Kansas losing, TCU surging and Monte Morris whispering in a triple-double’s ear are your subplots at what is now a there-for-the-taking Big 12 tournament. West Virginia is the favorite now — technically, WVU remains the favorite — but all of that overlooks this: Kansas State is still standing.

Does that need a question mark?

Thirteen days ago, K-State lost to Oklahoma by 30 points. Thirty. If you thought Bruce Weber was coaching for his job, you were not guilty of original thinking. Here’s the lede from a game story from a beat writer that night.

K-State hit rock bottom during a 81-51 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center, a defeat that was every bit as ugly as it was demoralizing.

“It’s sad,” K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber said. “It’s sad for our guys. They are a good group.”

Make no mistake: this was a crushing result, the type of blowout neither Bruce Weber nor the Wildcats may be able to overcome. They entered the day with much to gain against the Big 12’s worst team, yet barely put up a fight.

K-State has the look of a team destined for the NIT or worse, which means Weber may be on the way out the door. The Wildcats fell short of expectations in each of the past two seasons, and they have now lost eight of their last 10 games, completely erasing the good they accomplished with a 15-4 start.

I don’t want to put words in a colleague’s mouth, but beat writers oftentimes write cryptically from a position of knowledge — and then K-State’s athletic director left for Tennessee. It didn’t look good for Weber and the Wildcats, but they’ve won three in a row, they’ve probably done enough here already to reach the NCAA tournament and they’re only a six-point underdog in tonight’s second semifinal  against the Mountaineers. (Speaking of only, only four of you had K-State winning last night, and nobody had TCU. DaveK, GWPatriot86 and Brother X have three of the four semifinalists.)

So what’s happened? I’m not sure. TCU was not terrible at the end of the regular season, even as it lost seven in a row, so that’s a good win for K-State, especially now. Texas Tech was not great at the end of the season, but the Wildcats handled their business. Beating Baylor answers a lot of questions.

Here’s K-State’s February and March.

Look at that and tell me what makes you go, “Aha!”

Shooting percentages are up, but it’s not a high-scoring or 3-point prolific team. The opponents are shooting well and doing all right from 3-point range. I suppose winning close games requires a skill, and you’ll notice K-State hasn’t been committing turnovers and hasn’t been fouling/allowing free throws. That’s worth remembering tonight. Assists on 46 of 70 baskets is interesting, too, but so is the rebounding margin, which is a combined minus-16 the past three games.

February was ugly. Maybe it’s out of their system? Maybe a team with decent experience righted itself?

Wes Iwundu is still one of the best all-around players in the Big 12. He’s been good lately. That’s not a surprise. What you’ll find is someone has come forward on the regular lately. Last night it was Barry Brown, with a dash of Xavier Sneed and Isaiah Maurice — and if you’re looking for a “Come on, this guy?!?!” candidate, I’d look there and probably at Maurice … he’s sneaky. Kam Stokes was good against TCU. Dean Wade was looking like himself again before foul trouble limited him last night. D.J. Johnson has been a force.

They’re confident. They’re going to have a lot of fans. They know they’ve faced and managed the press before, and they’ve faced and erased a double-digit deficit. They’ve won a close game and lost a game that got away from them, but they also know Johnson didn’t play that night and the Mountaineers had their way inside. And above all else, they know they’re a pretty good illustration that anything can happen