I received a message from Taryn McCutcheon just after 11 p.m. last Saturday night, telling me she was moving to Michigan.
I talked again to the Ostrowski Award winner and Michigan State signee the next day, as she explained that she did not want news of the move to be blown out of proportion. It was an unassuming hope of someone who doesn't make nearly as big of a deal about herself as others - myself included - do.
The resulting storm of coverage that descended on her last Monday morning was to be expected. While some debated the importance of McCutcheon's move to the Class AAA state championship hunt, there is no doubt that McCutcheon's leaving West Virginia did two things.
First, it provided another example of how West Virginia communities struggle to cope with the success of their peers. We tend to eat our own. McCutcheon had plenty of naysayers in Parkersburg and throughout the state. Some were sportswriters, some were girls basketball fans, some were just people looking for a conventional opinion to disagree with so they appeared to be more knowledgeable than others.
Haters, I believe they're called.
"She's too small," was one common critique. "Who is she going to defend in the Big Ten?," was another. There were others. They don't warrant being listed. A group of sportswriters that included myself sat on press row during the Class AAA title game last March and listened to a Parkersburg South parent berate McCutcheon - and threaten to punch a writer - through the course of the Patriots' loss to Morgantown until a Charleston police officer intervened.
Does this sound familiar? If you've been following prep sports, it should. It's reminiscent of 2012, when a year after winning the Kennedy Award as a junior, George Washington's Ryan Switzer committed to North Carolina, then endured criticism after criticism about his size, his confident attitude and seemingly everything else before winning the Kennedy a second time.
Switzer was recently named as an All-American for the second time in his college career, incidentally. He's not doing too poorly with that small body and confident attitude that, like McCutcheon's, is a lot more humble than people who don't know them would like to believe.
Interestingly enough, both Switzer and McCutcheon also strong, spiritual individuals. They tend to wear their faith on their sleeves and are intensely close to their families, and those facts have undoubtedly seen the student-athletes through more hard times than either deserve. Both are abundantly kind, as well. They walk it like they talk it.
Second, and less important, McCutcheon's move opens the door for a talented group of players vying for the Ostrowski Award in 2016. The award, named for former Parkersburg Catholic and University of Tennessee star Mary Ostrowski, goes to the state's top girls basketball player each year.
Without delving too far into statistics and resumes as we enter mid-January, Wyoming East sophomore Gabby Lupardus might be the odds-on favorite. The Warriors point guard has her team at 11-0 entering the week, and is averaging 17.9 points, 7.1 assists, 5.9 steals and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Morgantown is unbeaten and at this point looks almost invincible, but in winning two state titles in his first two years as coach, Jason White has molded the program to win through its defense, a formula that isn't terribly conducive to producing state players of the year. I'm sure the Mohigans are just fine with that.
Parkersburg South, without McCutcheon, has two potential candidates in senior wing Katelyn Byrd and senior pivot Anna Hayton. It will be interesting, to say the least, to watch how the Patriots evolve without McCutcheon in the lineup.
South Charleston junior point guard Aaliyah Dunham also has to be viewed as a candidate. Dunham has taken on more of the scoring burden for the Black Eagles this season, and anyone who has seen the Vine of her slick ball handling and movement against St. Albans last week knows she is ridiculously fun to watch.
McCutcheon is fun to watch as well. She'll continue to be at East Lansing High School and at Michigan State. For us still in West Virginia, it's time to find the next big thing. Hopefully we won't ruin it.