The conversation began with a point Deniz Kilicli made about what awaits WVU this season. There seems to be an urgency for all of the young players to quickly get with the program. Kilicli was one of those young guys forced to learn and mature in a hurry and for a very good team in 2009-10. The manner in which the waits are managed goes both ways, he said. That seemed interesting.

Really, don’t Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant and Kilicli have to exercise patience so they don’t develop an approach to teaching or an attitude about learning that loses the young kids?

“It’s really important,” he said. “You want to teach them quickly and you want them to learn as quick as possible, but you don’t want to rush them so they don’t know what they’re doing and they’re always scared to make mistakes. You’ve got to trust them and be patient and that’s what we do with them now. We tell them every time they make a mistake and we correct them and we know that’s part of out job, but we have to do our job the right way.”

It was then when I could no longer resist discussing the beard and the hair. The plan is to showcase both in tomorrow night’s exhibition game, though it could change. Things happen sometimes, like the last time he had a clean shave.

It was the day before WVU ended its Italy trip and headed home. Kilicli was to get a trim from strength and conditioning coach Andy Kettler. He instead ended up with no facial hair and that’s a nuisance. The worst part about the beard is the early stages. I can’t imagine what a full beard like that is like, what with the way my five-day growth bothers me.

“That’s what kills me, too — when it’s like that,” he said. “When it gets to be bigger, it’s no big deal.”

If it gets to be unruly or just too uncomfortable in one  of WVU’s marathon practices, it’s gone. Now the long hair? That’s a different story.

He hasn’t had a haircut since before the summer trip overseas — and that began Aug. 8. You’ll remember, though, Kilicli had really long hair his freshman season and cut it before he was allowed to play following the 20-game suspension. Kilicli really wants to have long hair again, and perhaps it’s just the proper complement to his guitar playing ways.

I mean, he got a sweet tattoo on the inside of his left arm to go with the one he already had on his right. The new one is a sword encircled by a ribbon and it has his name and “Coleman,” the name of his host family.

The long hair isn’t as prohibitive as you think. I once knew a basketball coach who wanted players with shorter hair so opponents couldn’t pull on it. A soccer coach I knew hated long hair because it got in the face of his players too often. I had a football player tell me once his high school coach often criticized players who had long hair because he thought they spent too much time washing and conditioning and not enough time lifting and running.

Don’t worry about any of that with Kilicli, especially the latter.

“Well, I really don’t take care of it,” Kilicli said as he forcced his right hand back through his thicket. “Look. I wash it and that’s it.”

If it gets to be too long, he’s going with the headbanded look. Not Bill Walton — bummer, I know — but more like Luis Scola. It won’t be a distraction, either. Some say when a person perspires and the hair gets wet, it then gets in his face. Not true. In fact, Kilicli said a sweat-soaked head is his motivation.

“Right now, it’s dry, and I really can’t see anything,” he said. “When it gets wet, it’s easier to take care of. You just push it back and it stays.”