So who would the Thunder rather face? For that matter, how do all the Western Conference contenders rank in terms of undesirability for the Thunder. Here’s my guess.

1. Clippers: For reasons I don’t understand, the Clippers always have been tough on the Thunder, even when the Clippers stink. The Thunder went 2-1 vs. the Clippers two seasons ago, when the Clips had neither Chris Paul or Blake Griffin. The Thunder went 2-2 vs. the Clippers last season, when LA had Griffin. This year, the Clippers routed the Thunder in their lone meeting so far. Russell Westbrook generally presses (and plays poorly) against CP3. The Thunder would like to avoid the Clippers.

2. Dallas: The Thunder is 2-1 vs. the Mavericks this season, including a win in Dallas. But one of the victories was on Kevin Durant’s buzzer-beater. And the Mavs believe they can beat OKC. Jason Terry is a Thunder-killer. Shawn Marion is a tough defender on Kevin Durant. The Thunder would be best served avoiding the Mavericks.

3. Portland: The Blazers aren’t setting the West on fire. They are 15-13 and ranked eighth currently in the West. But the Blazers also match up well with OKC. Gerald Wallace is a tough defender on Durant. LaMarcus Aldridge is fabulous. The Blazers are the only visiting team to win in Oklahoma City this season.

4. Memphis: The Thunder and Grizzlies played that gut-check seven-game series in the Western semifinals last season, and this year seems no different. The Thunder is 3-0 vs. Memphis, but the victories were by three in Memphis, five in Memnphis and seven in OKC. And that’s all without Zach Randolph, who has been sidelined most of the season but could return for the playoffs. Kevin Durant would put the Grizzlies No. 1 on this list. Seven straight games of Tony Allen is KD’s worst nightmare.

5. San Antonio: The Thunder generally plays poorly against the Spurs. They’ve split two blowouts this season, the Spurs were 3-0 in 2010-11 and 3-1 in 2009-10 vs. the Thunder. But the Spurs shouldn’t scare the Thunder. The Spurs are getting old. They had the No. 1 seed in the 2011 playoffs but were stunned by Memphis in the first round. San Antonio is playing well this season, but their window is closing fast.

6. Lakers: I know, sounds crazy to sign up for Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. But the truth is, the Lakers want no part of the Thunder. The Thunder played the Lakers tough two years ago in that playoff series. Look how high the Thunder has risen since then. Durant is a much better player. Russell Westbrook is a much better player. James Harden is a much better player. Serge Ibaka is a much better player. Kendrick Perkins has joined the squad. Meanwhile, the Lakers have just gotten old.

7. Denver: The Nuggets actually played the Thunder fairly tough last April, though the Thunder won the best-of-seven series in five games. But Denver doesn’t appear to be quite as good as last season. The Nuggets get by on moxie, but that doesn’t last long in the playoffs.

8. Utah: The Jazz really doesn’t have a prayer against OKC. The Thunder’s quartet of big men matches Utah’s inside strength, and the Jazz can’t guard Durant or Westbrook for short stretches, much less over a series.

9. Houston: The Thunder has won six of its last seven against the Rockets. I can’t imagine the Rockets keep playing at their current pace (16-12), but if they meet the Thunder, OKC will be pleased.

10. Minnesota: The Timberwolves would be fun. Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio. But not too pressing for the Thunder.

I ran some numbers that hopefully will put it in perspective. In the last 10 years, only 12 times, before Ibaka, had a player recorded 10 blocks in a game:

March 2011: JaVale McGee 12 — just because he’s a knucklehead doesn’t mean he can’t create havoc for the other team, too.

January 2008: Marcus Camby 11 — Camby never really has gotten his due. He’s been a really good player for a very long time.

November 2002:  Ben Wallace 10 — we forget how good Big Ben was back in the Piston salad days.

January 2003: Jermaine O’Neal 10 — I’ve got to admit, I guess I never knew he was such a defensive force.

January 2004: Dikembe Mutombo 10 — Now him, I knew about.

