Macon basketball moves across the globe

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If it seemed like Elijah Macon was just happy to be back around what was familiar to him at the fourth annual West Virginia basketball alumni game, there’s a good reason for that.

Making stops in four different countries in less than a year to play basketball will do that to you.

Such is the life of a professional on the overseas circuit where opportunities are largely determined by which teams reach out to you and the situations that best fit you.

“I’m just trying to get as much experience as possible and meet as many people as possible to make connections,” Macon said. “I’m just marketing myself and doing what I have to do.”

After graduating from West Virginia Macon first started in Hungary for ALBA this past September for a couple months before returning home from for a brief time and then traveling to Mongolia in January for several more months with Arhangai Altan.

After that season wrapped up, Macon would then spend two weeks in Mexico playing with former West Virginia forward John Flowers before finally ending his whirlwind tour in Croatia for three more months of professional basketball with Siroki Primorka.

Once that opportunity had closed he was finally able to return home in mid-May.

Well sort of.

“I didn’t go home; home I came here. But this is like my second home,” he said.

Making an adjustment to one different culture is hard enough, but four had its challenges from a language barrier as well as adjusting to the different time zones with some stops being six hours ahead and Mongolia even a full 12 hours ahead of what he was accustomed to in the states.

“I am still catching up on sleep. I’m not all the way caught up with all the time changes,” Macon said. “That’s all I do now is sleep.”

It was the first time that Macon had left the country since traveling to Canada when he was attending Huntington Prep, but this was a different experience altogether.

Helping ease the adjustments for Macon off the court was the fact that he did have some American teammates on each stop along the way and there were no cultural shocks with the food considering each of the places he visited offered options that reminded him of home.

On the court was a different story, as Macon had to scale back the daily intensity required to play for head coach Bob Huggins and alter the way he played on the court as well. While primarily a post option for the Mountaineers, Macon was able to take a trip back into the time machine and play as he did at the high school level flashing his ability to handle the ball and even shoot the basketball.

That was on display in the alumni game as well, where Macon scored 21 points and hit some threes.

“Nobody has seen me shoot a three in four or five years,” he said.

Such is the game in college basketball however, where players put aside their own personal games for the good of the team. A sacrifice that Macon was more than willing to make.

But now, he can focus on bettering himself as a professional and what he needs to do to become a better player at that level as well which is a different style of game. That starts in practice.

“They want you to calm down and go slow. You have to get used to not trapping and I’ve been trapping for four years. The first thing they asked me to do was hedge a screen and it’s like I’m used to harassing a point guard at half court. That’s what I do,” he said.

Macon credits the time he spent in Morgantown for helping him handle any adversity that is thrown his way and didn’t want to turn down the chance to play in front of the fans that he simply refers to as the “best in college basketball,” at the annual alumni game.

“It’s a home away from home. I’ve been coming here since 2008 and it’s great,” he said.

The professional game is a much different experience for Macon but it is one that has allowed him to travel and see things that otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to while playing the game he loves.

As for what’s next, Macon has a try out for a team from Japan in July and he’s in the process of training for that in the coming weeks as a possible next destination.

But regardless where he goes, Macon knows he’ll always have a home away from home in the mountains of West Virginia.

“I can say playing at West Virginia has really helped me in the real world,” he said.

And isn’t that what the college experience is supposed to be all about?

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