Devin Ebanks' college basketball career won't end when West Virginia is eliminated from - or, for those eternally optimistic, wins - the NCAA basketball tournament.

Not that it was really a burning question, mind you. After all, for all his talent and hype, the kid is still incredibly raw and, more significantly, skinny and weak. Not in a kick-sand-in-his-face, 98-pound weakling sense, but certainly in terms of his readiness for the NBA.

So again, just to get it on the record, Ebanks isn't a one-and-done.

"I know I'm not ready,'' he said Tuesday. "I know I've got work to do.''

Here's the thing, though: Over the course of the past month - and particularly in the past week or so - the 6-foot-9 freshman has flat-out exploded, as far as his performances are concerned.

To say that he's the reason West Virginia is in the NCAA tournament - the Mountaineers play Dayton in the first round on Friday in Minneapolis - would be overstating things. This team was pretty much a lock even when Ebanks

was still fairly anonymous.

To say that he's a big reason West Virginia has a chance to make another run in the event? Well, that's hardly an overstatement at all.

If you've not been paying attention, here's what you missed:

120 of a possible 125 minutes, had 11 assists and made 19-of-21 free throws, including two to send a game with Syracuse into overtime.

He makes pressure-packed shots, rebounds the ball, brings it up the floor to help beat pressure and does it all with a kind of smooth and seemingly effortless manner that sometimes makes him appear nonchalant.

Ebanks is anything but.

"He's very aggressive. His overall game is aggressive,'' said teammate Da'Sean Butler. "People don't really notice that. Some people say how slow he plays, but it's effective. He plays hard and he knows the speed he can go.

"He has a lot of emotion. But he does a very good job of playing it cool not going too crazy when things go wrong.''

Lately, not much has gone wrong for Ebanks, who earned a spot on the Big East all-tournament team for his play last week at Madison Square Garden. He was so zoned in by the end of the week that in an overtime loss to Syracuse he not once, but twice managed to throw up all but blind shots from 15 feet on the baseline to beat the shot clock and made both.

At times, Ebanks doesn't even look like he's trying all that hard. Seldom is he out of control - with or without the ball - and it can send the wrong signal. Some people figure if a guy isn't diving after loose balls or running helter skelter through a defense, then he's not trying.

Ebanks has heard it all before.

"I think that's how I've been pretty much my whole life,'' Ebanks said. "I try to stay relaxed and not let mistakes bother me. Mistakes are going to happen. You just have to stay focused.''

Ebanks debut at West Virginia wasn't quite as smooth as the stretch run of his first season. He had a solid first few games, but nothing like quite what was expected from one of the top recruits in the country. Through six games, Ebanks averaged just 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds.

That's when assistant coach Larry Harrison sat him down for a heart-to-heart. According to Ebanks, the message was essentially this: Step up and grow up. Instead of flashing the skills that had made him so coveted, Ebanks was spending his time trying to blend into his new surroundings and with his new teammates. And while there is something to be said for deferring to more experienced players and trying to fit into a new system, Ebanks was sacrificing his game in doing so.

"I wouldn't say I lost my confidence. It was more just trying to fit in and not force things,'' Ebanks said.

From that day forward, Ebanks has been a different player. What followed were back-to-back 17-rebound games against Cleveland State and Davidson, and in only six of the next 28 games did he failed to reach double figures in either points or rebounds.

But to reduce Ebanks to a stat line is to do him a grave injustice.

"I think what separates Devin from everybody else is he's got an unbelievable aptitude to learn basketball. He really understands,'' said coach Bob Huggins. "He's not a guy you have to tell over and over and over again. The last two guys I had like that were Jamal Davis and Kenyon [Martin].

"We could literally play Devin at point guard and he would know where everybody is supposed to be. And that's really unusual, particularly for a freshman. He not only knows what he's supposed to do, he knows what everybody else is supposed to do.''

What makes Ebanks' scoring of late so impressive is that Huggins has virtually nothing in West Virginia's current offense set up put him in position to score. Butler and Alex Ruoff get their share of points in the routine flow of the offense, too, but in a pinch the Mountaineers will run a play to get them an open look. Not so with Ebanks.

"Knowing what he knows enables him to get into positions [to score and rebound],'' Huggins said. "It's not like we throw the ball to him to score. He scores kind of out of the context of what we're doing because he really understands how to play. When we talk in a huddle about how we can do this or that, he really understands. And he tries to take advantage of it.''

And the upside for Ebanks seems all but unlimited.

"He can be a lot better once he gets stronger, when he doesn't get knocked off the ball,'' Huggins said. "Think about what a hard matchup he's going to be. He's going to shoot it better, he'll increase his range, he'll be more consistent shooting 3s next year. We can put him out there; after he gains 25 pounds we can stick him in the post. We can put him anywhere because he knows everything. He knows what supposed to happen.''

Until then, Ebanks will continue to surprise everyone with the things he does while making them look so easy. Well, almost everyone.

"I don't expect anything less, honestly,'' Butler said. "If he has a bad game, that's when I'll be surprised.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.