West Virginia dropped a game it should have never lost Friday night, a 73-65 stinker against Monmouth that was a result of a lack of shooters, lack of hustle and, quite honestly, probably a lack of heart.
It is within this context we could go any number of ways, many of which you are already familiar with.
Rather than rehash a chaotic offseason that put WVU in between a boulder and an even bigger boulder to begin this season, we are instead going to talk about forward Quinn Slazinski.
His words following the loss just may have been the greatest example of a young man opening up and pouring out not only his heart, but the truth.
“I kind of look at it as playing up to your ability,” the senior said. “You miss shots in basketball, but there’s some stuff that’s just inexcusable. We have to be the first ones to the court and on the floor. If we aren’t, the media should kill us for it. We deserve that.”
In 16 years of covering WVU basketball, I’ve never heard anything so passionate and truthful from a college player before.
And this is Quinn Slazinski in a nutshell. He is someone that if you get just five minutes to talk with him, you take every second of those five minutes.
After a win, he is fun-loving and comes up with quotes that fill enough stories for a week.
Such was the case after WVU’s first game of the season, a win against Missouri State in which the Mountaineers couldn’t buy a basket in the first half.
“I don’t want this to sound the wrong way, but it was almost borderline hilarious,” he said. “We came into halftime and we were like, ‘We’re going to set a world record for (lowest) field-goal percentage.’ ”
Yet this was not a jovial and fun-loving moment. Every coach and every player knows what’s on the line with this season. They don’t have to be told what they’ve already been through.
Most guys would hide from a responsibility to talk to the media in this situation Friday. Over the years, many of WVU’s players in a leadership position have done just that.
And then there is Slazinski. He wasn’t pointing fingers. He didn’t bash his teammates or the refs. Rather he sat behind that microphone and spoke like a young man who has become a leader.
“We are here to play at a high level. We did not show that tonight,” he continued. “Fifty-fifty balls, in a West Virginia jersey? Growing up as a kid, West Virginia didn’t lose 50-50 balls.
“We’ve got to have some of that toughness. We’ve got to have some of that fight and play with some emotion.”
The only emotion the Mountaineers (1-1) showed on this night was frustration, and that only came in the second half once Monmouth’s (1-1) lead began to grow.
Some of that was surely overconfidence that was turning into embarrassment and some of it was the old David beating Goliath feeling, and it’s never fun to be Goliath.
“We have to understand that kids that average 11 (points) might come to play us here and try to score 50 points,” Slazinski said. “It’s just like when the mid-major teams playing in March Madness, people get superpowers. It was a hell of a game by them. Those guys played hard.”
The super-powered guy on this night was Xander Rice, who went for a career-high 30 points.
“We can’t let guys come into our building and have career nights,” Slazinski said. “These guys are going to be excited to come in and play here in a big building in front of fans. I played at a mid-major for two years and couldn’t wait for these games.”
There is really no telling where WVU’s season goes from here. In truth, it could go in about 100 different directions.
On this night, though, I heard something I’ve never heard before and will never forget it.
And wherever this season goes, there is much confidence in Slazinski — win or lose — to keep us all informed of what’s going through the mind of a young man on a unique team in a unique situation while living it out in real time.
