MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Da’Sean Butler stood on the court with a net draped around his neck wearing a backwards BIG EAST Champions cap surrounded by a slew of reporters looking to talk to the man of the hour. They wanted the man who came into Madison Square Garden and willed his team to its first league title ever.

They sought the man who had made a career out of being the second option, the backup weapon when the heavy hitters in the arsenal were having an off night. That is until this, his final, year at WVU.

“[I’ve been] the second punch and for me to be the first punch, it took a while for me to understand what my role was exactly,” said Buter. “I’ve been Robin my whole career.”

There is no doubting that if Butler has been Robin his entire career, then this season he had a talk with Alfred and finally got the keys to the Batmobile.

You got a sense that Butler felt scorned in the past. That perhaps he has known all along that he was capable of what he showed time and time again in New York. That there is a very good reason Bob Huggins has such an affinity for his senior forward.

But what Huggins knew took a while to infiltrate the minds of WVU fans. Once they began figuring it out, there was still a good lapse in time before the national media got a hold of what seemed to be a Morgantown secret.

43 points against Villanova as a junior helped. Game winners throughout a senior season gave him a push. But it was a buzzer beater in the Garden that had Butler’s name in everyone’s mouth for the first time since he came to West Virginia, even if it took longer than expected.

It was always clear, from the first time he stepped on the court, that Butler had the ability to become a special player for the Mountaineers. How special, however, no one could have possibly imagined. His numbers were not always staggering – in fact, they rarely were – but he was consistent. And for Butler, consistency built success.

In 141 games played, Butler has scored in double figures 104 times, by far surpassing Chris Brooks’s previous record of 92.

His 4,318 minutes played rank first in WVU history, a record he broke earlier this season when he passed Johannes Herber for the top spot toward the end of his senior night against Georgetown.

If he can get four more three-pointers in the tournament, he will join only four other WVU players to reach the 200 mark.

He of course reached 2,000 career points in the BIG EAST championship game, where he sits behind two players who haven’t worn West Virginia uniforms in half a century as the only three players to ever hit the coveted milestone.

Mountaineers fans always knew what kind of talent they had on their hands, and coaches John Beilein and Bob Huggins constantly reminded anyone who may have somehow forgotten. Before his final game in the Coliseum, Butler was introduced as “one of the greatest players to ever wear the old gold and blue.”

Butler himself was not certain how to take the compliment, and he said after the game that he quickly put the remark far out of his mind so it would not affect his play. But it was a description that many may not have thought of up to that moment, because Butler seems to have so quietly developed his résumé to where it is today.

These last few weeks have proven its validity, though Butler knows there is more left to accomplish. Can you imagine what the legend of Da’Sean Butler would be years from now if he were to guide his team to a national championship? A tall order, that’s for sure, but a team goal nonetheless.

In the locker room after winning the BIG EAST, the WVU white board read, “6 more – 240 min!!” The team knows what lies ahead if they are to end this season on the high note they hope for, and despite the battle cries of “six more,” Butler will be certain to keep his teammates focused on one more. If they win that one, he’ll let them talk about one more after that.

If they can win six, he will have earned every bit of praise his head coach has ever given him and then some. For now, a BIG EAST title is nothing to scoff at.

You can bet, however, that Da’Sean Butler has taken the net from around his neck, removed his backwards hat and put all postgame Garden celebrations out of his mind. He is refocused on a new goal, and if the rest of his senior season has been any indication, he will do everything in his power to accomplish it.