Bards will compose sonnets hailing his strength and mastery, and the people will keep coming in swarms to witness his grandiose feats of finesse and veracity.
He’s Spencer Macke, a freshman at West Virginia University, a walk-on with a nationally ranked basketball team, and an emerging cult hero.
Yep, he made another three-pointer Saturday, this one a bodacious bank shot at the end of WVU’s 74-51 victory over outmatched Missouri in Morgantown. And this was following Macke’s first bucket of the season, another three-pointer against Texas, also on the home boards on Monday.
Macke’s living the dream right now. He had entered the Texas game to the wishful chants of the Mountaineer Maniac student section, which went absolutely nuts after the terrific trey.
Then, right after the contest — a 38-point blowout — he was carried off the court by teammates Oscar Tshiebwe and Jordan McCabe. His exploits were highlighted later that evening on ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt show as “The Best Thing I Saw All Day.”
You know what? It’s all very real, and just check out the faces of his teammates on the bench when Macke does his thing. This squad, ranked 14th by Associated Press and now 16-3 on the season, is tight-knit and joyful. The players support each other. Jealousy and envy have no place here. The dreary 2018-19 season is long gone.
Crowd Favorite
And the student section? Oh, my. The 5-foot-11 Macke is The Man.
“All walk-ons are popular,” shrugged Coach Bob Huggins. “All those students sitting out there, that’s their dream.”
Huggins is probably right about that. But how many sitting out there averaged 35 points and 15.8 rebounds per game as a senior, as Macke did? The kid played at Silver Grove High and led the state of Kentucky in scoring last year. So, while Spencer Macke may look like your paperboy or the kid next door, he’s not exactly learning the game of basketball on the fly here.
Remember Ted Talkington? There’s a guy who can relate. Talkington scored over 2,000 career points at Magnolia and led the state of West Virginia in scoring two straight seasons and became a WVU walk-on cult hero in his own right.
Talkington was another student section dreamboat. His best moment came in the 2007 season under Coach John Beilein, when foul troubles to Alex Ruoff forced Talkington into a huge game against No. 2-ranked UCLA. Late in the first half, Talkington quickly nailed a three, then followed with another jumper as the crowd nearly blew the roof off the Coliseum. WVU won that game 70-65 as Talkington, with five points, outscored Russell Westbrook (four points).
“It was my moment in the sun,” Talkington told the Dominion Post’s Mark Schraf some five years later, “and it really sort of justified all that I had done in the past. I got my chance, and I made the best of it on a pretty big stage. It made it all worthwhile.”
Macke has made his name in mop-up minutes so far, and he’s OK with that.
“I’m just happy to be getting the minutes that I am,” he said. “I just try to be positive and try to lift up my teammates the best that I can.”
Will Spencer Macke someday make some noise in a crucial, gut-check situation, as did Ted Talkington? Time will tell. He’s just a freshman. But you know what? Right now, Spencer Macke is a fun story in a cool season for WVU. Sports is supposed to be fun. Let’s enjoy the ride, and maybe write some sonnets along the way.
