West Virginia essentially opens the 2016-17 season Thursday night with the Gold and Blue Debut in Wheeling. Elijah Macon was a part of the 2012 recruiting class with Eron Harris and Terry Henderson. Harris is a fifth-year senior at Michigan State, and Henderson is back from an ankle injury that cost him basically all of the 2015-16 season at N.C. State.

Macon is beginning his junior season.

He’s … he’s been through a lot, and the combination of his life’s occurrences have delayed his arrival and his evolution. Now, though, he finally feels like over the death of his mother in 2014 and out of the shadow of his own expectations. Now, he’s comfortable and confident and, yes, a fan of the Chinese culture.

“I do like to meditate,” he said. “I like the Zen garden music and everything. I do fall asleep to it. It’s a thing that I do. It’s peaceful. I listen to it before the games. I might listen to it on my way to class when I’m walking to class.

“It’s like a meditating thing. I talk to my mom and pray when I’m listening to it. It’s just a mental thing I do for myself to prepare myself for the day. I’m able to sit back and self-evaluate and figure out what I’ve got to do next.”