By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — You’ll pardon West Virginia University’s Kevin Jones if his interpretation of the game of basketball isn’t quite that of the elite, who play the game almost as if it were ice dancing on hardwood.
They elevated it to an art form, the Michael Jordans and Magic Johnsons of the world.
To them, basketball became ballet in Air Jordans. Their tutus were a pair of baggy shorts, but they spent as much time on their toes as did Dame Margot Fonteyn herself.
Basketball, as they played it, was as distant as the Mona Lisa’s smile, as original as Dali’s soft, melting pocket watches, as singular as Picasso’s “Old Guitarist.”
Jones, on the other hand, plays the game with the ball in one hand and a lunch pail in the other.
His uniform is blue collar and gold.
If Jordan is the Cadillac of basketball and LeBron James the Mercedes, Jones is Jeep.
He’ll climb the mountain no matter what the obstacles, drive through the mud to get wherever it is he has to get.
If you don’t like watching Kevin Jones play basketball, you don’t like basketball.
Bob Huggins likes basketball and, you know, he likes the way Kevin Jones plays it.
It seems like he gets mad at anyone on his team who is not named Kevin Jones, not because Jones doesn’t make mistakes.
It’s just that Kevin Jones doesn’t make mistakes for a lack of effort, for a lack of preparation, for a lack perspiration.
“I believe this in doing this for 27 years,” Huggins said the other day after the Mountaineers had cruised past Duquesne for their sixth straight victory of the season. “I believe the guys like Kevin Jones who keep doing everything right, will just get better and better.”
It’s almost as if Jones were created by some mad scientist trying to produce the perfect person, not born.
Listen to Huggins:
“Kevin does everything right. Kevin is never late for anything. Kevin is always on time and he’s always prepared. He’s a joy for us to coach. He’s a joy for the instructors here. He’s a joy for the community. He’s a wonderful guy and he’ll keep getting better, because he wants to.”
He also cooks at the soup kitchen, helps Boy Scouts across the street and stands outside the Kroger ringing a bell collecting money for the Salvation Army.
OK, he doesn’t do the last three things.
Yet.
See, you read a lot about Da’Sean Butler, who is a wonderful player and a wonderful person, too. And you read about Devin Ebanks, who has talent the way Saudi Arabia has oil. You read about Joe Mazzulla, because he has a certain flair that draws you to him like a moth is drawn to a lit light bulb.
But do you know who leads the team in rebounding by a large margin, averaging 7.3 a game? Kevin Jones.
Do you know who is second to Butler in scoring? Not Ebanks. Jones, at 13.2 a game.
Do you know leads the team in steals with eight? Kevin Jones.
Do you know who has the fewest turnovers to minutes played among those with sizeable minutes? Kevin Jones, with just five in six games.
If there’s a loose ball, Jones’ll get it.
Need an offensive rebound? There’s Jones. He has twice as many as anyone on the team.
He does it all and you hardly notice it. It’s just all in a day’s work.
Oh, Huggins will get on Jones when he messes up.
That’s as much part of his nature as not messing up is a part of Jones’ nature.
But Huggins admits he doesn’t get as mad at Jones as he does with some of his other players.
“The reality is when a guy comes in and plays like crazy every day, which he does, because he doesn’t have bad days from an effort standpoint, the truth of the matter is it’s easier to overlook when he’s not playing as well, because you know he’s trying to do the right thing,” Huggins said. “Kevin is trying to do the right thing. There’s no question in my mind.”
And even as hard-driving a coach as Huggins can’t ask for more than that.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
