They put the preseason poll together, and I know there were People who thought the Kansas State and Oklahoma State spots, in particular, were peculiar.)

Of course, hindsight still doesn’t explain the fact WVU played four games against the teams in ninth and 10th place (TCU and Texas Tech) in the preseason poll in the first nine Big 12 games. Scheduling is complex, and Huggins told us there are some 7,000 possible configurations. You don’t get what you want. You don’t get what you need. You get what you get.

And here is where I wonder if the Big 12 can or might facilitate the Mountaineers. Truthfully, the Big 12 already does. It gives WVU that Saturday-Monday on the road early in conference schedule so it can get two games out of the way and cut down on travel. That’s fair. WVU isn’t in school then, so being away for four days doesn’t have an academic asterisk. But this year, and last year, WVU played TCU and Texas Tech on that trip, trusting TCU and Texas Tech were’t going to be great teams and understanding that was going to put a late weight on WVU’s schedule.

TCU and Texas tech are five hours apart, too. This isn’t like playing Oklahoma State-Oklahoma or Kansas-Kansas State or even TCU-Baylor … or Baylor-Kansas, which is what happens next weekend, when WVU does the Saturday-Tuesday without returning to campus — in the penultimate weekend of the season.

What if it was TCU-Baylor at the start of January and WVU traveled two or so hours from one game to the other and then next weekend does Saturday-Tuesday against Texas Tech and Kansas … with that extra day for travel and rest? That’s easier to stomach, no? I think that’s a difference the Big 12 can make, and it’s proven to be willing to help the Mountaineers so far.

I’m willing to help you through this tonight …