Difficult season helping Knapper to grow

BOSTON –When West Virginia takes the floor Friday night, you might notice No. 5 in the warm up line.

He hasn’t played all season, and won’t play barring something unforeseen – but he still has an important place both on this year’s club and with future ones.

No. 5 is no other than freshman guard Brandon Knapper.

A Charleston native that played high school ball at South Charleston, Knapper spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy and appeared well on his way to seeing time in the Mountaineers back court rotation in the pre-season before the unthinkable happened.

During a workout over the summer, Knapper felt something wrong with his knee. He initially thought it was a minor issue and continued to work out and shoot on it.

But it wasn’t minor.

After an x-ray, it was diagnosed that Knapper has torn his meniscus.

“It happened so quick,” he recalls. “When I found out I got hurt, it broke my heart.”

Tough news for anybody to hear, but especially for a player that had never been injured and hasn’t found himself off the court often in his career.

Knapper didn’t sulk though.

From the time it was discovered the expectation was that he would not return this season although there were glimmers of hope at times. Still, all parties decided it would be best for his development long term and his health if he didn’t push the issue.

So he didn’t.

“They wanted me to come back next year and come back stronger,” Knapper said.

The biggest loss for Knapper is the fact that while he has practiced against them, he will never have the opportunity to share the court with seniors Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles. The two have been instrumental in his overall on-the-court development as well as his initial decision to attend school.

Sure there have been dark times during the process, but Knapper has trusted the process. And more importantly his teammates and his coaches.

One player he has relied on has been redshirt sophomore James “Beetle” Bolden, who also sustained a knee injury and missed his entire freshman season before it even began. At the time he used his teammates, especially Carter, to pull him out so he has paid that forward in a sense.

“It was honestly tough throughout the year because you want to be out there helping your team. I know he’s frustrated over there but it’s part of it. I’ve never really seen him down about it,” Bolden said.

That encouragement has gone a long way for Knapper, who has taken the advice from Bolden and applied it to his preparation for next year. While his eyes are still on the future, he isn’t losing sight of the present either as he is traveling with the team and soaking up the NCAA Tournament experience.

He also has ways that he can still help the team as well as he is back to where he can indeed take the floor.

“They still treat me like I’m part of the team and still playing,” Knapper said. “My time is helping them get better and I just go hard in practice.”

Coaches have taken the same approach integrating him into everything the team does.

In practice, Knapper has had to try to overcome the tenacious defensive of some of his teammates while learning how to fit into the scheme and understand the system. It’s been a mental seasoning for him as well by watching film with James Long and other coaches to get familiar with the plays.

“It’s got me tougher brining the ball up as a point guard and getting my team in position to run the offense,” Knapper said.

Physically, the focus has shifted to getting both bigger and stronger to prepare him for next season. Knapper provides a scoring point guard that can get the ball to his teammates and isn’t afraid to get after it on the defensive end as well. Or basically a prototypical Bob Huggins guard.

The waiting is the hardest part, but it won’t be for much longer with Knapper.

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