West Virginia “made a milestone” Wednesday night, winning a conference tournament game and advancing to tonight’s semifinal. If the Mountaineers win there, Bob Huggins will be tied with Trent Johnson on the list of all-time Big 12 tournament wins.

That’s how silly the mention of WVU’s futility here, or any conference tournaments in general, really was. The five-year losing streak happened, but if you chewed on your fingernails at work yesterday and/or thought this team resembled the 2013 and 2014 teams, I think there are some scholars who chip in here and can help you. This team is way different and on most nights 20 points better than TCU. Seriously, three wins this year by a combined 59 points.

But one reason this team is so different is because while it refuses to be defined by its past, it also refuses to let go of the past. “We carry a lot of motivation with us and go off of anything to get us going,” Daxter Miles said.

They’ll have no trouble finding fuel tonight. The team that won at Hilton Coliseum, beat Baylor twice after going 0-3 last season, finished second in the league after never finishing better than fifth, spent seven weeks in the top 10 after standing on the outside for six years and now won a Big 12 tournament game, that same WVU team is 0-2 against Oklahoma this season.