January 2004: Calvin Booth 10 — Who is Calvin Booth and what is he doing on my list? A 10-year journeyman, 6-foot-11 center out of Penn State, started 83 career games.

February 2004: Amare Stoudemire 10 — Are you kidding me? Amare Stoudemire once blocked 10 shots in a game? Just exactly how did he veer off Superstar Boulevard? Was it all health-related?

December 2004: Josh Smith 10 — Still a ballplayer. A better ballplayer than Carmelo Anthony, if you want the truth.

March 2006: Andrei Kirilenko 10 — Watching the Jazz the other night, I wondered what happened to AK47. Turns out he signed with CSKA Moscow and, despite an opt-out clause, Kirilenko apparently has decided to remain with the Russian team the rest of this season. By the way, old pal Nenad Krstic is on that team, too.

January 2007: Emeka Okafor 10 — Okafor’s a good ballplayer. He’s sort of lost in New Orleans.

December 2007: Marcus Camby 10 — Like I said…

November 2008: Dwight Howard 10 — Does it surprise you that Serge Ibaka has more career games of double-digit blocked shots than does Dwight Howard?

Anyway, that’s rare are. Counting Ibaka, that’s 14 games of double-digit blocked shots. So what does that equate to? Fifty points, 20 assists, 25 rebounds?

I ran some more numbers. In the last 10 seasons, NBA players have produced 75 games of  a player reaching at least 50 points. So 10 blocks is much more rare. The league has had eight 60-point games. So let’s find a happy medium. The NBA has had 11 56-point games in 10 years, though none since February 2009, when Kobe Bryant scored 61.

So Serge Ibaka’s 10 blocks are about as common as a 56-point game.

Let’s go to rebounding. In the last 10 years, there have been 21 25-rebound games. There have been 12 26-rebound games. The most recent was a 27-rebound game by Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut in January 2011. Interestingly, those 12 games were produced by 12 players. No one did it twice.

So Serge Ibaka’s 10-blocks game was about as common as a 56-point or 26-rebound game.

Let’s try assists.  There have been 29 20-assist games. So we’ve got to go higher. Let’s try 21. There have been 11 21-assist games, most recently by Deron Williams (once) and Rajon Rondo (twice) last season.

So Ibaka’s 10-blocks game was about as common as a 56-point or 26-rebound game or a 21-assist game.

And here’s what’s most impressive. Ibaka did it twice in nine days. In 10 years, only 12 times had a player blocked 10 shots in a game. Then Ibaka did it twice in a six-game span.

We are seeing something special.

Simmons, OSU’s head coach from 1995 through 2001, told me Sunday night he has talked with West Virginia people about returning to the staff. Simmons said he hasn’t spoken with head coach Dana Holgorsen yet but hopes to.

“I would like to” return to West Virginia, Simmons said. “It’d be great. I hope it happens.”

Simmons coached all-American linebacker Darryl Talley at West Virginia in the ’80s. Simmons was on the Mountaineer staff when Oliver Luck quarterbacked West Virginia. Luck now is WVU’s athletic director.

Simmons would add to a heavy Oklahoma State tint in Morgantown. Holgorsen came from OSU, where he was Mike Gundy’s offensive coordinator in 2010. Holgorsen in January hired away Joe DeForest, OSU’s longest-serving assistant coach.

West Virginia joins the Big 12 this summer. The Mountaineers apparently will play in Stillwater in the 2012 season.

Simmons, 62, coached at Bowling Green in 1976 and Toledo in 1977-79 before joining Nehlen’s West Virginia staff from 1980-87. Simmons then went to Colorado with Bill McCartney, coaching seven years, before getting the OSU job. After leaving OSU, Simmons sat out a season, then coached six years for Tyrone Willingham, three at Notre Dame and three at Washington.

Simmons now lives in the Denver area.

1. Kansas +4 (10-2, 20-5): The Jayhawks get Missouri in Lawrence. That’s the difference in the remaining schedule.

2. Missouri +4 (10-2, 23-2): Other than that trip to Allen Fieldhouse, the Tigers actually have less of a chance to lose than do the Jayhawks. MU plays road games at Texas A&M and Texas Tech. KU goes to Manhattan, Stillwater and College Station.

