Let’s Go Mountaineerzzzzzz

With a West Virginia University alumnus father, the Mountaineers who were I grew up watching. They are the only team that I would dare consider myself a diehard fan. I grew up watching their few year streak of football success and a couple years of basketball success including a Final Four trip in 2010. Outside of that, they’ve always been a relatively mediocre sports program but I still proudly wear their logo and root for them like no one else and I particularly love Bob Huggins.

But I have to confess, watching their basketball team play in the last five years and even through their Sweet 16 appearance this year, is the only thing that could put me to sleep faster than C-SPAN.

They’ve come to epitomize modern day boring, ugly, rough and tumble college basketball. While it occasionally has its moments of charm, it is not a brand of exhilarating ball.

To their credit however, they seemed to have mastered it. A smothering full court press, gritty rebounding, and consistent hustle has been their M.O. Yet somehow they still manage to squeak out wins shooting less than 40 percent and scoring fewer than 60 points consistently.

Were it anyone else but my beloved Mountaineers I would be feverishly rooting against them. Yet here I am streaming the game, cheering like a maniac for the team from Morgantown.