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MORGANTOWN -- On NCIS, the television show, it's called a "Gibbsslap," something Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs uses on his team to bring them back to reality when they begin wandering away from it.
On Wednesday morning, as midday neared just as we all were trying to comprehend that Fourth of July weekend was over and to figure out how the hell Joey Chestnut was feeling after eating 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to again win the Nathan's National Hot Dog Eating Championship, we all got hit by a "Gibbsslap," or whatever it is that serves the West Virginia University basketball program as its substitute.
Somehow, over the long weekend, a bit of good feeling squeezed its way through a backdoor into the troubled program as interim coach Josh Eilert, who inherited Bob Huggins's courtside stool after his forced resignation, had produced that feel-good moment by naming a group of a pair of the most popular WVU basketball players as assistant coaches.
Keeping DerMarr Johnson, a former Huggins' player from his Cincinnati days, on and promoting the all-time leader in 3-point shots made for the school, Alex Ruoff, from graduate assistant to full-time assistant and bringing back guard Jordan McCabe, who had transferred to UNLV, back to fill his staff, there were smiles and backslaps, all of which tended to obscure the reality of the situation.
So, there I was trying to figure out what to write while watching an "NCIS" rerun when I got "Gibbsslapped" back to reality as a basketball situation tossed a couple of sharp curveballs at WVU fans when they were looking for down-the-middle fastballs to hit out of the park.
Within minutes of each other, social media heated up by announcing that big man Mohamed Wague, a talented athlete with untold potential who was in the transfer portal but had left hope he might return, announced he was transferring to Alabama.
First. they take Nick Saban, now Mo Wague.
What's next? Moving the Greenbrier to Mobile?
And just as that was setting in, another recruiting site revealed that Jose Lopez, perhaps the most talked about athlete "never" to have played for WVU, had entered the transfer portal.
You remember him. He was the missing piece from last year who came to WVU from Manhattan after his coach there had been fired, applied for and expected to get a transfer waiver because of that coaching change, but was denied.
He had played the role of good soldier, sticking through the whole season without getting any eligibility, then said he was staying for another year, even though Huggins' had been dropped into a tub of boiling water of his own making.
But now, Lopez is looking for a new home and, dare we suggest that somewhere lurks some hanky and some panky.
That comes after Tre Mitchell, who might have been the best player Eilert stood to inherit, transferred to Kentucky and then Joe Toussaint announced that he was leaving within the conference to play his final season at Texas Tech.
All of a sudden WVU, even with the additions it has made through the transfer portal, wasn't looking like a destination program.
While last year's team was hardly as good as it seemed constructed to be, not winning 20 games and failing to survive the first round of the NCAA Tournament was tough, losing to Maryland by a basket.
As it was, if the Huggins incidents had not occurred and had the roster remained intact with its transfer additions, this looked to be a Big 12, if not national contender.
But, without Mitchell and Toussaint and Wague and maybe James Okonkwo, who remains in the portal with a chance to return, the roster has no more real meat on its bones than a post-Thanksgiving turkey.
With Erik Stevenson, Tre Mitchell, Emmitt Matthews Jr., Jimmy Bell Jr., Keddy Johnson, Joe Toussaint, Mo Wague and, perhaps, James Okonkwo gone, WVU has 84.5% of its points from last season and, Okonkwo also goes, 93.4% of its rebounds.
Now, they have had success with transfers from outside, including Syracuse center James Edwards and Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa as the cornerstones of the portal acquisitions and with RaeQuan Battle from Montana State is expected to be a huge contributor.
But that's a lot of talent to replace at one time, especially with a coaching change and with a staff that is inexperienced.
If nothing else, it's going to make this a memorable season and considering that there can't be high expectations going in, it relieves a lot of pressure as the Mountaineers create a new persona and look.
If Okonkwo does come back, he will have a chance to really take large strides forward as a rebounder, shot blocker and scorer while James Edwards provides inside scoring punch.
It could also be that for Seth Wilson at guard. In fact, the early look at the WVU team is one that is guard oriented with Kriisa, Battle, Hofstra transfer Omar Silverio, Wilson and Kobe Johnson while Josiah Harris and Patrick Suemnick try to take up the slack on the wings.