Final: West Virginia 71, Kansas State 68

Nowell’s brilliant first half wasn’t enough as he and the Cats couldn’t hold on at West Virginia.You’ll probably see some recaps of this game praising Kansas State for its toughness in fighting hard on the road despite being without three coaches and several players.

Frankly, I’m a little bit tired of that narrative, and hopefully this team is, too. The fact is the Wildcats lost 71-68 after blowing a 17-point lead against an opponent that did not look all that great.

Maybe fatigue was a factor, but it probably shouldn’t be at this point in the season with long media timeouts and most of the regular rotation players available. Mike McGuirl and Kaosi Ezeagu might have provided a spark, and…