Ross Hodge made it clear that the transition to West Virginia would essentially be business as usual for him when it came to putting together the roster.
It’s been hard to argue with the results to date.
Hodge had become accustomed to rebuilding rosters during his time atop the North Texas basketball program after replacing seven players, including the top three leading scorers, prior to his first year and then replacing nine more players ahead of his second season, including his top six scorers.
That, along with his experience leading two different junior college programs, had prepared him for what he was set to inherit in Morgantown with a basketball roster that almost completely turned over once former head coach Darian DeVries elected to exit the program.
Hodge had become quite familiar with mining the transfer portal and being at the group of five level with North Texas which also unfortunately meant difficulty with retaining key pieces from year to year. That isn’t the case with the West Virginia brand name to sell potential targets.
“West Virginia, the brand is powerful and it resonates across the country,” he said.
Hodge already had experience recruiting all over the country during his time at both North Texas and previous stops and now has the backing of a high-major conference program.
So far in Morgantown Hodge has shown the ability to attract some talented players and has taken some major steps toward the roster rebuild with the Mountaineers as well. Since being introduced as the leader of the basketball program April 3, Hodge has already added six new players to the roster.
That list includes six transfers in UNC Wilmington center Harlan Obioha, North Texas forward Brenen Lorient, Chattanooga guard Honor Huff, Troy forward Jackson Fields, North Texas guard Jasper Floyd and St. Bonaventure wing Chance Moore. One high school prospect in Allen (Tx.) 2025 forward DJ Thomas has also signed with the basketball program after previously being committed to the Mean Green.
There are some obvious ties there with some of those names given Hodge coached and recruited the trio that moves over from North Texas, but there’s no question that the pace this has unfolded has been even more rapid than even the most optimistic could have projected.
And there’s some real quality being added, too. Of that list there are multiple first team-all conference selections and players that played key roles for their teams a season ago.
The head coach made it clear that he would hit the ground running when it came to recruiting and so far that has certainly been the case with some strong pieces being put in place.
And it’s clear that things aren’t even close to being done with the program being strongly linked to North Dakota guard Treysen Eaglestaff by multiple reports after opening his recruitment from South Carolina along with contact with a long list of others that remain in the transfer portal.
Eaglestaff, 6-foot-6, is coming off a season where he averaged 18.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 41.6-percent from the floor and 35.9-percent from three. Prior to his initial commitment to South Carolina, he was being targeted by programs such as Kentucky, Kansas, Gonzaga, Iowa and a large number of other schools.
West Virginia has also made contact with a long list of other players who could play a key role on the roster. That list is only going to continue to grow as well until all the pieces are in place.
And it’s certainly been a fun ride to date.
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