MORGANTOWN -
The Last Backyard Brawl.
Can you even comprehend that phrase? Does it make any sense when considering a rivalry that has existed in multiple sports for over 100 years?
On Thursday, and for days and weeks leading up to it, those four words were on the minds of just about anyone with the slightest interest in either West Virginia or Pittsburgh sports.
The drive up I-79 came along with radio talk shows letting any listener call in and share his or her best and worst memory of the series, whether in basketball or football. The emotions were high as some claimed to care very little if it continued while others couldn't seem to grasp the idea that it may not.
Julian Miller, a graduated WVU defensive lineman, tweeted earlier in the day that his football squad had taken care of its last Brawl and now it would be time for the basketball counterparts to do the same.
With WVU poised for a transition to the Big 12 and Pittsburgh jumping off the Big East ship to the ACC in the coming years, there was one final, certain meeting between the two.
That Oakland Zoo student section filled up quickly as co-eds claimed to have been standing in line for three hours (to which some WVU students scoff and point out that they spent the night outside the Coliseum when Pitt visited weeks ago).
Amid throngs of fans decked out in Panthers gold, there stood one in a blue WVU jersey sporting the No. 21 that at the time belonged to Frank Young. He wore a snap back Mountaineers hat with the Flying WV on its front, showing his allegiance while sitting in the Zoo.
Greg Flynn, a Morgantown native and WVU graduate, currently attends grad school at the University of Pittsburgh. On this night, and apparently at every other home game he attends, he sported the colors of the team that makes him root against his own school.
"I have to represent WVU, I have to wear my colors," Flynn said before the game as Pitt fans vied for position behind him to get in the camera shot. "It's a gold rush, I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb and that's what I want. I'm welcoming all of the negativity, as long as it stays emotional and not physical, that's clean fun for me."
Unfortunately, in the second half, Flynn ended up losing his hat as it was apparently thrown by another fan in the section. Elsewhere, a WVU fan caught a shirt thrown by the Panthers mascot, Roc, and threw it back. He was then thrown out of the arena by event staff.
West Virginia's reserve Mountaineer mascot, Jonathan Kimble, stood up to lead a "Let's Go Mountaineers" chant from directly behind Flynn's section of the Zoo. This is the same guy who got himself on national television wearing a WVU sweatshirt to a Pittsburgh-USF football game this past season.
That had to get the home crowd a little fired up.
And then there were the chants and the never-ending ridicule from Pitt fans toward the Mountaineers players, the same way WVU fans would get on the Panthers when they visit the Coliseum.
When Deniz Kilicli was called for a travel, or later when he went to the line for a free throw, chants of "USA" rang out toward the Turkey native.
"That doesn't get to me," says Kilicli. "I don't understand why they do that. I just like it. I don't want to go back [to Turkey], you know? I like USA. Great, you chant USA, I love it."
He points out that one fan brought a sign covered in Turkish curse words, which plenty of other people (and likely television cameras) didn't understand at all, but he sure did.
"Oh yeah, and they were really bad, too," he says.
But this is exactly the sort of atmosphere Kilicli wants. He wants to be the hated rival at Pittsburgh just as much as he wants to be loved by his WVU fans.
"I love this. That's all I wanted all my life," says the WVU junior. "You want fans like this and you want rivalries like this. My biggest game was always Pitt games. My first game, my last career high (in points), today is a good game for me and Bob Knight was here, so that's pretty cool."
Even as the game got out of hand, fans near West Virginia's bench turned their attention away from the action on the court and instead to Aaric Murray, the 6-foot-10 transfer whose only real contribution to games are words of encouragement.
They jumped on him for being so far down the bench that he would never have an impact on the team, clearly unaware of his status as a transfer. But this was more evidence of the rivalry. No one is safe.
Kevin Jones took time after the game to reflect on the Brawl, something he likely refrained from doing in the days leading up to tipoff.
"I think this is the biggest rivalry in college basketball," he says. "Both teams always play hard and well against each other and it all just comes down to who plays the toughest at the end and I think we were the team that played toughest at the end tonight."
Knowing that they just played the last edition of this rivalry, at least in its current state as a home-and-home conference matchup, did not sit well with the players who have invested so much time and energy into it over the past few years.
"It sucks big time," Kilicli says bluntly. "I would love to play another one right now. I'd like to play another one so we're not tied."
That opportunity may yet present itself up in New York City.
For now, the latest chapter is written and the question remains as to whether or not the book itself is closed or if it is merely time to fold over the page and mark it as we wait to see the story of both schools' most cherished and hated rivalry continue.
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