MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Roll film. Cue the music. Fade from black. Annnnnd action!
Whether we realize it or not, the West Virginia men’s and women’s basketball teams are in the early stages this season of what could make a great film one day, or at the very least, one hell of a story.
Whether that story has a happy ending or not is still to be determined, but there is no doubting it will be one wild ride before it’s all said and done.
Begin with the men, winners over Boston University on Friday, 69-44, to improve to 4-0 on the year.
The roles of The Avengers have already been turned into a blockbuster, so we’ll go with The Returners.
All of them beaten and conquered characters — far from heroes — a year ago. They are now forced to pull themselves up from the ashes to right so many wrongs that happened during a 15-21 season at a school with so much basketball pride and tradition.
They are still far from perfect, a work in progress to say the least. They are older, maybe wiser, maybe more prepared for the journey.
They’ve added optimism through a wide-eyed and talented freshman in Oscar Tshiebwe, a McDonald’s All-American at a school that is mostly unacquainted with such accomplishments from its recruits.
He is no savior, has never been presented in that light, but remains a vital piece to the Mountaineers’ present and future.
There is just as much drama on the women’s side, which features the classic story of the fallen hero, or so we once thought.
Before Tynice Martin was suspended for a violation of team rules — she pleaded to a battery charge this summer, as part of a plea deal — it was just assumed she would come back as a senior and set most of West Virginia’s career scoring records and ride off into the sunset of the WNBA.
The suspension made her human. Not that she wasn’t before, but we could no longer view her as foolproof and with no weaknesses.
Along comes Kysre Gondrezick, herself a story in that she went through enough personal tribulations that it made her take a year away from the game last season.
She comes back and suddenly becomes one of the top scorers in the nation while Martin is away from the team.
And now Martin has returned, too. More determined than ever? Maybe. A stronger person? Probably.
Both teams are loaded with potential, although that can be a very dangerous word in athletics.
Both are also loaded with a recent history of too much bad drama, injuries, setbacks and coming up short of our aspirations.
Which leads us back to the 2019-20 season. At this point, neither team is a finished product, far from it.
If this was indeed a movie, it would be great to hit the fast-forward button to some point in January or February to get a glimpse of just how far these teams have come.
Just don’t expect the coaches and players to agree with that theory.
“Not really. You have to go through the process,” WVU women’s coach Mike Carey said. “The players need to go through it. Let’s face it, you need to weed through certain things and discover certain things about your team. That’s what we’re doing right now.”
Will this season produce NCAA tournaments? Big 12 titles? That all remains to be seen, but no one in either program is ready to fast track this season just to find out what may be.
“These games are key, especially for the young guys and the guys who are new to this level,” WVU forward Emmitt Matthews said. “You’ve got to play these games. Some guys might want to fast forward to the games with bigger crowds and big student sections, but these games are always going to be key. I think everyone would say that.
“We’re building up our confidence right now as a team and we’re building up our morale, so when we eventually get to that point, we’ll be more ready than we were last season.”
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