MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - What a dramatic swing the fate of the WVU men’s basketball team has taken in just one week. After six straight wins to get them back in the top 5 nationally and fighting for the king of the hill in the BIG EAST, they’ve lost two straight and are now in a bout for a two-round bye in the conference tournament.

You would not normally blame a team for losing to two ranked teams in this league, but it’s the manner in which they’ve lost that makes the Mountaineer defeats so mind-boggling.

Both setbacks were the direct result of an inability to connect from the free throw line. The free throw line. They say it’s the simplest shot in basketball. No defenders, a direct line to the basket; there’s a reason for its name.

But for the Mountaineers, this “simple shot” has moved them three games out of first in the BIG EAST and in a three-team tie behind Syracuse and Georgetown in the standings.

Maybe it’s the beginning of a trend, or maybe it’s the wake-up call that would be better served to make its way out of their system now rather than raise its head in the postseason. Whatever the case, the complexion of the season changed this last week, and it’s up to Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers to pull it back together before the wheels really fall off.

“We’re always going to be together, so that’s not a question,” said Truck Bryant after the game. “We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and refocus ourselves.”

That sounds great, but all season we’ve been wondering when West Virginia will realize that they need to focus. First it was the issue of playing 40 minutes from time to time to have continued success. They were given a pass as long as the result was a win, but against Notre Dame, Syracuse and Villanova, a failed comeback didn’t get any points for moral victories. A loss is a loss in this league and now they’ve got four.

Maybe Friday’s game, then, was a good sign. They got a lead early and held onto it almost until about 59 minutes in. They’ve still got a lesson to learn in sealing the deal, but with just under a month until the games that can bring trophies and banners to the Coliseum, there’s time to put it all together.

That doesn’t make the loss to Pitt any easier.

“That’s the worst feeling, to go that far and then just lose,” said Kevin Jones after the game. “We just let a perfect opportunity go to waste.”

The team knew what they let slip away. They knew it was their game to win and they blew it. They also knew their head coach would not be happy when he spoke to them in the locker

room. What exactly he had to say, however, Truck Bryant would not fully disclose.

“A lot. I don’t really want to talk about what he said, but he said a lot,” said Bryant. “Basically, it came down to we have to work and we need to work harder. We’re not working hard enough. He’s right. We don’t care enough; we’ve just got to care.”

Sounds simple enough. Just care a bit more and you’ll succeed at all the things you’ve failed thus far. But simple things, like free throws, have been hard to come by in this season of high expectations.

When the Mountaineers emerged from the locker room to greet the media Friday night, it was quite a somber scene. Maybe their head coach thinks they don’t care on the court, but they sure seem to care when they’re off it talking about what went wrong.

But they were still resolute in their confidence in the team and their ability to bounce back and finish the season strong with a plethora of learned lessons lying in their wake.

“Now we’re in a fight,” said Bryant. “We’re going to win the fight.”