On Monday, voters in the coaches’ and media polls pushed WVU into the top 10 for the first time in a long time. The coaches have WVU at No. 7. I’m in the media, so I only concern myself with the Associated Press poll, and the No. 6 ranking bestowed upon the Mountaineers is the best since WVU finished the 2010 regular season in the same spot. (That’s also the last time WVU was a top-10 team.)

Things went swimmingly from there, if I remember correctly.

Who knows where it goes from here, but the thought is the Mountaineers will be just fine, Saturday’s loss notwithstanding.

WVU plays host to Texas, which has won two in a row and might be getting cozy in life without Cam Ridley. But win at home, which is supposed to happen, and go to Texas Tech Saturday and again ply well on the road and, well, the top 10 is not a safe place this season. I guess it’s silly to assume WVU will simply go unscathed, but if that is the outcome, there’s bound to be some movement in the top 5.

The Mountaineers haven’t been higher than No. 5 — they were there in 2010 — since 1962.

But let’s not go that far back today. Let’s not even go back to 2010. I want to take you to the — the — lowest point I’ve encountered covering WVU basketball.

It was three years ago today. Purdue bludgeoned the Mountaineers, and that was the game, the result and the aftermath that asked the most (and most-legitimate) questions of Bob Huggins.

What I remember most about that game is not what happened within it, but what happened afterward. (Check the quotes in the things I link to here. Sharp stuff.) Huggins is prone to lengthy post-defeat locker room sessions, and the one in West Lafayette, Ind., lasted longer than 30 minutes. I’ve been outside loud locker rooms before. I’ve seen Huggins come out red-faced and spent. I’ve even seen him come out, walk toward his radio show, realize the crew has packed up so it can board the bus and then go back into the locker room to lecture some more.

On his date three years ago, you could hear nothing inside the nearby locker room. Huggins finally appeared and walked toward his radio gig, but he was pretty calm. He wasn’t flush. He wasn’t breathing heavily. He was resigned, is what I thought. “It seems like he’s just over that phase,” guard Jabarie Hinds said.

Bad sign, man. Bad, bad sign. What followed on the radio, far away from the media that had gathered outside the locker room to speak to the players and would later follow Huggins to his press conference, was his now-famous declaration that things will change. I think you’ll remember three words in particular.

“That was as listless an effort as anyone could possibly get,” said Huggins. “We do things that are just unexplainable.

“We took bad shots and we turned the ball over – and there was no reason for the turnovers that we made.”

Purdue improves to 10-8.

The 27-point loss was the second worst for the Mountaineers this year. West Virginia dropped an 84-50, season-opening decision at Gonzaga back on Nov. 12.

“I hope people know how sincere I am – I want to apologize,” said Huggins. “I want to apologize to our fans; apologize to the people in the state of West Virginia. This is totally unacceptable. This is not what we’re supposed to represent and hopefully they have enough faith in me that I will fix it.

“I don’t know that I can totally fix it this year, but I will fix it. This is not going to be the norm.”