What's in a name?

Day 5: West Virginia | Traveling Violations

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Pittsnogle. Kevin Pittsnogle.

Colorful name. Six-eleven. Big tattoos. Goatee. Clutch, sweet jumper. Straight out of a Martinsburg, W.Va., trailer park and looking every bit of it.

Pittsnogle.

Does anyone not love Kevin Pittsnogle?

"I think because of his name and his unique style of play, he would be pretty popular even if he wasn't from West Virginia," said Mountaineer coach John Beilein.

But since he is, and since he was one of the stars of West Virginia's Elite Eight run a year ago (where he became one of those March Madness cult heroes), and is now back for a senior year encore at Old State U, well, you can't measure Pittsnogle's popularity around here.

"Actually, everybody already knew me in the state," Pittsnogle said. "[But] after the NCAA tournament, I could go out of state and people knew me."

I'll make no bones about the fact that Kevin Pittsnogle is my favorite college basketball player this year. What's not to like? Let's start with the name.

"The first time I heard it," laughed Mountaineer guard Patrick Beilein, the coach's son, "my dad had a list of all the kids West Virginia had signed. I heard the name and said, he's got to be from West Virginia.' And sure enough . . ."

Everyone laughs about the name, including Pittsnogle himself. Its origin though, he isn't sure of.

"I have no clue," he smiled. "Everybody asks. I asked my dad and he didn't know."

Pittsnogle said he didn't get teased too badly for the name growing up, but when you wind up being 6-foot-11 and 255 pounds, and have big tattoos, kids tend to avoid teasing you.

"I get Pitts-NEW-gel a lot," said PITTS-nog-uhl. "Or they add letters to it. Schmidtsnoogle or something. It's weird."

OK, how about the face-up game? Pittsnogle looks like a big lug of a guy, but rather than plod around on the blocks, he spent most of his youth shooting jumpers on a hoop outside his home. He is a career 41.8 percent three point shooter and Saturday, in an 88-69 season-opening victory over Louisiana-Monroe, he nailed one three and five of six free throws to wind up with 18 points.

The most lasting memories from the Mountaineers' Big East Tourney and NCAA runs were of him squared to the hoop, nailing big shots.

"I've just always shot from outside," he said.

Then there is the appearance, which belies a fun-loving guy. The tattoos are huge and are on each bicep, forearm, and even a calf. He looks mean. He isn't. Off the court he is relaxed, married for just over a year and completely comfortable around fans.

"He's a great guy," said forward Frank Young. "He has a great sense of humor, real outgoing."

And, finally, there is his hometown of Martinsburg (pop. 15,000) in the far eastern panhandle of the state, where he grew up the son of a mechanic father and mother who worked at senior citizen center. Pittsnogle says it is nothing like the rest of West Virginia, which is almost completely mountainous.

"There are no hills, it is flat," he said. "It is an urban area."

Urban?

"Well, it has a little downtown," he said.

Martinsburg may not be your classic West Virginia coal mining hollow – it actually has people who make the 90-mile commute to Washington, D.C. – but Pittsnogle's pride for and love of his home state knows no bounds. Before Beilein became West Virginia's head coach, he tried to recruit Pittsnogle to the University of Richmond, but after a few conversations knew there wasn't much chance.

"We couldn't get involved," said Beilein. "Everyone knew if West Virginia was going to offer, he was going to West Virginia. And fortunately it did."

West Virginia is a humble, blue collar, little-rough-around-the-edges state that is easy to underestimate. That would also adequately describe Pittsnogle, who is one of the centerpieces of a classic college basketball outfit.

The Mountaineers are ranked in the Top 15. The program is surging. They aren't out of line to dream of a Final Four. Wouldn't the home state belong to Pittsnogle then?

"West Virginia is just a great place to live," he said. "There is always something to do, there are great people, people are friendly. It's great. It really is."

Pittsnogle in Morgantown. It really can't get much better than this.

Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Click here to follow him on Twitter. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Updated on Monday, Nov 14, 2005 3:14 pm, EST

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