West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries had to almost completely restock the roster after taking over the program in March but that isn’t the type of situation he wants to find himself in moving forward.
The Mountaineers needed to add 12 scholarship players this past off-season to fill out the roster, but in a perfect world, you’d like to see that total hover anywhere between four to six. Even though that number is higher than it used to be just a few short years ago with how recruiting has changed, it’s the best pathway to establishing some continuity from year to year within the program.
“It just puts you in a better position to have more stability, more consistency and that’s ultimately what you want to get to as a program,” he said.
In terms of the immediate recruiting efforts, the primary focus has been on those 2025 high school prospects along with several 2026 players. However the ultimate decision on how many will be in each class will be determined by the numbers within the program and how things play out with the current roster when it comes to the combination of graduation or even unexpected transfer departures.
Preparation is essential when it comes to recruiting in today’s game of college basketball and the coaching staff is placing a strong emphasis on making sure they have the ability to pivot quickly.
“To have a list of guys at every position that you can go out and recruit,” DeVries said.
West Virginia plans to recruit from coast to coast nationally and the current coaching staff was constructed with that aspect in mind. While mining those regional areas is still essential due to proximity, it’s become essential to be able to recruit all over the country.
“You have to be incredibly strong in your region, but you also have to make sure you can touch anywhere you need to go to get guys,” DeVries said.
For example, West Virginia plans to hit the Washington, D.C. area hard with associate head coach Chester Frazier being from there and recruiting the area for many years. But hasn’t been bashful targeting players as far away as California to fill needs on the roster through recruiting.
We’re going anywhere we can to put our blueprint out there for recruits and trying to do anything we can to cast as wide a net as possible to cover everything," DeVries said.
One thing that DeVries has noticed early is that everybody has been willing to listen to the coaching staff given the history of the program and the resources available on top of the Mountaineers competing in the Big 12.
"There's a lot of positives for us as we get engaged with individuals," he said.
But that isn’t just limited to the states either, as DeVries also plans to target international players as the coaching staff has already shown. It wasn’t something that he did a lot at Drake, mainly due to financial reasons of traveling back and forth to those locations, but with the game becoming more worldwide and those foreign players being more willing to play college basketball it is just another avenue to explore.
In terms of roster composition, there is no magic formula when it comes to the split between high school additions or those from the transfer portal. The Mountaineers had to go heavy in the portal this past off-season and that will remain a key for the program due to the nature of college sports in general.
But where the emphasis on high school recruiting can even help there is the fact that the coaching staff already would have built-in ties to some prospects that decide to enter the portal even if they don’t successfully land them during their first go-around in the process.
Those transfer recruitments often occur quickly and having those connections are key in order for coaches to get their foot in the door when players to decide to come available in the portal.
“We want to develop as many relationships as possible to put us in position to be strong in high school recruiting and when the portal hits,” DeVries said.
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