3. Baylor +3 (8-4, 21-4): The Bears have only two road games left: Iowa State and Texas.

4. Iowa State +2 (8-4, 18-7): Cyclones are NCAA Tournament bound. I’ll vote Fred Hoiberg Big 12 coach of the year.

5. Kansas State even (6-6, 17-7): Wildcats are on the NCAAA Tournament bubble.

6. Texas -1 (6-6, 16-9): Longhorns have four road games left — Norman, Stillwater, Lubbock and Lawrence.

7. Oklahoma State -1 (5-7, 12-13): Cowboys could challenge for fifth, but the schedule is imposing — at Missouri, at OU, at K-State, home against Texas, Kansas and A&M. Cowboys could fall to eighth.

8. Texas A&M -3  (3-9, 12-12): Aggies have played their toughest road games (they have Tech, OU and OSU left), but Missouri, Kansas and K-State come to College Station.

9. Oklahoma -3 (3-9, 13-11): The Sooners have lost all momentum from playing decently early in the season. They could lose out.

10. Texas Tech -5 (1-11, 8-16): Red Raiders have a chance at a couple more victories — they host A&M and Texas.

But one malaise continued. Lack of first-quarter defense. The Thunder gave up 30 first-quarter points to the Jazz. In the eight games since Thabo Sefolosha has been sidelined, the Thunder now has given up an average of 29.9 points in the first quarter. I wrote about the effect of no Thabo. You can read it here.

But a reader asked a good question. How was the Thunder’s first-quarter defense with Thabo? Excellent question. Maybe the first-quarter production of opponents is the production of other factors. Fresh legs in a dead-leg season. Lack of preparation time, which means defenses could get caught flat-footed until it makes adjustments. A rash of road games for the Thunder; teams can feed off getting fast starts.

So I checked. Before Sefolosha’s injury, the Thunder allowed an average of 23.7 points in the first quarter. That’s a seven-point difference, over just 12 minutes. That’s a big difference.

It’s clear that the Thunder misses Sefolosha, but mostly in the first quarter.

West Virginia, which made the 2010 Final Four (and also the 1959 NCAA title game), is in eighth place in the 16-team Big East, with a 6-6 league record and 16-9 overall. The Mountaineers have a national player of the year candidate in Kevin Jones, but he’s a senior. WVU also has a big-time guard in Darryl Bryant, who is averaging 16.9 points a game. But he’s also a senior.

So it looks like 2012-13 might be a rebuilding year for coach Bob Huggins. The Mountaineers figure to return 6-foot-9 junior Deniz Kilicli, who is averaging 11.3 points a game; 5-11 freshman Jabarie Hinds, 8.3 points a game; and 6-1 freshman Gary Browne, 6.5 points a game.

Huggins is a heck of a coach. He built Cincinnati into a national power and restored Kansas State, virtually immediately, to a competitive program. West Virginia won’t be an also-ran, but the Mountaineers don’t figure to win the Big 12 title in their initial year.

But West Virginia will be the Lew Alcindor Bruins compared to TCU. I love the addition of the Horned Frogs to the Big 12, except on one level. Basketball.

TCU basketball has been destitute for several years. The Horned Frogs are coached by Jim Christian, who is 51-68 in four seasons. Before Christian, Neil Dougherty coached TCU six years and went 75-108. TCU has been to just two NCAA Tournaments in the last 40 years: 1998 (first-round loss to Florida State) and 1987 (beat Marshall, lost to Notre Dame).

This season, TCU is 13-10 overall, 3-4 in the Mountain West Conference, which puts the Frogs sixth in the eight-team league. Worse yet, the Frogs’ two leading scorers are seniors: 5-foot-9 Hank Thorns (12.8 points per game) and 6-5 J.R. Cadot (10.2).

