WVSports.com continues with our popular feature: The 3-2-1. We'll break down three things we learned that week, two questions we have and give one prediction.
Here is the next installment of the 3-2-1 looking at the West Virginia football program, the latest on basketball and what’s happening in recruiting.
3 things I learned:
1–Construction of West Virginia hoops roster. West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge made it clear that the plan was to hit the ground running when it came to piecing together what the roster was going to look like next season. Turns out, that certainly has been the case as the basketball program has already added several key pieces.
Hodge inherited a group that lost almost all of the production from last season due to graduation and the transfer portal and then forward Ofri Naveh exited the program, too. That leaves for the time being just forward Haris Elezovich and center Abraham Oyeadier on the roster from last season's team and the latter redshirted.
That meant that work clearly needed to be done to round out what Hodge was going to be able to work with in his first year over the program. That work has begun.
The Mountaineers first landed UNC Wilmington center Harlan Obioha. Obioha, 7-foot-0, 280-pounds, attracted plenty of interest once he entered the transfer market from schools such as Texas, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Wichita State, Wake Forest and Rutgers, among others.
Obioha spent only one season with the Seahawks, where he averaged 9.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and shot 63-percent from the field while starting 23 games this past year.
He was previously at Niagara, where he averaged 2.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in the first season in just over 9 minutes per game. Those totals saw a significant increase as a sophomore jumping to 10.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game before transferring to UNC Wilmington.
That’s a strong start given the market for big men in the transfer portal, but the Mountaineers then were able to land another highly athletic four-man with plenty of familiarity with Hodge with the commitment of North Texas forward Brenen Lorient.
Lorient, 6-foot-9, 215-pounds, is coming off a standout season with the Mean Green where he averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and over 1.1 blocks per game across 24.8 minutes per game.
He shot 57-percent from the field and his efforts were rewarded by being named a first-team all-American Athletic Conference selection and the league’s Sixth Man of the Year.
The Ocala, Florida native started his career at Florida Atlantic where he spent two seasons. During the 2022-23 campaign Lorient appeared in 21 games as a reserve and followed that up appearing in all 31 games while averaging 2.2 points and 1.3 rebounds per game before transferring to North Texas.
Along with those two transfers, the Mountaineers also received a commitment from Allen (Tx.) 2025 forward Deandre Thomas. The 6-foot-7, 210-pounder, initially signed with North Texas in November but requested his release once Hodge left the post.
Thomas averaged 10.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game as a junior and followed that up by averaging 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a senior on a high-level Allen basketball team and the familiarity there was critical.
There was trust on each side of the equation and Thomas will enter the basketball program with a full complement of eligibility on top of having the versatility on both ends of the floor that Hodge wants.
West Virginia then added a critical piece in the backcourt with a commitment from Chattanooga transfer guard Honor Huff.
Huff, 5-foot-10, 168-pounds, had previously narrowed down his options to West Virginia, St. John’s, Iowa, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt prior to selecting the Mountaineers.
A popular name in the transfer portal after entering his name in the database April 5, Huff heard from a long list of options before whittling it down.
The high-scoring guard became a priority for West Virginia in the transfer portal and is coming off a season where he averaged 15.2 points, 2.3 assists and 1.8 rebounds while hitting 42.4-percent of his shots and an impressive 41.6-percent of his three-point attempts.
Overall, Huff made a total of 131 on the season from deep and that total ranked him atop all of college basketball in terms of made three-pointers. He was an all-Southern Conference first-team selection.
The season before at Chattanooga, Huff averaged 17.4 points, 2.6 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 43.4-percent from the field and 38-percent from three. That earned him all-Southern Conference second team honors while starting all 33 games for the Mocs.
Troy transfer forward Jackson Fields then committed to the basketball program. The Texas native spent three seasons with the Trojans and has seen his production increase in each of those campaigns. After averaging 3.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game as a freshman those totals jumped to 6.5 points and 4.4 rebounds as a sophomore.
Fields is coming off a season where he averaged 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 48.7-percent from the field and 33.3–percent from three on 63 attempts.
The work isn't done but the roster is certainly taking shape.
2–West Virginia reshaping football roster. Head coach Rich Rodriguez hasn't been bashful that the Mountaineers had to make some difficult decisions when it comes to the roster. The projected total of 105 total slots has been on the minds of practically everybody involved and with the coaching staff looking to add more pieces in order to round out the roster it only made sense that some changes were on the horizon.
It shouldn't come as any sort of surprise because Rodriguez basically prepared anybody that was listening for this outcome and now that process is underway.
There's no way to tell which of these players were encouraged to exit or decided to leave on their own or perhaps it was a mutual choice, but what is known is that a healthy chunk of players have been removed from the official roster with the transfer portal window set to open April 16. This will give those players a chance to sort out their options and get a head start on where they will head next in their careers.
