Mountaineers close home season tonight vs. TCU
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia's men's basketball team holds its Senior Night in a rematch with TCU on this evening at the Coliseum in a game originally scheduled for 9 p.m. and now changed to a 7 p.m. tipoff with TV coverage provided by ESPN+.
It is a meaningless game to the standings, as WVU sits in last place in the Big 12, with one more regular season game to follow, that at Cincinnati on Saturday before heading off for the conference championship and what is expected to be a short stay in Kansas City.
"I know it will be an emotional night for us. We're saying goodbye to 10 people -- six players, three managers and one student trainer. They have given a lot to this program," interim coach Josh Eilert, who probably is coaching his final game in the Coliseum, said.
"One last time in front of the great fans of this state and this great university. I can't say enough about what the fans have given us this year. We went through everything we went through this year and the fans have always been there and given us everything they had.
"That's a testament to the great people of this state and the loyal people of West Virginia University."
It gets tougher each year, however, to have the emotional attachment to the team that represents your school or your state, no matter what that may be, as college basketball transitions itself from what was an amateur activity -- at least, in theory -- to a true professional platform where players are paid and where loyalty has gone the way of the center jump after each basket.
Consider Senior Night. There was a time, and it wasn't so long ago, when you as a fan could watch your team's players grow from gawky teens who were in awe of everything they encountered along the way into smooth adults and performers.
You had four, sometimes five, years to get to know most of them, to know them on the street, in the downtown establishments. To cheer for them maybe 80 or more times in a career, players such as Jerry West or Da'Sean Butler or Joe Mazzulla or Kevin Pittsnogle.
But now they come, they transfer, they leave early for the professional ranks.
Consider this Senior Night. Six players are walking down the carpet for the final time … but who, really, are the seniors and how long have they been at WVU?
RaeQuan Battle is a true senior who is out of eligibility, a player who had to fight for the right to play here under an NCAA rulebook that eventually was tossed aside rather than fight the transfer portal rule through the courts. He has played 19 games in his Mountaineer career.
Kerr Kriisa, who has played only 20 games as Mountaineer, will be leaving after the season, as will Jesse Edwards, who also has played 20 games. Akok Akok has played 21 games and has used up his eligibility.
Pat Suemnick has played two years at WVU and has played 50 games while Quinn Slazinski has played 29 games and is looking into trying to get another year of eligibility through a medical waiver after suffering an injury while at Iona.
Noah Farrakhan is listed as a senior but has not yet received a degree, so he is probably returning as he couldn't transfer without sitting out a year unless he could get a waiver or is freed under a rules change this year.
As they take the floor against TCU, which is 19-10 and 8-8 in the conference compared with WVU's 9-20 and 4-12 conference record, the Mountaineers would not seem to have much to play for, but Eilert expects he will have one message for them pregame.
"Leave it all on the floor," he said. "A lot of people have come through here. You have to represent yourself first and your family and understand you are representing your university."
Eilert admits he was unhappy over the last two and a half minutes of the loss at Texas Tech.
"I was disappointed and I know they were frustrated. But now we have one last time to put on the jersey in front of the home crowd. Regret in life can be very painful and lasts forever. Don't hold onto regret. Leave everything out on the floor," he said.
TCU won the first meeting between the two teams in Fort Worth, 81-65, despite 21 points from Battle.