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MORGANTOWN-- There's an old sports idiom used to emphasize the importance of being a team player over an individual that goes "There is no i in team."
But as this 2023-24 basketball season takes shape it's highly likely that West Virginians will put a new twist on it by noting "There may not be any i's in team but there are two i's in Kriisa to make up for it."
Kerr Kriisa, you see, has never been accused of being a "me-first" player. The new point guard who transfers to the Mountaineers this season from Arizona is so much of a Mountaineer that he went through the transfer portal twice, not once, both pre- and post-Bob Huggins before deciding he wanted to play in Morgantown.
He bought in so fully so early that when he announced he was leaving the University of Arizona after three years he admitted in his Instagram post announcing his decision to attend WVU that "I know ("Take Me Home, Country Roads") by heart."
He picked the Mountaineers in large part because of Huggins, then re-entered the portal after his resignation only to decide that this was where he wanted to be.
A native of Estonia who played a lot of international basketball in nearby Lithuania -- they border Latvia to the north and south -- Kriisa is the ultimate "pass-first point guard."
"We're probably going to have to beg him into being more aggressive in terms of taking his shot because he really is a pass-first guy," coach Josh Eilert said during his practice-opening press conference. "He's going to have to be a little more aggressive and try to take those open shots when he gets them."
Kriisa pleads guilty to the charge.
"The first time I chose West Virginia I said, 'OK, I can come here and move the ball around.' Now my role is little bit different. I have to start shooting more. It's kind of weird, because my instincts are to be a pass-first point guard. It's hard to be more selfish," Kriisa explained.
"I just love passing so much. Now, I'm old, it's time start changing some habits."
While he first was taken in as a youth by the game of soccer, he wound up moving to basketball, even though his father, a former player himself, did not push him to that.
"My dad let me make my own decisions. He wasn't one of those dads yelling at their sons from the sidelines. I don't want to disrespect anybody, but the American dads are that way," he said. "I did my own thing. I trusted my gut … and here I am."
And so he became a point guard, but was probably destined for that. He stands 6-3 and weighs 185, for one thing, and one cannot discount the way his future was shaped when he was named Kerr after former Arizona point guard Steve Kerr.
He wasn't a sure bet to pack his bags and head to the U.S. to play college ball. He enjoyed playing on the national teams against and with professionals.
"National teams are always special," he said. "You grow up in a country and everyone grows up in the same culture. That's all you know. When you have 12 guys who eat the same food all their lives, who believe in the same stuff, it's very special.
"Then you have the fans. It's hard to explain, but national teams are something I don't take for granted and nobody should take for granted. They are my favorite things; super fun and I don't know how to put it into words. They are different than college."
At 16, he heavily weighed going to professional basketball, but something was gnawing at him.
"You are a 16-year-old kid. You have a teammate who is 35. Practice ends, you shower and he needs to go right away back to his house because he has two kids and a wife to take care of. Then you are there, 16 years old, away from home and you think what should I do? Everybody leaves and you feel lonely.
"College is more fun."
And so he headed to Arizona to play for one of the great point guards, Sean Miller, the former Pitt star, and the Wildcats were a national powerhouse, getting No. 1 and No. 2 seeds the past couple of years.
But he got the itch to try something different.
"I felt it was time to move on. I had a great three years there under Sean Miller and Tommy Lloyd. There was no animosity. I talked to the coaches and they understood it," he said.
It was Huggins and his top recruiter, Jay Kuntz, who sold him on WVU and this was the reasoning he offered up when he announced his decision the first time.
"I wanted to start from zero," Kriisa said "I didn't want to go anywhere where I had preexisting relationships. I need to challenge myself. I really like how they recruited me. When I saw the old truck that Bob Huggins is driving, I knew that guy was loyal. Now I need to start playing some defense."
Well, Huggins left with problems of his own and Kriisa had to make a new decision.
"Basically, I committed to Coach Bob Huggins and when he was down, I felt everyone deserved a chance to re-recruit me again," he said. "I needed to make sure what Josh wanted to do here. I have to give all the credit to Bob Huggins, too. After everything went down, Bob told me he would be here for me, whatever I need. I felt very comfortable that he would be still in Morgantown and be here for me."
So, Huggins' loyalty remained even if he couldn't.
He believes it was the right decision to stay with the Mountaineers.
"I had very good guys on my team at Arizona and they are now in the league. When I look around here, it's not far off. RaeQuan Battle is a freak athlete. I think there's a lot of potential here and we can do something very, very special," he said.
"I think people are doubting us and I think it's better No. 1 and 2 seeds and it's not always easy to deal with expectations. Everybody is expecting something big to happen and you lose one game and it's 'OK, maybe we don't win the national championship this year,'" Kriisa said.
"But I'm excited. We have nothing to lose. We have a chip on our shoulder and we are representing more than just Morgantown. We represent the whole state, which is very special."