Transfer Update: Tshiebwe among nation's best while others fill roles

The transfer portal is the way of college basketball.

According to data from Verbal Commits, 2020 saw more than a thousand players transfer. The following year brought an uptick of more than 700 relocations.

West Virginia is no bystander to the chaos as seven former Mountaineers are now suiting up elsewhere.

*All stats as of Dec. 26

Teddy Allen's commitment to WVU in 2017 was merely the first stop of many in his college basketball life.

He played a significant role off the bench during his one and only season in Morgantown, contributing 34 points during the Mountaineers' NCAA Tournament run. Showing bright spots throughout the season, including scoring a career-high 24 points against Coppin State, it was anticipated Allen would become a larger piece of the team's offense the following season.

Allen intended to play at Wichita State. However, he instead would go on to play his next two seasons in the state of Nebraska — the state in which he attended high school — after he was dismissed by head coach Gregg Marshall. The first, coming at Western Nebraska Community College, saw Allen become one of the top JUCO players in that nation. The second, coming at the University of Nebraska, was one in which Allen led the Cornhuskers with 16.5 points per game.

Allen left Nebraska in March, eventually landing at New Mexico State. Now in his redshirt junior season, he's the number one option for the Aggies and ranks third in the WAC in scoring.

This season (13 games): 32.5 minutes per, 17.7 points per, 6.9 rebounds per, 16 total steals

When Bob Huggins burned Trey Doomes' redshirt, it was anticipated that the then-freshman guard would light a spark under an underachieving Mountaineer team.

Doomes would go on to average just shy of four minutes per game that season while West Virginia limped to a 15-21 record. He announced in March that he was leaving WVU, and surfaced at UT-Chattanooga the following season.

In his first season with the Mocs, averaged 3.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in just shy of 10 minutes per game. Last season, after averaging nearly 10 points in nine games, Doomes opted out due to COVID-19 concerns.

Over the summer, Doomes announced his transfer to Division II program Oklahoma Baptist.

This season: Has not played.

A walk-on from Fairmont Senior High School, Taevon Horton spent one season in Morgantown at the very end of the bench. In 2018-19, having started in one game and appeared in 10 more, the guard averaged 0.9 points per game.

Horton made the jump to the junior college ranks and joined the team at Missouri State-West Plains, where he averaged 13.1 points in 29 games.

He again transferred prior to last season. landing at the University of Pikeville in Kentucky. Horton filled a role as a tweener for the Bears, starting in 12 of the team's 21 games. He scored a career-high 29 points against the University of the Cumberlands in January 2021, before turning in a 27-point performance a few nights later.

This season, Horton has seen much more time in the starting lineup, developing into a defensive stalwart and selective offensive contributor.

This season (12 games): 25 minutes per, 8.9 points per, 4.3 rebounds per, 21 total steals

Opportunity outweighed roots for Brandon Knapper.

Following a 2019-20 season in Morgantown in which he averaged 2.5 points per game, Knapper decided to leave his home state and pursue an opportunity at Eastern Kentucky. He played only four games with the Colonels, averaging a whopping 18.3 points per game.

Knapper tried his hand at the transfer portal again by committing to San Jose State in May, but he ultimately ended up at Division II's Cal State San Bernardino where he has blossomed into the team's top playmaker.

This season (11 games): 32.5 minutes per, 24.2 points per, 2.7 assists per, total 44.3% three-point shooter

West Virginia wasn't Emmitt Matthews' first choice, and it wasn't his last, either.

As a four-star recruit coming out of Tacoma, Washington, Matthews had committed to UCONN. After a coaching change, he decommitted from the Huskies and opted to head to WVU.

During his freshman year in Morgantown, Matthews added depth on the wing and, with a 28-point game against Texas Tech, was a pivotal piece of the bottom-dwelling team's cinderella run through the Big 12 Tournament.

Matthews was elevated to a full-time starter the following season, giving the Mountaineers a role player who aided the team's efforts in scoring and rebounding. He continued his ascent as a junior, averaging career-highs in scoring (7.7 points per game) and rebounding (four per game).

During the offseason, Matthews was one of two Mountaineers to enter the transfer portal. He chose to relocate back to his home state, where he now starts for the Huskies.

This season (10 games): 32.6 minutes per, 10.9 points per, 5.2 rebounds per, total 67.6% free-throw shooter

One of the top recruits off the 2018 class, Jordan McCabe brought handles and basketball IQ to Morgantown.

After three years, he packed them up and took them to Las Vegas.

As a freshman in 2018-19, McCabe slotted in as a reserve before commandeering the starting point guard position for the season's final 10 games. He was the team's starting point guard as a sophomore, before being supplanted by Miles "Deuce" McBride.

McCabe was not one to light up the box score during his time at WVU, but teammates said his leadership and veteran presence were valued assets on the court.

Now out west, McCabe has started in each of the Runnin' Rebels' 12 games.

This season (12 games): 30 minutes per, 7.3 points per, five assists per, total 40% from the field

Of the Bob Huggins era, there has been no recruit more hyped than Oscar Tshiebwe.

A McDonald's All-American and a five-star prospect, the 6-foot-9 Tshiebwe stepped on campus in the fall of 2019 carrying plenty of expectations. He certainly met some of them during his freshman season, starting in each of WVU's 31 games while averaging 11.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

His sophomore season was a bit of a step back for Tshiebwe, who averaged 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds in 10 games. His stint in Morgantown was short-lived as, on New Year's Day, Huggins announced that Tshiebwe had left the program.

The Congolese big man would later commit to Kentucky and made his debut for the Wildcats this fall. He's become a forced to be reckoned with not only in the SEC, but across college basketball, as he ranks second in the nation in double doubles.

This season (11 games): 28 minutes per, 16.1 points per, 15.5 rebounds per, total 64.9% scorer from the field

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