KANSAS CITY - West Virginia has never lost a Big 12 Championship semifinal game. And it has never won a Big 12 Championship game.
 
Perhaps tonight is the night that changes.
 
The third-seeded Mountaineers (24-9) pulled off the only upset in this year's conference tournament, at least based on seeds, when they outlasted second-seeded and 14^th-ranked Texas Tech, 66-63 last night.
 
West Virginia's senior guard tandem of Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr. combined to score more than half of the Mountaineers' points (39), with the duo hitting 9 of 16 from 3-point distance.
 
Kansas (26-7) made its way to the finals with an 83-67 victory over in-state rival Kansas State in a game that was much closer than the final score might indicate.
 
The Wildcats pulled to within two points before KU turned on the gas late in the game. Kansas, minus center Udoka Azubuike, got terrific play from its backcourt tandem of Devonte' Graham and Malik Newman, the two combining for 37 points on 11 of 25 shooting.
 
Graham may be this year's Big 12 Player of the Year, but Newman has been the tournament's best player so far with 30 points in KU's 82-68 victory over Oklahoma State and 22 last night against K-State.
 
A Graham versus Carter or Newman versus Miles Jr. backcourt duel could be in the offing this evening, although Carter was having nothing of it when asked about it after the Mountaineers' three-point win over the Red Raiders.
 
"It ain't about that," Carter snapped. "It is West Virginia versus Kansas. It is five guys on that court at one time. I hate when y'all try to make it a one-on-one matchup."
 
He's right because the other matchups are going to be just as interesting - Svi Mkyhailiuk against Esa Ahmad, Lagerald Vick versus Wesley Harris and Mitch Lightfoot battling Sagaba Konate.
 
Will West Virginia be forced to size down to face Kansas' four-guard lineup similar to what the Mountaineers used to face against Villanova in the Big East days, or will they stay big and try and take advantage of their size and strength in the paint with Azubuike still out?
 
It will be a battle of wits for sure between two of the game's best bench strategists - Kansas' Bill Self and West Virginia's Bob Huggins, who last night provided a detailed analysis of how to defeat the Jayhawks.
 
"Score more points than them," he said. "I don't know. Make another shot, maybe get a free throw or something."
 
The Sprint Center is going to be pro-Kansas for sure with more than 16,000 of the arena's 18,972 capacity likely wearing Jayhawks colors.
 
The Mountaineers have grown accustomed to this since they joined the Big 12, whether facing Kansas in the 2016 championship game, or Iowa State in last year's title matchup.
 
When WVU used to play in the Big East Tournament, Madison Square Garden was usually pro-Syracuse or pro-St. John's, but there were always enough other college basketball fans in the arena to dilute a decided home-court advantage.
 
In fact, when the Mountaineers knocked off Georgetown to win the 2010 Big East Championship, New Yorkers adopted WVU as one of their own and heartily sang along when "Take Me Home, Country Roads" was piped over the public address system.
 
If West Virginia upsets ninth-ranked Kansas tonight, that's not going to happen in Kansas City right in the middle of Jayhawk country, meaning the 1,000 or so Mountaineer fans here in Kansas City are going to have to sing really loudly to be heard!
 
The Big East tournament was much more top heavy with Connecticut, Syracuse, Villanova, Pitt, Louisville and Georgetown usually providing formidable obstacles, making a run to the championship game far more hazardous on the court.
 
The Big East therefore is still the most difficult conference tournament in that aspect because of the amount of games you had to play to reach the finals, and the number of high-quality teams you had to beat to get there.
 
In the mid-1980s, the Atlantic 10 Tournament was sometimes tricky when you had to face Temple at The Palestra in Philadelphia or Massachusetts on its home court because the league lacked a fan following to fill up the larger Northeastern arenas, but it was never impossible.
 
It was the same deal in the Eastern Eight, which could be tough when you played Pitt or Duquesne in the Civic Arena, or the Eastern Basketball League when you got Villanova in the Spectrum.
 
In the old Southern Conference, the Carolina schools had big edge when the tournament was played in Raleigh.
 
Richmond had a nice home-court advantage when the tournament went to Richmond Arena, and Lefty Driesell's Davidson Wildcats benefitted from playing in front of the home folks when the championship game was moved to Charlotte.
 
But all of that pales in comparison to what West Virginia is going to face when it walks into the Sprint Center tonight.
 
It will be a sea of Blue and Crimson, with "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" ringing loudly from the moment the team leaves its hotel until the final seconds tick off the clock.
 
So, Jevon Carter, who has already played in two of these, is right - it will be far more than just Jevon Carter versus Devonte' Graham or even the other four players out on the court facing each other.
 
It will be West Virginia, playing in a different time zone, going up against one of college basketball's bluest blue bloods and its entire fan base 861 miles away from campus in their part of the country.
 
And it should be a lot of fun!
 
Tipoff is 6 p.m. EDT and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
 
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage begins at 5 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.

Friday Night Audio