MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - There are some great players that have worn the Old Gold and Blue over the years. They have come to Morgantown, played their hearts out and solidified their place in Mountaineer lore, then moved on. When the NCAA Tournament is over, two more players will have added their name to the list of memorable Mountaineers.
They've had their senior night and celebration, but now they truly face the end of their careers at West Virginia University.
Da'Sean Butler and
Wellington Smith have been part of one of the potential best WVU basketball teams in the school's history and they have done more than enough to leave their mark.
Over the last few weeks, almost everything you could ever write about
Da'Sean Butler has been written. He averages 17 points and six rebounds per game and has single handedly won six games with a last second shot this season. He's crossed the 2,000 point plateau, become the all-time leader in minutes, the third most prolific scorer in Mountaineer history, and has been a part of 103 victories for WVU, the most all-time. Despite being a part of that many wins, Butler is still focusing on a few more that could lead to something WVU has never captured: a national title. He says that even though that's the goal, you can't look ahead to the title game just yet.
"We're worried about the first game. If we take care of the first game and win, we'll take care of the second game," Butler said. "You don't want to overlook anybody or look down the road with all the analyst talking about stuff. You just want to take it one game at a time."
Wellington Smith has been an integral part of many of the Mountaineers' victories this year, but still remains a slightly unsung hero. He doesn't have the scoring burst of Butler, the consistency of
Kevin Jones, or the power game of Deniz Kilicli, but he has smarts. Smith averages seven points and four rebounds per game and his career game came against the Rebels of Ole Miss when he dropped in 19 points. If you look at the stat lines for many of WVU's closest victories this year, you'll see Smith being a big factor in his team's success. In the BIG EAST Tournament Championship game against Georgetown, he had a double double, scoring 11 points and 10 rebounds, but it was his defense on Greg Monroe that really helped the Mountaineers control the game. Little factors like this sometimes go unnoticed, but any coach worth his salt will tell you just how important it is.
Although both players have been celebrated and talked about, now is their last opportunity to plant themselves forever in the minds of Mountaineer fans. Both players are focused on the task at hand, but know their career has to end sometime.
"I haven't really thought about it because I've been focused on winning. As long as we keep winning I don't think I'll be thinking about it as much," Butler said. "It's coming anyway, so I just have to go out there and play as hard as I can and whatever happens happens. As long as I know and everyone else that watches knows that I played hard and the team played hard and we did our best, I'm not really having any thoughts about it."
"I want to take one game at a time. Being a senior, it's kind of scary because you don't know what your next move is after that. You want your season to last as long as it can," Smith told the media. "That's one thing I'm pretty scared about, knowing that I'm leaving in six games or less. It's something I'm not prepared to do yet. It's going to be hard. The last game, whenever that is, is going to be hard to do unless you win a national championship. It's just something I'm realizing and not looking forward to."
The team has rallied around its senior leaders all season, but now with the biggest prize on the line, many of they players say the focus is not only on a national title, but sending their seniors out the right way.
"We're trying to keep them around as long as possible, make sure they go all the way, and make sure their happy," said
Truck Bryant. "They came here for a national championship and that's what we want to do."
"We think about that all the time,"
Kevin Jones said of his teammates leaving. "We definitely want to keep them around as long as possible. They've been key for us in our BIG EAST Championship run and they're going to be key for us coming up in the NCAA tournament."
The search for a national title is on for WVU and it's only a six game path to win it all. The players have adopted the creed "Six Games" as their mantra for their final games of the season. WVU faces its first hurdle in the NCAA Tournament Friday when they take on Morgan State. The formula for a successful streak in the tournament is simple. All they need to do is follow their seniors into battle a few more times.
