2 hours Ago By Justin Jackson, The Dominion Post
If you were hoping for a quick one-liner or some type of I-told-you-so out of WVU head coach Darian DeVries or his players following their 86-78 overtime upset of No. 3 Gonzaga on Wednesday, it didn’t happen. Nor may it ever.
There was a ton of other stuff revealed in the Mountaineers’ win in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis, the kind of stuff that WVU fans may enjoy for years to come with DeVries on the sidelines. His players are resilient, gritty and confident. No, it may not have looked that way a couple of weeks ago in a 24-point loss against Pitt, but it poured out of every vein against the heavily-favored Bulldogs (5-1).
And when it was said and done, sure there was celebration, a little jubilation, but this group never came off as it didn’t belong in the moment it had just created. “Like I told the team, this wasn’t really a statement,” DeVries said. “Our whole focus has been just on us trying to be the best version of ourselves.
“We don’t really listen to a lot of outside stuff. By no means have we arrived or anything. It was a great win, a great 45 minutes, but we still have plenty of room to grow into and we look forward to doing that.
” This group, made up of 12 scholarship players who were all playing somewhere else last season, just beat the third-ranked team in the country with the best coach in the country in Mark Few. WVU point guard Javon Small just had himself a game with 31 points and seven rebounds. He could have easily played up the fact he had just outplayed Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard or how he took the fight to the Bulldogs in the overtime, scoring five points, while Gonzaga had seven points total.
Instead, he calmly went up to the microphone and answered questions as if he’d experienced this type of feeling hundreds of times before. “The win is more important,” he said. “I know I played pretty well.
I did what the team needed me to do. I mean, all around I think I had a pretty good game, but the win is just more important.” Tucker DeVries sent the game into overtime literally by himself.
Facing a 71-66 deficit with 25.6 seconds remaining, DeVries nailed a 3-pointer, picked up a steal, and then tied the game with two clutch free throws. He didn’t pound his chest after the game.
He never once made it a look-at-me moment that you see everywhere else in college and pro athletics. In fact, DeVries was rather boring, but boring is OK. To be honest, boring — when it comes to this team — is actually quite refreshing.
There is no constant crying to the officials for every foul called from this bunch, no feeling that they would ever be overwhelmed by many opponents, regardless of the ranking next to the name. They simply go out and play basketball, hard. Some nights it will look pretty, other nights it may get a little ugly.
They will get beat, but on some nights, maybe when you least expect it, this bunch will jump out of nowhere and get you. Regardless of which case unfolds, this WVU bunch under Darian DeVries will be composed and professional. No, maybe they won’t hit you with headline-making quotes or predictions.
Maybe their postgame press conferences won’t be must-watch TV. Instead, they will go about their business and do they’re talking on the court. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be.
“By no means have we arrived,” Darian DeVries quickly pointed out. Maybe not, but DeVries took one giant leap Wednesday into showing the entire basketball world just what type of product he can mold. In so many different ways, it’s a product worth getting behind.
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