MORGANTOWN - The record book will forever suggest Da'Sean Butler is one of the best to ever play at West Virginia University.
So did Bill Nevin, the public address announcer at the WVU Coliseum, who introduced Butler with that very description Monday night during pregame Senior Night festivities.
''I kinda laughed at it because I don't really see myself as that,'' Butler said. ''I'm just happy everyone thinks that of me.''
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West Virginia forward Da'Sean Butler (1) is mobbed by teammates after leaving his final home game.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins took it a step further.
''He's also one of the best people ever to play here,'' Huggins said, noting the Butler's standout work in the classroom and the community.
It's because of that community relationship, actually, that Butler will have such a hard time saying goodbye to Morgantown. The roster may say New Jersey, but this guy is as West Virginian as fellow senior Cam Payne, the only state native on the team.
''This is home for me,'' Butler said. ''I love playing in the coliseum and the fans and the coaches and just the bond that I've made here in this town. Not even with just my teammates, people here in this town. Every summer I stay here, I work out every summer from getting jobs to meeting people at camps. Everything. I'm just going to miss it all.''
With the culmination of four years of blood, sweat, tears, triumphs, and failures spilling out in one final tribute, it's understandable for anyone to get caught up.
''I told myself I wasn't going to go out there and cry before the game because I wasn't trying to lose my focus,'' Butler said. ''I knew my mother wasn't going to let me cry because she laughs all the time, so I was looking at her pretty much the majority of the time I was out there.
''I thought about it when I saw Coach out there, but I just laughed at him.''
This kind of explains why Huggins is such a good coach, a good leader.
"Da' said he wasn't going to let it get to him and he didn't,'' Huggins said. ''And I was trying like crazy not to let it get to me because I didn't want to be the reason that he became emotional. It was very hard. Really, really hard.''
Both men, along with fellow senior Wellington Smith, were conscientious of what happened to Alex Ruoff last season, when he waved a tearful goodbye, then endured the worst game of his career.
''I think what happened to Al a year ago played a big part in the way they handled it,'' Huggins said. ''Both of them (Butler and Smith) were very emotional at the end of the game.''
Crying aside, Butler is close to wrapping up the finest career the WVU Coliseum has ever seen out of someone wearing gold and blue, which is something considering he was a skinny, somewhat unheralded recruit who played for two different coaches with drastically different styles and came out squeaky clean on the other side.
''I always said I just wanted to be a good player,'' Butler said. ''Honestly, I really do think I'm living a dream because I'm better than I thought I'd be. I work harder than I thought I would, and I'm on a team I never thought I'd be on. I'm just happy how everything turned out.''
In those four years, he became a leader, a big brother, a rock. Even those not associated with the program can see it.
''Da'Sean is one of those players - and this league has a lot of them - that can do a lot of different things on the basketball court,'' Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. ''From the outside looking in, it appears that he's a leader when you see the way he talks to the players during timeouts and pulls them aside. His talent and his skill level is special.''
Thompson was talking about what he'd seen on film during timeouts, during the good times and the bad ones. Butler was always there to offer a steady hand.
And the guys appreciate it.
''I'm not going to miss Da'Sean Butler as a player,'' said Smith, who was one of eight players to enter the program the same year as Butler. ''I'm going to miss him as a person. As I go on through whatever I'm doing, I'm always going to try and keep in contact with Da'Sean just because these last four years, we've grown so close.''
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Jim Elliott can be reached via e-mail at Elliott@theintelligencer.net