Point 1: West Virginia — now ranked No. 14 by the media and No. 12 by the coaches — is playing a basketball game today. And it’s snowing. I don’t think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while. That said, there are no plans to postpone the game, which would be an option because neither WVU nor No. 13/No. 14 Iowa State plays again until Saturday.

Additionally, I want to keep my eyes and ears on two things. First is the crowd. I expect the Hilton Coliseum to be packed. It’s all they know. And we like Hilton.

(Man, he was shaken that game. Nothing has gone right for WVU here.)

The second is how Bob Huggins reveres the crowd. If it’s snowy and a mid-week game and the place is packed, that’s going in his file.

Point 2: Jon Holton’s status remains unchanged, and that will again be an area of concern tonight. Iowa State has a useful frontcourt that molds its offense and defense — and has done more without Naz Mitrou-Long, who is out for the season — as well as the way it attacks the press. Georges Niang handled it with aplomb last season, and the Mountaineers will be down one bullet.

“When you have forwards who can handle the ball and a point guard who never turns it over, that’s a good place to start,” Niang said.

Monte Morris ranks No. 7 nationally in assists per game (6.9) and No. 5 in assist-turnover ratio (4.68), but Niang made the difference against the Mountaineers.

He inbounded the ball against WVU, which tried to keep the pass from going to Morris. When that wasn’t available, Niang went to a second option. The ball went back to Niang, and he could dribble up the court to help Iowa State get past the defense.

Deandre Burton, another Marquette transfer who’s new to the team this season, is similarly skilled.

“You cannot hold the ball,” Niang said. “You have to keep the ball moving. The biggest thing with us is we have multiple ball-handlers. I’m not trying to be disrespectful to anyone, but a lot of the teams I saw struggle, they had one ball-handler.

“[WVU] would trap him, and he’d throw it so someone who can’t handle the ball, and then [WVU] would pressure him and trap him, and he’d turn it over. We’ve got a lot of guys who are able to bring the ball up and make a pass and then get us into offense.”

But here’s some good news! The words used to describe basketball have been overcast of late — three losses in five games, player slides, a player suspension, the upcoming schedule, etc. — but the Mountaineers are in first place in the standings after Baylor lost at home to no-longer-quietly-good Texas. (Whoa, 21 baskets and 21 assists is all right.)

No. 1 Oklahoma plays host to TCU tonight. The Sooners could be alone in first by the end of the day, or the Mountaineers could win tonight and be tied or even alone in first, as up-off-the-canvas and out-of-the-corner as a team can be before it goes home to get ready for Baylor. Momentum is fickle.

(Aside: Look at the standings in the middle of conference play. How many losses will the regular-season champ(s) have? It was five last year, and that was just the fourth time 19 years the winner had more than three. Oklahoma State had four in 2004-05 and Kansas State/Kansas and Kansas had four in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Not coincidentally, the Big 12 didn’t start playing 18 games until the 2012-13 season.)

Point 3: WVU football continued its surge toward national signing day by filling another area of need with another junior college player. Cornerback Mike Daniels revealed his commitment this morning, and he’s like a living WVU recruiting cliche in that he hails from both south Florida and metropolitan New York.

I don’t know that Daniels is on the level with all the other junior college commitments. Kyzir White is one of the best juco safeties and perhaps defensive backs out there, and running back Justin Crawford and offensive lineman Craig Smith were All-Americans, but consider this: WVU lost running back Wendell Smallwood and cornerback Daryl Worley early to the draft, All-American offensive linemen are good to have around and someone who can play spur or bandit right away is welcome in any class.

WVU added a juco running back, cornerback and offensive lineman near the end of the recruiting process and, we have to think, needs/needed to close the deal with the safety at the end.

That’s a pretty good haul, if that’s the way the knot is tied here.

WVU’s going to be right around the magic number of 25 players tomorrow, but remember five of the nine players who are already enrolled can be counted toward last year, so there’s still some room to work with things finish.