I should have known the Lady Toppers would emerge from the first weekend of Sun Belt Conference play 2-0 and the men 0-2.

Sure Darrin Horn’s Hilltoppers were streaking into Sun Belt Conference play with their best record (10-2) in over a decade.

Of course Mary Taylor Cowles and the Lady Toppers were underachieving their way to a 6-6 non-conference record.

Logic was screaming for the men to stay strong and the women to stick to their inconsistency.

But I was forgetting the single most important factor when it comes to predicting Western wins and losses.

It doesn’t matter how or who the two Western teams are playing; it’s where they are playing.

Diddle Arena has been a black hole for all Western opponents this season. Both teams are posting perfect 7-0 records in the recently renovated home of Western round ball. But when the home whites give way to the road reds, productivity suffers.

The Lady Toppers have won only one game on an opponent’s home floor. Road losses to the likes of Missouri-Kansas City and Tennessee Tech make this columnist wonder if they travel with the same team that beat then-No.11 Vanderbilt at home.

The men have enjoyed the same luck at home and much of the same misfortune on the road.

The Toppers’ kryptonite has been double-digit leads in their current three-game skid dating back to the 80-79 double-overtime loss to Virginia on Jan. 5. Overall, the men are 3-4 in road contests.

Fatigue has to be a factor with the customary short bench forcing starters to play more than their bodies can handle. If second leading scorer Antonio Haynes’ back troubles keep him from being effective tonight against New Orleans, the Privateers and SBC leading scorer Bo McCalebb could jeopardize the Toppers’ home floor domination.

By Monday my basketball brain was on overload. But I still managed to attend the Lady Toppers’ Martin Luther King Day matinee win over non-conference foe Columbia.

The turnover-plagued 91-57 Western victory will not stick in my memory for the performance of a single player, but one exuberant fan.

A Western student is plucked from the crowd at every home game to take a three-point shot during a media timeout with a semester of free tuition at stake.

The majority of contestants who participate in the promotion sponsored by Ford’s Furniture have trouble even locating the rim, forget the bottom of the net.

But something felt different when Stanley “Soul Train” Jefferson stepped to the top of the three-point arc on Monday.

After taking a few seconds to gather himself, Soul Train launched a line-drive shot that fell through the net.

His victory lap and resulting standing ovation drew smiles from several Lady Toppers whose attention wandered from the team huddle.

No matter how much basketball I have watched, I could never have seen that one coming.

Michael Casagrande is the Herald sports editor and columnist. Reach him at sports@wkuherald.com.