Ebanks' absence will end as soon as Mountaineers need him

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- People keep asking when Devin Ebanks will make his season debut.

Bob Huggins keeps talking around the subject.

All-American hopeful Devin Ebanks has sat out three games -- all routs for West Virginia -- due to 'personal reasons.' (Getty Images)

But don't worry, I have the answer, and here it is: Ebanks will play as soon as West Virginia needs him to play to win a game, and not a moment sooner. If that's Friday against Texas A&M, then he'll play Friday against Texas A&M. If not, he won't, and then we'll see how things go. But either way, that's the reality of Ebanks' absence for "personal reasons" -- let's be honest, it's basically an unofficial suspension -- that's lasted three games. And to his credit, Huggins doesn't even really deny it, making it clear (albeit in a subtle way) that Ebanks might've played in Thursday's win over Long Beach State if the situation required it.

The situation, however, did not require it.

West Virginia won 85-62.

Ebanks never got out of his warm-ups.

But when I asked Huggins afterward whether he would've played Ebanks had things been closer, his response was telling and truthful. "I never had to think about it," Huggins said. Added Long Beach State coach Dan Monson: "We never made him make that decision."

Now can Texas A&M make Huggins make that decision?

The way the Aggies played Thursday in a 69-60 win over 19th-ranked Clemson suggests they can, at which point Huggins will nod at Ebanks, tell him to check-in, and then the nation will get its first glimpse of the All-American candidate this season. Will it be awfully convenient that Ebanks' "personal issues" cleared up just in time for West Virginia's first game against a power-conference school?

Of course.

But Huggins won't get ripped about it -- by the media or his colleagues -- because he doesn't present himself any other way. While some coaches constantly shovel BS about building character and teaching lessons, Huggins has never pretended his top priority is anything but getting great/tough basketball players and winning basketball games with them. He'll take a troubled prospect if the prospect is good enough. He'll tolerate an arrest if the arrested player is good enough. Huggins has been nothing if not consistent for many, many years. It's why every time an awesome high school prospect with problems comes along, somebody comments how the prospect would be "perfect for Huggs."

"Perfect for Huggs" is code for "talented but troubled."

And though Huggins has never deserved the reputation in total -- the old "zero percent graduation rate" stuff was hardly as it seemed -- he has never spent much time trying to fight the reputation or convince his critics that he's much different than they think. He simply doesn't care. And, in a twisted sort of way, that's respectable in a profession with so many men who present themselves one way and conduct themselves another.

The bottom line is that Bob Huggins is a millionaire because he's great at his job, and his job is not to graduate inner-city kids or mold young men into lawyers and doctors and social workers. That's part of his job, I guess, but it's an incredibly small part. The main part -- i.e., the most important part by far -- is to win games. And now that Loyola, The Citadel and Long Beach State are out of the way, winning games might require Ebanks dunking and rebounding and teaming with Da'Sean Butler to form a combo good enough to make the Final Four.

Thus, Ebanks' "personal issues" are about to be resolved.

"We'll make a decision as the game unfolds," Huggins said when asked if Ebanks would play Friday.

In other words, Huggins will play Ebanks if he needs Ebanks.

And you know what?

I don't blame him at all.

I'm pretty sure it's what I'd do, too.