MORGANTOWN — I am convinced that somewhere out there in the far reaches of the galaxy, out there where satellites and even the largest telescopes can’t reach, there has to be a place where West Virginia fans are a content and happy bunch.
It’s a world not much different than the one we know, except it is one where Major Harris doesn’t get hurt in the national championship game against Notre Dame, Pat McAfee makes those damn field goals against Pitt and Da’Sean Butler picks himself off the floor against Duke and leads a magical comeback over the final eight minutes in the Final Four.
And Gia Cooke’s shot with three seconds remaining against Kentucky on Monday night in the second round of the women’s NCAA tournament would have rolled around that rim and fallen through instead of rolling out.
In our world, Cooke’s shot rolled out and the 11th-ranked Mountaineers lost a heartbreaker, 74-73, against No. 16 Kentucky in front of a nearly sold-out Hope Coliseum crowd of 12,830.
“She did a good job of creating separation and she got the shot up,” Kentucky head coach Kenny Brooks said. “The basketball gods have a funny way of imposing their will. We were very fortunate that it didn’t go in.”
If such an alternate world does exist, my final wish on this Earth would be for every diehard fan of WVU athletics somehow getting transported there just to be able to experience what that pure joy must feel like, even if it was just for one day. Heck, for one hour.
Because this sucks. That feeling of getting built up, having an enormous amount of pride and anticipation thrown into your bones, your soul, believing THIS will be the time, only to have it thrust away in the most painful manner is excruciating.
One day, a WVU fan has to believe the Mountaineers will capture their moment in the national spotlight and ride off laughing into the sunset, while breaking their opponents’ hearts. That day was not Monday.
Instead it was Cooke’s heart that was adrift. Jordan Harrison had to hold back tears to speak about the legacy she created in her three seasons with the Mountaineers (28-7), who won a total of 78 games with Harrison playing point guard.
“It was just kind of a moment where, like, is this real?” WVU guard Sidney Shaw said. “Especially having to look around at all the fans and thanking them. I think that it hit me that this was my last moment in the Coliseum.”
Make no mistake, this loss doesn’t fall on Cooke’s miss. The junior was absolutely fantastic with 23 points. Every time Kentucky (25-10) appeared to be pulling away, Shaw willed the Mountaineers right back into the game. She, too, scored 23 points in what was her final collegiate game.
Harrison was the leader she’s always been, fighting through some of the hardest-set screens she’s ever had to fight through. In her final game, she went for 11 points, four assists and four steals. With 110 steals on the season, she fell four thefts shy of reaching the school’s single-season record.
The truth simply played out in this one. Kentucky was just too big and just as athletic in certain spots than WVU head coach Mark Kellogg’s bunch. That 39-23 rebounding advantage for Kentucky stood out big time.
Yet, the Mountaineers somehow didn’t deserve this ending. Kellogg didn’t deserve it. What he’s accomplished in his three seasons with the Mountaineers is truly remarkable.
“These are the hardest ones for a lot of reasons,” Kellogg began in his postgame media conference. “So many emotions, and I’ll try to get through them as best that I can. It was a phenomenal college basketball game, a phenomenal environment. Thank you Mountaineers fans for that. That was special.
“This is a hard one. I don’t think we even thought about the end.”
And the cold, hard truth – and this is what no sports writer is ever supposed to admit – it’s hard as hell to write these words today. I can still hear Butler’s painful scream that night in Indianapolis against Duke in 2010. It happened 30 feet in front of me.
I was there at Kendrick Family Ballpark when Texas A&M’s Bryce Blaum hit that grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat WVU in 2019, when it was hosting its own NCAA baseball regional.
I would like to be able to tell you that it’s somehow going to get better for WVU fans. We all know that’s just a guess. Probably not even a good one.
That’s why I would like to believe there is another world out there where the story is different. Where Kellogg and Harrison and the rest of what was a resilient bunch are making plans to go to the Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas today, rather than the alternative.
By now, with what WVU fans, athletes and coaches have had to experience over the years, they deserved this one time.
“It honestly didn’t feel real at first,” Harrison said. “It definitely didn’t feel real.”
