For starters, I kicked the game post yesterday. The No. 1 seed gets the 8-9 winner and the No. 2 seed gets the 7-10 winner. I knew that, because I’ve covered a zillion tournaments, and I still bobbled it. So WVU is in position right now to play the 7-10 winner, though two games remain, including one Wednesday against a team that looks like it might be the 7 seed, Texas Tech. That’s your cheat sheet going forward, and maybe I should subscribe to less is more. Proceed with the idea that the No. 2 sees is best, and it is probably not happening in a scenario that involves a tie.

For substitutes — ie, after starters — let me clear this up, too, because it went further on social media than I intended: I did say this, but never did I say I disagreed with who Bob Huggins is starting. That’s silly.

My point of contention is with the crowd that sees WVU’s playing patterns or considers the starting lineup as well as ramifications and flutters a hand and says, “It’s not who starts, it’s who finishes.” I have no idea what that means here, a place where the cumulative effect of 40 minutes on opponents but also the Mountaineers is a major factor. The start and the finish are tied together. There are no separate canisters. Tap into your superior bench early and risk a side-effect late.

What I mean about starts mattering is simple: WVU’s starts can be problematic, and how often have we seen Huggins yank a starter in the first or second minute? On Saturday, he swapped five for five because he saw trouble on the horizon. He again made a change at the start of the second half, assuredly because he wanted to get clear of danger as quickly as possible. I’m the guy (a guy, I suppose) who thought it was smart to start Teyvon Myers in the absence of Dax Miles and who believes it’s the right thing to do now because Myers is contributing more. I subscribed to Nate Adrian’s continued spot in the starting lineup as well, and the justification is the same for him as it is for Myers: WVU needs players, whether in a game or for the remainder of the season, who can or have as opposed to players who think they can or will.

There’s a difference there, especially when you’re rolling 10 or 11 players out at an opponent. Huggins has put those two as well as their teammates in a good position. Adrian belongs. He knows it. Friends and foes know it. Myers is on the same track. Starting them gets them situated in a game, and those two hit meaningful 3s yesterday, but starting them has also turned them into contributors Huggins knows he can use to further impart his strength-in-numbers philosophy.

Where this gets tricky, though, is that the starting lineup can start on the back foot. Devin Williams is a rock, but Jevon Carter has played much of this season like he closed last season, Esa Ahmad is not trending the right way, Adrian doesn’t start hot and Myers can be erratic. That’s the starting lineup, and while it’s great to have a bench like WVU’s, it’s nice to have that bench and the eventual best five primed for when it matters. If you’re tasking them after a few possessions or after a few minutes to first get back in the game and then to get ahead and maintain a lead, you’re being a little reckless with the currency.

That starting five isn’t the issue. It is, right now, the best option: Williams and Carter have started every game, Adrian has started 10 in a row and been at his best for most of them, Myers has started four in a row and come out of his tethers and Ahmad … well, he’s banking quality reps, and he’s started every game he’s played. Meanwhile, Jon Holton is not a worry off the bench, and he’s a quality ally for offensive-minded Jaysean Paige and Tarik Phillip. I’m not sure what Huggins will do with Miles in the long run, and he may only be a sub until he gets his wind and his legs back, but that’s really the only question mark.

The issue is how those five — or any five, for that matter — perform at the start. On Saturday, it wasn’t great, and Huggins addressed it. “I didn’t want it to get out of control. I didn’t think the guys we had in at that particular time were doing the things that they needed to do.”

But that was just the beginning. In the end, the game went as many WVU games go, including the mandatory assist from the reserves.

The 14th-ranked Mountaineers shook off a 14-0 run and an eight-point deficit before halftime on the road in a mostly empty arena and cruised through the second half of a 70-56 victory against Oklahoma State before 5,539 at Gallagher-Iba Arena, which seats an additional 8,000 folks who have seemingly soured on a sad season.

“We had to bring our own energy,” guard Jaysean Paige said. “Short crowd, so we had to bring our own energy and bring our own intensity and make the game fun.”

WVU led by four points at halftime and extended to a 44-31 lead early in the second half. Oklahoma State cut the lead to seven points once and then six points later. Both times Paige had an answer, first with a familiar high-arcing jumper on the left baseline and later with a 3 from the same side.

“Execution,” Paige said. “Don’t try to get all riled up when they get a bucket. Don’t come down and try to force it. It’s a possession game. Just try to match them possession for possession and execute.”