Coming into the season, if you would have made the take that the WVU Women’s Basketball team was going to win the Big 12, you might have had lots of people agree with you. But if you said the same about the men’s team, you would have been called delusional.

The WVU WBB team was coming off a back and forth, toe-to-toe battle with Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes on their own floor, grabbing the attention of all of America. Coach Kellogg in his second season would be returning four of his five starters and only losing two total key pieces from that team a year ago.

If you combine that with the offseason the team had in getting high transfer recruit, Sydney Shaw, and 4-star high school recruit Jordan Thomas to fill those holes, everyone expected WVU to have a great year. So much in fact, they started the season as the 16th ranked team in the country.

Since their season has started, they have showcased their incredibly high athleticism and now much improved post play that has put teams in a bind, having to face a super well rounded WVU squad. With their national star JJ Quinerly at the lead and plenty of supporting pieces around her, the team certainly has what it takes this season to make a run in Kansas City and bring home a Big 12 title.

When you flip it over to the Men’s side of the sport for WVU, their was a lot less optimism surrounding this season. Sure fans were excited about the future of the program following the hire of Darian DeVries, but most fans would have told you it would take some time for the team to reach a level to fully compete in the Big 12, one of the deepest in the nation.

But now just 13 games into the season, there has been a complete shift in the energy, dare I say aura, surrounding the team. They currently sit at 11-2 and have done things never done before in the history of WVU Basketball.

In just 13 games, Coach DeVries has led his team to wins over, at the time, 3rd ranked Gonzaga, 24th ranked Arizona, and most recently the first ever win for WVU in Allen Fieldhouse over the 7th ranked Kansas Jayhawks.

Not only was the team able to pick up two big wins to start conference play over Kansas and Oklahoma State, they did it without their second leading scorer, Tucker DeVries. Head Coach Darian DeVries has instilled a no excuse mentality into his team and it has shown on the court time and time again this season.

The road is certainly much tougher for the Men’s team to navigate a loaded Big 12 conference, but the team is off to the best start any fan could have asked for and should find themselves in the AP top-25 on Monday afternoon.

If the Mountaineers are going to want to make a run, it will take a continued great start by their emerging star point guard Javon Small and great three point shooting around him.

Freshman Jonathan Powell has been great from three this season and defensive stud Sencire Harris finally made two three-point shots against Oklahoma State after starting the year 0-27 from deep.

If Small is able to get productive shooting around him and solid post play from a healthy Amari Hansberry and a now improved Eduardo Andre, this team has the shooting, defense, coaching, and energy to absolutely make a run for the conference title.

The men’s team has never won a Big 12 tournament title before while it would the second ever for the women’s team who won the tournament back in 2017.