MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Kevin Noreen remembers watching West Virginia in the Final Four this past season and seeing a team he knew little about. He never would have guessed that less than three months later, he would be in Morgantown, officially a member of that same team.

“Kevin Noreen from West Virginia,” is how the young man introduced himself before speaking to wvillustrated.com on Tuesday night. What a relief those words must have brought to Noreen after so much uncertainty regarding his future in the past few months.

The 6-foot-10 forward, named Minnesota Class 1A’s Mr. Basketball as a senior, could not have imagined the doubt that would engulf his college career when he signed his letter of intent to play for Boston College in November’s early signing period. He had been so sure of his decision when he first committed to the Eagles that signing his letter became merely a formality. He was heading to Chestnut Hill, and that was that.

Then came the unexpected. After a disappointing 15-16 record last season, including losing seven of the team’s last 10 games, BC head coach Al Skinner was fired from his post, where he had served for 12 seasons. Suddenly, the plans Noreen had mapped out in his head did not look quite so clear. He still liked the school he had chosen, but a new coaching staff blurred his visions of what the basketball team would be when he arrived, so he asked for and received a release from his letter of intent.

“[Boston College] was my plan for the last year. I just felt that was the place for me and then when coach got fired, it just didn’t feel the same,” says Noreen.

So he reopened his search, and the offers began flying in. One stipulation that inhibited the search, however, was a rule that would automatically disqualify some of the interested parties.

“They’ve got a rule, you can’t opt out of your scholarship and then go to any other of the conference schools, so that was tough,” he says. “I had a lot of interest from a lot of other places in the ACC, but I think the Big East is probably the best conference in the country. Even when it’s down, it’s still pretty good.”

So Noreen thought back to the scenes from that night in Indianapolis, watching the Mountaineers fall to an ACC powerhouse, and he began considering a career with West Virginia. There was something that grabbed Noreen when he saw the stability of a team that had proven its winning ways and would return the same head coach for the next season.
 

“I still like [new Eagles head coach Steve] Donahue a lot, but I just think they’ll be rebuilding a bit too much. Whereas I obviously think West Virginia is going to win right away.”

So the senior from Minnesota Transitions Charter School in Minneapolis asked his coach to call West Virginia, and after two days on campus, he had seen all he needed to commit on Monday night.

“I’m obviously interested in Final Four teams, that’s true for any of them,” he says. “[I’m interested in] Coach Huggins and his legacy and what he’s done. Then I saw it for myself. I saw how hard guys worked here and it was just something I wanted to be a part of.”

Still, he was not ready to make anything official until he talked to the man who had originally given him an opportunity in college basketball – Al Skinner.

“We just talked about different places I could go, and he would tell me what he thought,” says Noreen. “When it came down to West Virginia, he said it’d be a great offense for me to play in and he said if I could deal with how Coach Huggins coaches, then I’ll be fine. He said [Huggins] is going to push you, he’s going to be in your face, it’s going to be tough, but if you get through that, you’ll be all right.”

Hearing the words and seeing the actions are two different things, so when Noreen was around Huggins, he was sure to keep a keen eye on the man he was likely to sign on to play with for the upcoming season.

“I know he’s going to push you – he’s a motivator. I know he’s a tough coach, but that’s good. I think that’s what I need; he’s going to get the best out of me every day. When I saw Coach Huggins, the way he interacts with his players, you can tell it’s mutual – they both love each other a lot.”

By Tuesday afternoon, all the paper work had officially been written and the Mountaineers had filled their fourth, and final, scholarship for 2010-11.

Noreen had played an open gym session with some of his future teammates on Monday, but there was something special about that second open gym on Tuesday, his first as an official member of the team.

“It’s a big weight off my shoulders,” he says. “I’m no longer searching. It’s kind of draining to have to meet all these new people and coaches and players and it puts me past just going through the motions on these visits. I really appreciate the interest that places have had in me, but I’m glad for where I’m at now and I’m hoping for a bright future.”

Not only a bright future on the court, but in the classroom as well. Noreen boasts a perfect 4.0 grade point average out of high school and a 36 on his ACT. As important as the right fit was in terms of a basketball team, the university and the town itself held equal significance in his search.

“It’s a college town,” Noreen says, his initial impression of Morgantown. “The more people I meet, the more I see that they really back their Mountaineers and how much the whole state does. I think that’s something that is really unique and not like many other places. I think it’s going to be something really special to be a part of.”

And though the initial plan to have Skinner for a head coach will no longer play out for Noreen, he is certain he will take full advantage of having a mentor and a friend with such knowledge of the game throughout his time at West Virginia.

“I will be in close contact with him. He’s a very valuable resource. It’s the same with some of the other guys on the [former] coaching staff at BC, but mainly Coach Skinner because he was the one who was recruiting me. I viewed him as my coach for a year and then that changed, but I’ll probably always have a good relationship with him.”