TCU’s next three top scorers should return: 6-7 junior Garlon Green (10.1), 6-9 sophomore Amric Fields (10.0) of Putnam City and 5-11 freshman Kyan Anderson (8.1).

TCU seems headed for the Big 12 basement, depending on what Billy Gillespie produces in his second year at Texas Tech.

I don’t think those numbers are a coincidence. Sefolosha is expected to be back soon from a foot injury, and his return can come none too soon for the Thunder.

Now, Sefolosha’s absence has paid some dividends. Daequan Cook has become a dependable scorer in Thabo’s void. In the seven games since Sefolosha was sidelined, Cook has averaged 9.8 points a game and shot 45.3 percent from the field. In the other 18 games this season, Cook averaged 4.6 points and 37.7 percent shooting.

If Cook can maintain that kind of production when Sefolosha returns, maybe the injury was worth it. Everyone wants the Thunder to have a fourth scorer, well here you go. Cook at 9.8 points a game is a heck of a player. His playing time will go down with Sefolosha’s return, but perhaps not significantly. Scotty Brooks has been playing a smaller lineup more and more down the stretch. That could continue, even with Sefolosha’s return. Cook has averaged 30 minutes a game the last seven games; no reason for Cook to start playing the 14-15 minutes a game he was averaging before Sefolosha’s injury.

But despite Cook’s increased scoring punch, the Thunder has missed Thabo, and missed him badly.

Sefolosha is averaging 20.9 minutes a game this season, but his most important minutes are played at the start. The Thunder defense has been anywhere from mediocre to awful at the start of games.

In the seven games without Thabo, the Thunder has allowed an average of 29.9 points  in the first quarter. That’s an awful figure. The Clippers scored 36, the Warriors 35, the Blazers 31, the Grizzlies 30 and the Mavericks 29.

Check out these numbers. This is the hot-shooting start of the seven opponents since Thabo was injured:

Clippers: 11 of 18.

Mavs: 13 of 17.

Grizzlies: 13 of 28.

Spurs: 9 of 20.

Blazers: 12 of 23.

Warriors 13 of 17.

Kings: 7 of 8.

Sefolosha would make a huge difference there. The Thunder could use some first-quarter stops. And if Cook can keep producing, Thabo’s absence might have been worth it.

The University of Southern Mississippi is in Hattiesburg, 111 miles north of New Orleans. Its enrollment is 17,968. USM is in Conference USA and has played solid football for decades.

Southern Miss doesn’t get any respect from the Southeastern Conference. Which is not unusual for a mid-major in the middle, geographically, of a power conference. USM has played Alabama 42 times but never in Hattiesburg. Southern Miss is 4-17 against Bama in the last 30 years, beating the Crimson Tide in 2000, 1993, 1990 and 1982.

Ole Miss won’t play Southern Miss. From 1966 through 1984, the in-state rivals played every year but once. Southern Miss won five of the last seven meetings, and that was the end of that.

Mississippi State won’t play Southern Miss. From 1964 through 1990, they played every year but twice. Southern won 12 of the last 16 meetings.

LSU has played Southern Miss once since 1951. Auburn has played Southern Miss 22 times, but never in Hattiesburg and only once since 1993; the Eagles have beaten Auburn five times, including 1990 and 1991.

Well, you get the picture. In recent years, here’s how Southern Miss has fared against teams from the power conferences:

2011: Won at Virginia

2010: Lost at South Carolina, won at Kansas, lost to Louisville in the St. Petersburg Bowl

2009: Beat Virginia at Hattiesburg, lost at Kansas, lost at Louisville.

2008: Lost at Auburn (27-13), lost to Boise State at Hattiesburg (Boise State wasn’t in a BCS conference, but still interesting).

2007: Lost at Tennessee (39-19), lost to Cincinnati in the Birmingham Bowl.

2006: Lost at Florida, beat North Carolina State in Hattiesburg, lost at Virginia Tech.

2005: Lost at Alabama (30-21), lost at North Carolina State.

Not bad. The Eagles win in Hattiesburg against decent opponents, lose on the road to SEC heavyweights.

