MORGANTOWN — Taz Sherman will walk into the T-Mobile Center Wednesday as the second-leading scorer in the Big 12 and a second-team honoree, as voted by the league’s coaches.
It is a position the fifth-year senior guard could only dream of five years ago when, it seemed, no one wanted him on their basketball team.
“It’s kind of crazy, because a lot of people thought I couldn’t be here,” Sherman said. “Now, it’s like wrapping up. It’s kind of surreal.”
Despite playing in one of the largest classifications in Texas and helping his Fort Bend Thurgood Marshall high school team reach the Class 5A state finals, Sherman had zero Division I offers coming out of high school.
There were some offers from colleges in lower divisions, but those didn’t interest him.
For a moment, Sherman admits his basketball career nearly ended right there.
“When my high school season was over, I was thinking about not playing, because I had no options,” he said.
What would life had been like if Sherman put down the basketball? Thankfully, he says, he didn’t have to find out.
In his three seasons at WVU, Sherman built a resume as a scorer with 17 games of 20 or more points. One more of those will put him in a tie for 25th all-time in school history in that category.
WVU head coach Bob Huggins wonders how much more that could have been, because Sherman’s final season with the Mountaineers has been met with many obstacles.
Sherman was in COVID-19 protocol and missed a game in January, before needing several weeks to build back his stamina and strength.
He was struck in the head later that month in a game against Baylor and sat out another week with a concussion.
“He’s had some really tough breaks,” Huggins said. “Taz started out the season and he sprained his ankle. It’s been one thing after the other. It’s sad to see a guy who has put the time and effort in that he has and hasn’t been able to play to his fullest potential.”
It’s been a roller coaster, Sherman admits, one he’s been willing to ride considering the odds he’d already overcome.
He got back into basketball when an olive branch of sorts was extended his way.
Collin College, in McKinley, Tex., was a junior college that offered Sherman a chance to keep playing and maybe get bigger and stronger and get more exposure to Division I schools.
“I always felt like I had this in me,” he said. “I had the one opportunity with Collin College and I just made the most out of it.”
You give a guy a chance, and there’s never a way to predict what he’ll do with it. Sherman took his and became a junior-college All-American, which led to his recruitment to WVU.
That feeling of continuing to play with a chip on his shoulder, Sherman said it’s been there his entire college career, but he also carries with him the satisfaction that’s come from the opportunity of one day helping his family with a pro career.
“I was like, O.K., maybe I’m the one that can do it for this family and for the generations to go on,” Sherman said. “It’s been more about trying to do something good for my family.”
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