It has been said many times, but it’s worth repeating – winning at WVU is different.

With no professional sports teams to call their own, the 1.8 million residents of West Virginia follow their beloved Mountaineers with an unyielding, undying passion. Young and old alike tune in to watch, listen or read about their team in droves. WVU fans are zealous, adoring, perhaps a bit fanatical and more than a little rowdy; they’re known for traveling to away games in numbers that compete with the largest and most successful schools in the nation.

Add to that the state’s perpetual role of underdog on the national stage, both in political and economic terms, and you have a situation that is unique in all of college sports.

It’s not just the residents of the Mountain State that belong to this cult of old gold and blue. It’s often said that West Virginia’s biggest export is manpower – a recognition of the fact that a large, large number of native West Virginian’s end up leaving the state in order to find greener economic pastures. They travel to neighboring states and to areas all across the country, but they take their passion for WVU sports with them. (Your humble pressbox staff, for example, resides in OH and NC, and a significant portion of this site’s visits come from outside the state of WV.)

The residents and former residents of West Virginia have a deep and profound love for the athletes of the state’s flagship university. They experience the highs and lows of the various athletic programs as keenly as any other group of fans in the nation. When the teams lose, West Virginia fans across the country sulk and brood. When the teams win, those same fans stand a little taller, smile a little more frequently and wear their WVU logos as badges of honor. And, when those athletic programs achieve greatness, as the basketball team did last night in the Big East Championship game, a special message can be heard.

Amid all the raucous chants and shouts of “we’re number one!” and “big east champs!”, hidden under the chorus of “Country Roads” is a somewhat quieter, but infinitely more heartfelt message – “Thank you.”

You’ll find it on Twitter and Facebook, in newspapers and on radio call in shows. It’s a message of thanks, and it’s the reason that winning at WVU is different. Where else is there such a sincere appreciation for college athletes than in WV? Where else do the fans, as a whole, say “thank you” to the athletes immediately following a big win?

It’s an appreciation for the players – for choosing to come to WVU, for recognizing that WVU is a special place to play, for casting a warm spotlight onto the state.

Huggins has said many times that playing for WVU, playing for the state of West Virginia, is different and special. Hopefully, the athletes on the basketball team now fully comprehend just how much they mean to the Mountaineer fans.