No West Virginian on Men's and Women's WVU BB Teams-!!!
“Right now, West Virginia basketball finds itself adrift on an out-of-control raft on one of the whitewater rivers running through the hills and valleys of wild and wonderful West Virginia,” wrote Bob Hertzel, Sports Writer for the Marietta Times newspaper on July 11, 2023.
This afternoon, I ran into a college student wearing the WVU Basketball jacket in an elevator at my apartment building, Spark Black Bear Apartment. I said to him, “Good luck next week.” He nodded.
Two days ago, in the same elevator, I bumped into two men wearing the WVU Basketball shorts.
Again, in the same elevator last month, I became a dwarf while standing beside a tall man. The following day, West Virginia University (WVU) announced the signing of Akok Akok, a transfer from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. (Last Friday, he collapsed during the exhibition game, but he is home now.)
They all hit the 4th-floor button (of the four-floor building) while I pushed the 2nd-floor button.
I needed to know who the two were besides Akok, so I looked at the Men’s Basketball team picture.
What-!!! The picture shows only 13 players, while the staffers are a whopping 15. None of these 13 players have any WV town in their hometowns.
I zoomed in to click the WVU Women’s Basketball team picture and discovered that none of the 13 women live in any West Virginia towns.
Yep, both teams have five foreigners from Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Israel, and Switzerland.
So, then I clicked “The 10 greatest WVU men’s basketball players of all times.”
Only four out-of-state players made the list, although I counted one Pennsylvanian as an “in-state” one because he lived in Uniontown, 30 miles from the campus.
Of course, the No. 1 player is Jerry West, a native of Chelyan, West Virginia (180 miles from the campus.)
Sports writer got curious to check BrainyQuote.com’s list of the Top 10 Jerry West Quotes. His number one reads:
“I’m still very much a West Virginia boy. I haven’t forgotten my roots because that’s really who I am.”
Growing up, my father always talked about Jerry West, Hot Rod Hundley, and Rod Thorn. (Yeah, my dad graduated from WVU in 1939.)
To clear up, I am not fond of the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Please check your favorite team roster and count how many players live in your state!
Now, I have wondered if any WVU basketball players have been rafting on the Cheat River (28 miles away) or hiking at Coopers Rock State Forest (7 miles away.)
Another BrainyQuotes.com one about Jerry West reads, “I’d go fishing and always pretend I would catch the biggest fish. I’d stay out there for hours after everybody else left until I caught something. When I shot baskets, I was always the coach and star player and always made the winning shot.”