WVU’s Haley, Routt to Celebrate Graduation Virtually
May 16, 2020 09:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For 74 West Virginia University student-athletes, the most unusual semester in more than a century will conclude on Saturday with WVU's first-ever Virtual Mountaineer Graduation Day.
An online graduation this year was necessitated due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus that has closed college campuses throughout the country.
Saturday's prerecorded one-hour event will be available online starting at 11 a.m. EST by logging on to wvu.stageclip.com.
No login or password is required and there will be no limit on viewers.
Men's basketball's Jermaine Haley, who is getting his degree in multidisciplinary studies, is currently in Minneapolis staying in shape while waiting to see what professional basketball opportunities become available when the world opens up again.
"It's been weird but whatever we've got to do to make it seem like we actually graduated, I'm ready to do whatever I'm asked to do," he said. "Honestly, as long as I get the paper, whether it's in the mail or I have to go get it, that's enough for me to feel that accomplishment. It's been a long journey for sure."
Logan Routt is also taking part in Saturday's virtual ceremony. Senior Chase Harler will graduate in August, so he will be able to participate in next December's commencement activities if he chooses to do so.
Routt said he has been self-quarantining in his apartment in Morgantown after recently finishing up graduate school work to earn his master's degree. Logan said he was glad he decided to participate in last year's graduation ceremony, considering what is going on right now.
"When I was walking last year it didn't mean as much because I thought this year I would actually be done with school," he said. "Everybody at the time was crying and stuff and I'm like, 'I'm coming back to do this again.'
"I was looking forward to this one because grad school is a lot harder. It was a long journey and this was like my official last time singing 'Country Roads' in the Coliseum," he added. "I didn't know my last time was going to be Baylor."
Ending the regular season on such a great note by defeating the fourth-ranked Bears 76-64 on March 7 means Routt's final college basketball game will be a victory, but he admits there is also a high degree of emptiness as well.
"For the rest of my life, I'm never really going to have closure on my college career," he explained. "We kind of ended on a positive note with a win over Baylor, but thinking back on it, I'd rather have gone out on a loss in the Elite Eight than a win in the regular season. I would have rather even gone out in the first round (of the NCAA Tournament) than the way it ended."
Routt thought the team was jelling at the right time of the season.
"I was so excited for that Oklahoma game in the Big 12 Tournament," he said. "We had so many young guys who played big minutes, and they weren't able to experience postseason play. I was excited for them, and they were asking me what the atmosphere was like in Kansas City. It's disappointing they didn't get to experience that and Mountaineer fans didn't get to experience that or see what we were truly capable of doing."
Haley thought the team was poised to make a big run in postseason play as well.
"We had a really good season, but as good as we were playing at times, I felt like our best games were ahead of us, just because we were so young," he said. "I tried to tell the younger guys, even when we were struggling, 'I know we're not winning now but when the conference tournament starts we're going to be playing teams back to back, and it's hard to beat teams two times.'"
Unlike Routt and Harler, Haley missed out on the opportunity of experiencing March Madness with Bob Huggins, but he did play in one NCAA Tournament game when he was a freshman at New Mexico State.
He said the abrupt ending to his college career was "surreal."
Haley was in his hotel room out in Kansas City watching television when news flashed across the ESPN ticker that the NBA was postponing its season. He said he knew then his college career was probably finished.
"While I had hopes we were going to play the next day, I knew if the NBA was not playing there was no chance college basketball was going to play," he said. "It kind of hit me the night before and it really didn't feel like game day when I woke up the next morning.
"As bad as it has been, I think it's been a good overall experience because as far as basketball goes you get lost in what's happening and lose sight of what you are doing sometimes," he admitted. "I think this has made me mentally a lot stronger."
Once the season was finished, Routt said he was eagerly looking forward to spending the last month and a half as a normal college student without having the responsibilities that come with being a college basketball player.
The pandemic even robbed Routt of something as simple as that.
"Chase and I talked about this all of the time," he said. "Just waking up, going to class, going home and then having the rest of your day free to do whatever you wanted to do. We never really experienced that. There was always something (basketball related) we had to do."
Haley admits a sixth season of college basketball - had seniors been permitted to return for another year as was the case for the spring sports - was probably not in the offing for him.
Five years of college basketball was enough.
