We probably ought to start by saying 13th-ranked West Virginia has pressed us into a corner this season, and in that corner, we’ve struggled to know, never mind to predict, who and what the Mountaineers are except that they are capable of being extremely multiple. You know the routine. Up to the level of good teams and at or beneath the level of lesser teams. Excellent in half-court offense or defense, proficient in full-court pressure and transition scoring … and also the opposite.

This is now news, not after highs and lows, winning streaks and a losing streak, big leads and rugs yanked from beneath the Nikes.

It might be time to open our minds to the possibility WVU is settling in now as a team that’s going to play games that are hard for others to watch, hard for others to tolerate, hard for others to officiate and, certainly most importantly, hard for others to win. This is back-to-back games — against, at best, just OK competition — where the Mountaineers muddied it up but also didn’t let down. They’re headed to a place where they have to exert some control and will play a team it chose not to press last month.

If the keys are waves of players and contributions, a verve on defense and at the backboard that wears down opponents and an excessive amount of shots and a satisfactory number of simple scores, well, hasn’t WVU done that in back-to-back games? It hasn’t looked a whole lot like the first 15 games or even the six to eight that followed and did not rise up to or exceed the bar.

Saturday saw WVU overwhelm an overmatched opponent, and the Mountaineers didn’t merely reverse the results from last month’s loss to Kansas State to the rematch or even from the tight first half to the lopsided second half. They sort of rediscovered or reinvented or recommitted themselves.

The Mountaineers (20-5, 8-4 Big 12) turned a tied game at the half into a runaway near the end and would lead by as many as 22 points. They shot 50 percent for the game after shooting 37 in Wednesday’s win at Oklahoma and were 20-for-34 from the floor (59 percent) and just 2 for 5 from 3-point range in the second half.

“Obviously, we had a talk at halftime and said what we were supposed to do. Put your head down and attack the rim. Get on the boards,” forward Elijah Macon said. “They didn’t have a shot blocker. All we had to do was attack and make our free throws and constantly get stops.”

A week earlier, WVU played quite the opposite in a home loss to Oklahoma State, a team the Mountaineers beat by 17 points on the road at the start of conference play. In the second half of that game, which began with WVU ahead by four points, the offense was 4 for 8 from 2-point range and 6 for 20 from 3-point range, and Macon said afterward he was “confused” by some decisions.

He felt better Saturday.

“We need the guys who can shoot to shoot the ball,” he said. “Some guys on our team, nobody can guard them on a straight-line drive. That’s what I was trying to harp on. Just drive it, and we’ll do the best we can to clean it up. If not, we’ll try to get a stop.”

This is an eventful box score. The Wildcats really, really missed D.J. Johnson, and those numbers do not lie. WVU dominated inside. But how about K-State’s starting guards? Twenty-two points and one made basket!?!

The free throw numbers and the quantity — Note: I did not say “quality” — of fouls called against the Mountaineers is troubling, because their next game is at Kansas, and Bob Huggins was not overly impressed with his defense because his team fouled so much. There was one point here K-State went almost four minutes without taking a single shot and still scored five points. WVU was fouling on drives and at or near the rim, and Huggins didn’t want that to go unnoticed.

Also, Lamont West rebounds are base hits from a pitcher, but he had nine and three inside scores. Two were really tough in the second half. He attempted one 3-pointer.

Huggins mentions quite often that if he can get Adrian or Ahmad scoring with two or three of the guards, WVU is hard to beat. I think it’s fair to develop that conversation now and add that the Mountaineers need one of the Bolden-Konate-West group to contribute so that this iteration can sustain. WVU’s using 11 players with those three. Eleven players is good. Five guards, which necessitates Beetle if even for cameos, is good. West spelling Adrian and doing something other than hunt 3s is good. Konate would do well to stay in his lane, and that doesn’t seem to be a concern — but, man, this guy is always in the middle of something. I have to do this story, right? (Aside: Adrian is ordinarily the one who intercedes on Konate’s behalf … but he’s seemingly always keeping the peace. Did you see this?)

All in all, it’s good timing for WVU. Saturday saw the NCAA seed the top 16 teams for … reasons … and the Mountaineers found themselves as the No. 14 overall seed, which means the second No. 4 seed.

Yet let’s get back to this bracket deal. While many of us view it as pointless, Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins does not.

“I think it takes a lot of pressure off the committee,” said the coach. “Now people can see what they’re thinking. Before, it was like a big surprise… I think now people can do kind of what the committee does: watch teams, see who is playing well, see who is not playing well.

“We lost some games we shouldn’t have lost. If we would have taken care of our business maybe we wouldn’t be a four seed. We’d probably be a two or a one, I don’t know.”

WVU, though, has 20 wins. It has those elite wins. And it also has respect. That’s what made Saturday’s victory so important. Finally, upon given national respect, the Mountaineers didn’t blow it. In fact, in the second half versus Kansas State, they played well against a zone, spreading out and attacking. They shot 58.8 percent in the span.

All, of course, might collapse Monday when West Virginia visits Kansas, but at least the Good Ship Mountaineer is on course heading into Lawrence. And that No. 4 seed sounds about right at the moment.

“It doesn’t matter though,” said Huggins. “We have to go play KU. We have to go play Baylor. If we go play KU and Baylor and happen to win, are we a four? No.

“We have a lot ahead of us. We struggled to beat Texas at Texas. We lost at Texas Tech and they’re coming here. We’re at TCU, which is playing well right now. This league is hard. I don’t think people on the outside understand how hard it is.”

Real quick before we go: The men’s team attempted 12 3s. In the same gym later in the same day, the women’s team made 17 3s.