By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — The West Virginia Mountaineers had just finished off Providence in rather easy fashion, winning 88-74 in a game where they never really were challenged.
Bob Huggins had finished his post-game locker room lecture, a rather brief chat with his players, and had made it courtside in the Dunkin Donut Center to chat with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs on the Mountaineer Sports Network.
The interview was almost as non-eventful as the game, Huggins, as always, less than satisfied with many aspects of his team’s play but after two straight losses, including the collapse at Pitt that led to a triple overtime defeat, any victory would have been welcomed.
What made the interview fascinating, however, was what wasn’t said.
There was much talk about Da’Sean Butler and Truck Bryant, conversation touching on Kevin Jones and kudos for Wellington Smith, who has suddenly emerged as the kind of player he probably should have been far earlier in his career.
But, unless it slipped by without notice, there was no little or no mention of Devin Ebanks, either by Caridi, who directs the conversation, or Huggins, who puts the meat on the bone that Caridi throws out there.
What made that so interesting is that by not speaking to Ebanks performance they said volumes.
In many ways this was one of Ebanks’ finest performances. He scored 21 points, which was only a point off his career high.
The rest of his line in the box score was no less impressive, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
Considering that much of it came in the first half when WVU opened up a comfortable lead, it had a certain intrinsic value, too.
Yet somehow it was under the radar, barely a blip on the overall picture that this game created.
In some ways that says so much about Ebanks.
While all eyes have been on Butler through most of the season, Huggins pushing and promoting him as he should with a senior star, Ebanks has gone through a mystifying season.
It started with him missing the season’s first three games without so much as explanation from the coach nor from the player upon his return. In a more aggressive media market, perhaps, the speculation would have run rampant but here in West Virginia the attitude is more laid back and an athlete is given some of the wiggle room he may not get in a major city.
Then there was a matter of a hand injury that also never had a satisfactory explanation, perhaps not needing one since he did not miss time with it, but it seemed that his play was not nearly what it was expected to be while his hand was taped.
The truth is, through much of this season, Ebanks has not performed like a player who is ready to jump to the NBA, as everyone expects him to do.
He has been good, maybe even very good.
But if you are going to the NBA early, you are expected to be great.
Ebanks was averaging only 11.5 points a game entering the matchup with Providence. He had not shot particularly well and Huggins even had mentioned in pre-game interviews that Ebanks “has not made a jump shot.”
At a slender, athletic 6-9 he is a unique athlete, neither a scorer nor a rebounder but a little of both. He is as much a guard as he is a forward, a defensive presence who handle a smaller man defensively while giving matchup problems to the opponent.
You sense that Huggins expects Ebanks to depart at season’s end for the NBA, even though he doesn’t quite seem ready for the jump at this time.
To look at it in a different way, Huggins may well be looking ahead to his team next year, a team without Butler and without Wellington Smith. If it is a team without Ebanks, too, you have to believe that Huggins will rely quite heavily on young Deniz Kilicli for an inside game, which is more of what you would expect of the Bob Huggins who made his reputation coaching in Cincinnati.
If, somehow, Huggins can convince Ebanks that he needs that other year of seasoning, to build his body even further, to work on his jump shot, to perform the role that Da’Sean Butler now performs as the featured player in the offense, the Mountaineers might be a contender for a national title.
What it comes down to is that staying another year might well be best for all concerned, for Ebanks is not yet the kind of player who dominates games or post-game discussions of those contests.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