So what would Southern Miss bring to the Big 12? What does the Big 12 need? Let’s examine the key components.

TV market: Not much. Not much at all.

Television attraction: You don’t have to play in a big market to be a good TV draw. West Virginia shows us that. But would the networks be attracted to Southern Miss? I don’t see it. While I would get excited about a Southern Miss-Oklahoma State or a Southern Miss-Texas Tech or a Southern Miss-Kansas State game, I don’t know that Joe Fan would.

 Strong academic reputation: No. The Big 12 took an academic hit with the loss of Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M. All four were in the prestigious American Association of Universities (Nebraska has since been booted). Southern Miss wouldn’t help fill the void.

Competitive football: Absolutely. Southern Miss would be a solid football addition and would get better.

Competitive basketball: Not really. USM is coached by Larry Eustachy, who was a heck of a coach at Iowa State. But Southern Miss really hasn’t done much in basketball. Ever.

Other sports: No one really cares, but Southern Miss is solid in baseball.

Facilities: Southern Miss is like most mid-majors. Money is a huge problem. USM doesn’t have the budget to produce the facilities you see at most Big 12/SEC schools.

Stadium: M.M. Roberts Stadium seats about 36,000. That’s not enough. You don’t have to have an 80,000-seat stadium. But anything under 45,000 is just not big enough.

Geography: The Big 12 has branched East, but not southeast. Stretching the conference into a new section of the country could be good, but it also could be bad. Going into the heart of SEC country would not likely turn many Southerners into Big 12 followers. West Virginia, yes. Southern Miss, no. There could be some recruiting advantages, but probably not anything substantial. The travel would not be bad, but the Big 12 needs to fortify its link to the northeast more than it needs to send another tentacle in a different direction.

Potential for growth: Here’s the best argument for Southern Miss. Bringing in Southern Miss not for it is, but what it could be. If given access to Big 12 financial resources and exposure, what could Southern Miss become? It absolutely could surpass the likes of Mississippi State and Ole Miss; the Golden Eagles dang near have done that without any help at all. Could Southern Miss build up its fan base and its stadium and its following and its recruiting profile? Yes.

But here’s the problem. You can say the same thing about some other schools. Cincinnati, for example. The same things we said about Southern Miss, you can say about Cincinnati. Except Cincinnati has actually produced at a higher level than has Southern Miss, thanks to its opportunity in the Big East. And the upside is even greater, I think, for Cincinnati. If you’re going to grow your own Big 12 worthy school, why not a Cincinnati, which provides a further link to West Virginia?

I like Southern Miss. Always have. Always pull for the Golden Eagles, even before old Larry Fedora was named head coach. But Southern Miss is not right for the Big 12.

Going into Thursday night games, the Northwest has the league’s best record by a longshot, and with Minnesota’s rise as a competitive team, there are no also-rans in the division: OKC 20-5, Denver 15-11, Utah 13-11, Portland 14-12, Minnesota 13-13.

That’s a combined 23 games over .500. No other division is even close.

The Central Division is five games over .500. The Central has the mighty Bulls and the upstart Pacers, plus the troubled franchises in Milwaukee and Cleveland don’t stink. Only Detroit does in the Central.

The Southwest is one game under .500. Four solid teams in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Memphis, but the woebegone Hornets, too.

The Pacific Division is six games under .500. The Clippers and Lakers are a combined 10 games over .500, but the Suns, Warriors and Kings drag down the Pacific.

The Southeast Division is nine games under .500. The Southeast has three great to good teams (Miami, Atlanta, Orlando), but two awful teams in Charlotte and Washington.

The Atlantic Division is 12 games under .500. Philadelphia and Boston are good, just like it’s 1984 or something. But the Knickerbockers, Netropolitans and Raptors are no good at all.

I don’t think the Central can slip below .500. The Northwest would have to win games at a crazy pace to put all five other divisions collectively under .500. But clearly as we approach mid-February, the Northwest Division is clearly the NBA’s best.