The West Virginia men’s basketball team is full of new faces, both on and off the court.
After a disappointing season under interim head coach Josh Eilert (9-23 record), West Virginia looks to get back on the right track with hopes of dancing come March.
New head coach Darian DeVries from Drake University brought in 10 players from the transfer portal, four true freshmen, and will have one lone returning player in Ofri Naveh. The team will be dependent on veteran players like DeVries’ son, Tucker, who was the back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Larry Bird Player of the Year, and Jayden Stone, a fifth-year transfer from Detroit Mercy University who averaged over 20 points a game.
Other key transfers include guard Javon Small, wing Toby Okani, and center Eduardo Andre.
Small, a senior, transferred from Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State to play for WVU. He earned an All-Big 12 honorable mention after leading his team in points and assists. He started every game (31) except one for the Cowboys (injured for the season opener) and scored double-digit points in 24 of those games.
Okani is a fifth-year senior who started in 31 of 33 games for the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames last year. He stands at 6 feet 8 inches and was named to the MVC All-Defensive Team after leading the conference in blocks per game (2.0).
Andre, also a fifth-year senior, is a 6-foot-11 center who played his last two seasons at Fresno State University. He started in 18 of 20 games before being sidelined for the rest of the year due to a leg injury. He averaged 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and shot 60.4% from the field.
The incoming freshmen class includes a lot of young talent.
KJ Tenner, a guard from Memphis, Tennessee, was named Memphis Commercial Appeal 2024 Boys Basketball Player of the Year and was the fastest player to score 1,000 points (in 42 games) in his school’s history.
Jonathan Powell, a guard from Dayton, Ohio, was named the Division I Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year for 2023-24. He averaged 19.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game in his senior season at Centerville High School.
In recent memory, the Big 12 has been one of the most dominant basketball conferences in the entire nation. It is a dogfight night in and night out, especially when the in-conference play gets rolling in the late winter. ESPN released a “Way Too Early College Basketball Rankings” list that had five of the top 10 teams in the Big 12: Kansas (#1), Houston (#4), Baylor (#6), Iowa State (#7), and Arizona (#9).
In addition to the already tough in-conference schedule, the Mountaineers will be playing in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, with a scheduled game against the Gonzaga Bulldogs and potential opponents such as Louisville, Indiana, Providence, Arizona, Davidson or Oklahoma. Not to mention other challenging out-of-conference games, including an away game against Pitt in the Backyard Brawl and a home game against Georgetown in the Big East vs. Big 12 Battle.
DeVries knows the challenge and states, “Our goal is to come out and compete every night and try to win that game. That will continue to be our goal moving forward. The wins and losses will play out as we get into the season.”
Coach DeVries has a long line of success, posting a 150-55 (.732) record as a head coach, and hopes to continue that on the big stage.
The Mountaineers will start the year in an exhibition match at the Coliseum against Charleston (WV, DII) on Friday, October 18, with tip-off at 7 p.m.
Their first regular-season matchup is scheduled at home on Monday, November 4, against Robert Morris.
