IT STARTED with a whisper. "Devin Ebanks,'' the soft voice said, "is out there warming up.''

"There,'' of course, was the Charleston Civic Center basketball court. West Virginia's No. 8-ranked Mountaineers were in town to play The Citadel and, lo and behold, No. 3 was out there with his trademark headband taking pregame warmup shots.

In case you haven't been inside our craggy state lines for a week, here's what you've missed:

Ebanks, undoubtedly WVU's best player, has been sitting out. Not just of the Mountaineers' early-season games, but from practices.

Why? Only the Dark Shadow - or, at least, the long one coach Bob Huggins casts - knows.

The subject here is intrigue.

A secret.

It's Ian Fleming stuff, except it wouldn't be "For Your Eyes Only.'' It would be "For Your Ears Only.''

And people hate not knowing secrets. So there have been more theories of why Ebanks has been missing than those concocted over Area 51.

See, Huggins refuses to disclose the reason for Ebanks' absence, and he did so again after the Mountaineers' sluggish 69-50 victory over The Citadel.

"Everyone has all these opinions,'' said the coach, "but, if it was your own son, that changes dramatically.''

Ebanks, for the record, did not play on Tuesday. Sometimes he looked less than thrilled by the call. At the 7:31 mark, he leaned back on the bench with his arms behind his head. Looked kind of disgusted.

His teammates won easily enough, of course.

But there were missed chippies. There were some clanks. At times WVU looked frustrated offensively. At times, it was dissected defensively.

The crowd, of course, kept looking to Huggins.

Was he going to put Ebanks in the game?

In went Cam Thoroughman instead. And Dalton Pepper. And Dan Jennings. And Jonnie West.

Heck, the biggest moment for Charleston's Mountaineer fans probably was when West, son of state favorite son Jerry, hit a trey late in the game off a fast break. ("It feels good to come back where he's from and play,'' Jonnie said. "Sometimes the people in this part of the state don't get to see us as much, so it's fun.'')

At times, the T-shirt slings were more interesting than the game.

But, hey, if No. 3 would enter the game ...

"There,'' of course, was the Charleston Civic Center basketball court. West Virginia's No. 8-ranked Mountaineers were in town to play The Citadel and, lo and behold, No. 3 was out there with his trademark headband taking pregame warmup shots.

In case you haven't been inside our craggy state lines for a week, here's what you've missed:

Ebanks, undoubtedly WVU's best player, has been sitting out. Not just of the Mountaineers' early-season games, but from practices.

Why? Only the Dark Shadow - or, at least, the long one coach Bob Huggins casts - knows.

The subject here is intrigue.

A secret.

It's Ian Fleming stuff, except it wouldn't be "For Your Eyes Only.'' It would be "For Your Ears Only.''

And people hate not knowing secrets. So there have been more theories of why Ebanks has been missing than those concocted over Area 51.

See, Huggins refuses to disclose the reason for Ebanks' absence, and he did so again after the Mountaineers' sluggish 69-50 victory over The Citadel.

"Everyone has all these opinions,'' said the coach, "but, if it was your own son, that changes dramatically.''

Ebanks, for the record, did not play on Tuesday. Sometimes he looked less than thrilled by the call. At the 7:31 mark, he leaned back on the bench with his arms behind his head. Looked kind of disgusted.

His teammates won easily enough, of course.

But there were missed chippies. There were some clanks. At times WVU looked frustrated offensively. At times, it was dissected defensively.

The crowd, of course, kept looking to Huggins.

Was he going to put Ebanks in the game?

In went Cam Thoroughman instead. And Dalton Pepper. And Dan Jennings. And Jonnie West.

Heck, the biggest moment for Charleston's Mountaineer fans probably was when West, son of state favorite son Jerry, hit a trey late in the game off a fast break. ("It feels good to come back where he's from and play,'' Jonnie said. "Sometimes the people in this part of the state don't get to see us as much, so it's fun.'')

At times, the T-shirt slings were more interesting than the game.

But, hey, if No. 3 would enter the game ...

He didn't though. Huggins called a timeout to get local product Cam Payne in the game.

But no Ebanks.

Afterward, the Mountaineer coach addressed the subject. Sort of.

"He's going to Anaheim [for the '76 Classic' tournament],'' Huggins said.

Will he play there?

"Don't know,'' Huggins said. "Hasn't practiced. We'll see.''

The coach continues to say he doesn't owe anyone, not the media, not the WVU contributors, not the ticket holders, an explanation in this case. Says he treats his players like sons and owes his loyalty to them.

I can buy that. I can also argue against it.

What I'd really like, though, is for the issue to disappear. I'd like it to evaporate like James Bond and M16 handled it.

Huggins was asked about Ebanks and the California games again.

"I'll go with what gives us the best opportunity to win,'' he said.

That, of course, would include the 6-foot-9 sophomore. The Mountaineers have depth. They have coaching. They are not, however, a No. 8 team without Ebanks.

"Think they're overrated somewhat?'' a woman in the crowd asked aloud toward the end of the game.

To answer her question, no. WVU hasn't played in, what, 10 days? The team's best player was sitting on the bench, arms behind his head. The Citadel played well.

"I thought we'd be a lot better offensively,'' Huggins said.

"Ah, man,'' said forward Kevin Jones. "It was kind of an up-and-down performance. At times, [The Citadel] made a couple runs. We made a couple defensive mistakes. Overall, though, we just have to keep getting better throughout the season. Take this as a learning experience on our way to California.''

Where, hopefully, the intrigue will turn from a hot topic into a whisper.

Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827, mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or follow him at http://twitter.com/MitchVingle.