MORGANTOWN — This can either be filed under the get-real category or it’s an interesting nugget that somehow sets the scene for an amazing late-season run.
Either way, it is yet another reminder of just how differently college athletes view the sports world compared to the rest of us who simply watch, analyze, celebrate or agonize over it.
It’s a story told by Jasper Floyd, point guard of the WVU men’s basketball team.
That’s the same WVU men’s team most of us would agree is caught in the middle of, well, they’re just in the middle at the moment. The Mountaineers (14-8, 5-4 Big 12) aren’t considered close to being a bubble team for the NCAA tournament, yet they are also far from being in such a disrespected place like, say, Pitt is.
Yet, the way Floyd tells the story, one would conclude that WVU players believe they’re just minutes away from landing in Joe Lunardi’s First Four Out.
“We’ve talked about the (NCAA tournament) a little bit,” Floyd said Tuesday, as the Mountaineers prepared for their upcoming road matchup against Cincinnati on Thursday. “It’s tough, because we all have a goal in mind. I believe and we believe we still control our own destiny.
“If we can continue to control what we can control and focus on the next day, the next practice, the next game, we can put ourselves in the best place possible.”
This is where the split of realities comes in, and it has always been a fascinating topic to me. I know what the computers and projections are spitting out about WVU right now. Most of you do, too. It isn’t good.
Whether it’s WVU’s strength of schedule (107th in the country), RPI ranking (99th) or NET ranking (66th), all the metrics say the Mountaineers need a miracle run over their final nine games of the regular season to even get into the NCAA tourney conversation.
Rest assured, WVU players are not oblivious to those metrics. I guarantee you there is at least one player on WVU’s roster who knows all of those rankings by heart, and then could hit you with even more, such as Ken Pomeroy efficiency ratings or ESPN Power Index numbers.
There is always at least one player on every college hoops roster – men’s or women’s – who is a bracketologist. Always.
On the outside, we say no way. Among the players, it is a totally different world.
“It’s at any time,” Floyd said on when a conversation about the NCAA tournament may pop up. “Practice, before games, in the locker room after practice, eating; yeah it’s at any time really. We all know what’s at stake. That conversation is easy to come up. It’s on our minds all the time.”
You may see that as grasping for very thin straws or holding on to a hope that is hardly there. At best, that is simply the team’s point guard getting behind the microphone and just saying the right things publicly.
It’s not.
“I was talking to one of our managers today, actually,” said Floyd, who transferred to WVU this season from North Texas, but began his career at Fairfield. “We were talking about the bubble watch. I told him every place I’ve been, I had to win the conference in order to get to the tournament.
“We all know we don’t have to do that here. We just have to control what we can control, take care of business and focus on beating Cincinnati at Cincinnati.”
To some degree, it is admirable to be able to see the positive when most around you see the opposite. It is a trait that will work favorably for young men like Floyd in the real world.
The fascinating part is it’s very doubtful college athletes see it as a type of trait. It is simply their way of life. It’s who they are.
As long as there is even the slimmest of avenues available to attain a goal, they will work, sweat and grind until someone finally tells them to stop.
So, it’s just not rah-rah talk. You need to win the Big 12 tournament to get in, fine, that’s the mission they will focus on. You need a miracle; they will work for the miracle.
We look at the projections and see one thing. They look at those exact same numbers and see opportunity. It really is fascinating.
“The best thing for us is to just focus on the now,” Floyd said. “We just have to stay in the moment as best as possible.”
