MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Do you remember the old touring team Athletes in Action that years ago used to play exhibition games each night against college teams?
 
Well, 13^th-ranked West Virginia is about to do something similar in the next six days.
 
Check out what the Mountaineers are facing in Texas for the next week:
 
* Fly to Austin, Texas, on Friday to play 12^th-ranked Texas at the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m.
 
* Hop on a bus after the Texas game and drive to Fort Worth where a 7 p.m. game against TCU awaits the Mountaineers on Tuesday night
 
* Get on another bus after the TCU game and drive back down to Waco to face No. 2 Baylor on Thursday.
 
* Then, after a plane ride back to Morgantown, the Mountaineers get one day to prepare for Kansas State on Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
 
Veteran coach Bob Huggins attacked this one from several different angles during his Friday morning video visit with media. 
 
"We're taking guys out of class for a week, we then have a conference tournament where they are out of class and then an NCAA Tournament, which they are out of class. That's certainly a concern," he said. "The weather is a concern. Travel is a concern. There are a lot of concerns."
 
Not only is the state of Texas still dealing with a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic like the rest of the world, but the Lone Star State is also in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm that has interrupted electrical service and required boil water advisories in certain parts of the state.
 
That's what awaits West Virginia when it arrives in Austin late Friday afternoon. 
 
"There are a lot of issues," Huggins said. "You've got situations with the plane; obviously, you've got situations with the hotels, and in some cases you have situations with the arenas. They've got pretty much statewide issues with power and water. It's kind of wait-and-see deal."
 
Texas, which defeated West Virginia 72-70 in Morgantown last month, improved to 13-5 overall with a 70-55 win over TCU six days ago. The Longhorns should be well-rested for the West Virginia game.
 
TCU, currently three games over .500 at 11-8 overall, will play Kansas State on Saturday at home before facing West Virginia on Tuesday night. The Mountaineers haven't won at Schollmaier Arena in four years.
 
Undefeated Baylor hasn't played since Feb. 2 when it blew out Texas 83-69 in Austin. The Bears have had five straight games canceled because of COVID-19 issues and are scheduled to return to the court next Tuesday night at home against Iowa State if everything goes well with testing.
 
Huggins said the only way to deal with this is by taking things one game at a time.
 
"Playing in South Dakota will probably help us because that's what we did there. You play the game and then you go back to the hotel and watch film and try and break things down and figure out what we can do to be successful and try and figure out what we can do to try and keep them from being as successful," he said.
 
"Baylor seems a long way away. We've got to go play a very good Texas team and then turn around and play a TCU team that Jamie (Dixon) has done a terrific job with," Huggins said. "That's certainly going to be a tough game that will take a lot out of us, and then we get on a bus and drive to Waco and play the No. 2-ranked team in the country. It's not ideal, but it comes down to whatever you have to do to get the games in."
 
It's not likely West Virginia plays a full 18-game Big 12 schedule this year with postponements mounting.
 
Presently, Kansas (15 games) and Kansas State (14) have the best shots at playing all 18 conference games this season. Oklahoma State has played 12, while Oklahoma and Iowa State have gotten 11 games in.
 
West Virginia, Texas and Texas Tech have played 11 conference games, TCU 10 and Baylor only nine. That's a lot of games to make up before the Big 12 Tournament begins on March 10 in Kansas City.
 
"I think the wish and the expectation of the league is to play as many games as you can possibly play," Huggins said.
 
"It's not anybody's best interest to play three games in six days," he admitted. "You're playing different styles. You're playing on their home court. It's a lot of things. We're the only ones doing it. It's not ideal getting back at five in the morning from Lubbock either, but we have to do that as well."
 
Consequently, Huggins said he's really tried to back off his practices some to get his guys prepared for what they will be facing in the next couple of weeks with many games and a lot of traveling ahead of them.
 
People outside of the program, including the fans, don't fully comprehend what this team is asked to do each year playing in the Big 12 Conference. 
 
And that's during a normal year!
 
"I bet you I've had more than half of the coaches in the league say to me, 'Now you know you're never going to be able to win the league, right? With that schedule you guys play there is no way you guys are going to be able to have enough energy to win this league,'" Huggins said. "You look at the scores in the league and it's a hard, hard league. We don't have off nights."
 
Not to mention many days off now, either.
 
Saturday's game against the Longhorns will be televised nationally on ABC (Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla). Veteran men's basketball sports information director Bryan Messerly believes this is the first time since the early 1990s that West Virginia has played on ABC.
 
Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG radio coverage begins at 2 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.