"I don't know if my body could have taken another year," he laughed. "Honestly, I don't think the coaches would have encouraged me to come back just because of my situation. It's about time to move on to the next chapter."
An online graduation this year was necessitated due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus that has closed college campuses throughout the country.
Saturday's prerecorded one-hour event will be available online starting at 11 a.m. EST by logging on to wvu.stageclip.com.
No login or password is required and there will be no limit on viewers.
Men's basketball's Jermaine Haley, who is getting his degree in multidisciplinary studies, is currently in Minneapolis staying in shape while waiting to see what professional basketball opportunities become available when the world opens up again.
"It's been weird but whatever we've got to do to make it seem like we actually graduated, I'm ready to do whatever I'm asked to do," he said. "Honestly, as long as I get the paper, whether it's in the mail or I have to go get it, that's enough for me to feel that accomplishment. It's been a long journey for sure."
Logan Routt is also taking part in Saturday's virtual ceremony. Senior Chase Harler will graduate in August, so he will be able to participate in next December's commencement activities if he chooses to do so.Routt said he has been self-quarantining in his apartment in Morgantown after recently finishing up graduate school work to earn his master's degree. Logan said he was glad he decided to participate in last year's graduation ceremony, considering what is going on right now.
"When I was walking last year it didn't mean as much because I thought this year I would actually be done with school," he said. "Everybody at the time was crying and stuff and I'm like, 'I'm coming back to do this again.'
"I was looking forward to this one because grad school is a lot harder. It was a long journey and this was like my official last time singing 'Country Roads' in the Coliseum," he added. "I didn't know my last time was going to be Baylor."
Ending the regular season on such a great note by defeating the fourth-ranked Bears 76-64 on March 7 means Routt's final college basketball game will be a victory, but he admits there is also a high degree of emptiness as well.
"For the rest of my life, I'm never really going to have closure on my college career," he explained. "We kind of ended on a positive note with a win over Baylor, but thinking back on it, I'd rather have gone out on a loss in the Elite Eight than a win in the regular season. I would have rather even gone out in the first round (of the NCAA Tournament) than the way it ended."
Routt thought the team was jelling at the right time of the season.
"I was so excited for that Oklahoma game in the Big 12 Tournament," he said. "We had so many young guys who played big minutes, and they weren't able to experience postseason play. I was excited for them, and they were asking me what the atmosphere was like in Kansas City. It's disappointing they didn't get to experience that and Mountaineer fans didn't get to experience that or see what we were truly capable of doing."
Haley thought the team was poised to make a big run in postseason play as well.
"We had a really good season, but as good as we were playing at times, I felt like our best games were ahead of us, just because we were so young," he said. "I tried to tell the younger guys, even when we were struggling, 'I know we're not winning now but when the conference tournament starts we're going to be playing teams back to back, and it's hard to beat teams two times.'"
Unlike Routt and Harler, Haley missed out on the opportunity of experiencing March Madness with Bob Huggins, but he did play in one NCAA Tournament game when he was a freshman at New Mexico State.
He said the abrupt ending to his college career was "surreal."
Haley was in his hotel room out in Kansas City watching television when news flashed across the ESPN ticker that the NBA was postponing its season. He said he knew then his college career was probably finished.
"While I had hopes we were going to play the next day, I knew if the NBA was not playing there was no chance college basketball was going to play," he said. "It kind of hit me the night before and it really didn't feel like game day when I woke up the next morning.
"As bad as it has been, I think it's been a good overall experience because as far as basketball goes you get lost in what's happening and lose sight of what you are doing sometimes," he admitted. "I think this has made me mentally a lot stronger."
Once the season was finished, Routt said he was eagerly looking forward to spending the last month and a half as a normal college student without having the responsibilities that come with being a college basketball player.
The pandemic even robbed Routt of something as simple as that.
"Chase and I talked about this all of the time," he said. "Just waking up, going to class, going home and then having the rest of your day free to do whatever you wanted to do. We never really experienced that. There was always something (basketball related) we had to do."
Haley admits a sixth season of college basketball - had seniors been permitted to return for another year as was the case for the spring sports - was probably not in the offing for him.
Five years of college basketball was enough.
"I don't know if my body could have taken another year," he laughed. "Honestly, I don't think the coaches would have encouraged me to come back just because of my situation. It's about time to move on to the next chapter."
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