HUNTINGTON - Are you guys getting this?
I'm asking all of you, whether you live in Charleston, Barboursville or Los Angeles.
The story that's unfolded, I mean, at Marshall University.
The school's basketball season wasn't just dead not too long ago, it was in rigor mortis. Same with the program. Same with the head coach's career.
Yet now, someway, somehow, Marshall is in first place within Conference USA. The Thundering Herd drubbed former second-place Middle Tennessee here Thursday by 82-66 and moved to 7-1 in league play - the same as UAB, which visits Saturday.
This isn't just neat for the Mountain State school. This is stunning. Marshall is 11-10 overall. Allow me to repeat that. Marshall is 11-10 overall - and in first place within its league.
The Thundering Herd is a couple months removed from a six-game losing streak to start the season. It's a few months removed from getting whacked by 24 to Morehead State, which is now 11-9.
Now the Herd is beating a previously second-place conference team with ease, and the 5,724 at the Cam Henderson Center on Thursday melded to create quite an atmosphere. The fans roared when James Kelly forced a turnover and unleashed a 360-degree dunk. They roared when Ryan Taylor put together a 3-point play to make the score 20-13. And they roared when Kelly stole the ball and dunked early in the second half. The chant of "Let's go Herd" ripped through the place.
This isn't shaping up to be a heck of a story. This IS a heck of a story.
Also, there are many angles to it, like the West Virginia angle. Point guard Jon Elmore is from Charleston. Stevie Browning is from Logan. C.J. Burks is from Hedgesville. The first two start and the latter is coming on strong. "C.J. Burks," said coach Dan D'Antoni, "is a find."
"We're doing it with West Virginia kids," D'Antoni said. "Kids that go to school. Kids that you'd be proud to say is your son."
Also, kids that win.
"The biggest difference in their team," said Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis, "is their guards. Elmore is a motor."
Indeed, since Elmore became eligible, MU has become formidable. On Thursday he hit a trey and then threaded a pass through the teeth of the Blue Raider defense to Terrence Thompson for a dunk. He had six assists before the 5-minute mark and finished with nine. When MTSU feigned a comeback late in the first half, Elmore was there to stem it with another trey. He finished with 12 points and six rebounds to go with the assists.
What he's meant is a more free-flowing Marshall offense. Ask James Kelly the difference in his team.
"Just ball movement," he said, "and our energy."
Give D'Antoni credit for some of that energy. As I wrote, this is not only a comeback of a team and program, but a coach as well.
When D'Antoni was hired back in April of 2014, he was roundly panned. I wrote of how Twitter destroyed him, from Dan Wolken of USA Today, Jeff Goodman of ESPN, Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com and Pat Forde of Yahoo. I concluded the piece saying we'll see "whether Dan D'Antoni can shock the college basketball world."
Right now, he is.
"I was one of those kids nobody wanted," D'Antoni, now 22-31 at MU, said Thursday. "I'm glad Marshall did."
He was talking about his playing days. Yet he could have been speaking about being hired. No one but athletic director Mike Hamrick would have made the move. No one.
"I'm proud of the kids," D'Antoni said. "I'm happy for Marshall and Huntington."
Indeed, MU's program is alive and kicking. Amazingly.
"It feels good," Taylor said. "I've been through it all here ... I'm enjoying it and taking it all in."
Taylor said after Elmore was inserted into the lineup and Browning was moved to the shooting guard spot, the team "runs more fluidly now."
The forward smiled.
"We're outside of the top five conferences," he said, "but it's good basketball."
It certainly is these days. Marshall's season has life. Ditto the program. Ditto the coach's career.
Making for a heck of a story indeed.