West Virginia piecing the basketball roster together
West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries is currently in the midst of rebuilding the roster in front of him.
It wasn’t necessarily an unexpected challenge, as the expectation was that there would be turnover once a new coach was brought into the fold.
That isn’t really a foreign concept with any coaching change in this new era of college basketball so it would be naive to believe it wouldn’t happen here. It also isn’t out of DeVries’ comfort zone as he has shown the ability to rebuild rosters in the past during his time at Drake.
The Mountaineers only had one scholarship player remaining from last season’s roster in sophomore forward Ofri Naveh. The Israeli product averaged 2.6 points and 2.5 rebounds in just 13.8 minutes per game and displayed flashes at times when he was tasked into a larger role earlier in the season.
That meant a total of West Virginia seven players have exited through the transfer portal this offseason with point guard Kerr Kriisa, guard Kobe Johnson, guard Noah Farrakhan, guard Seth Wilson, forward Patrick Suemnick, forward Josiah Harris and guard Jeremiah Bembry all making their intentions known.
So due to that DeVries still has four scholarships that could be filled even after some off-season additions that the program has made with eight new players added to the roster including some major additions in the past few days.
Those are Drake forward Tucker DeVries, Oklahoma State point guard Javon Small, University of Illinois-Chicago wing Toby Okani, Illinois forward Amani Hansberry, Illinois guard Sencire Harris, Fresno State big Eduardo Andre, Memphis high school product KJ Tenner and Ohio high school product Jonathan Powell.
This past season, DeVries averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while 44-percent and 36-percent from three. Over his career, Drake appeared in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments as he was named the Missouri Valley Player of the Year in each season. He has one year left.
Small was one of the best point guards available in the transfer portal after one season in Stillwater where he averaged 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists while shooting 44-percent from the field and 37-percent from three. That earned him honorable mention all-Big 12 honors and he immediately becomes a major piece with his final year left in Morgantown after he previously spent two at East Carolina.
Okani averaged 11.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Flames while shooting 39-percent from the floor and 32-percent from three. The lengthy wing also made a strong impact on defense averaging 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals and earning MVC Defensive team honors in the process and has one year left.
Harris redshirted last season but proved productive during his first year with Illinois as he played in all 33 games and even started seven of those while averaging 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. The former top-100 prospect has three years of eligibility remaining and is a standout defender.
Hansberry spent only one season with the Illini where he appeared in 19 games while averaging 2.4 points and 2.1 rebounds in just seven minutes per contest. He shot 45-percent from the field and has a strong pedigree considering he was a consensus four-star prospect out of high school. He too has three years left.
Andre, 6-foot-11, 248-pounds, is a big-bodied interior player who averaged 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game last season along with 1.1 blocks although his season was cut short due to injury. He started his career at Nebraska for two years but saw his numbers grow during his time with the Bulldogs. He has one year remaining.
Tenner, 6-foot, 165-pounds, is on the smaller end physically for a high-major guard but is a proven scorer. Tenner is coming off a season where he averaged 21.2 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game in route to winning Mr. Basketball in Division 4A in Tennessee. He was originally signed with Drake but committed to the Mountaineers when given the opportunity to follow DeVries.
Powell, 6-foot-6, 180-pounds, requested his release from the letter of intent that he initially signed with Xavier in November and West Virginia quickly jumped into the mix. That led to an official visit to Morgantown and he committed at the end of the trip. The first-team all-Ohio selection averaged 19.1 points per game last season and was the second-leading scorer in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. He is a talented off guard who can shoot the basketball as well as put it on the floor to get to the basket.
But even with these additions, DeVries has work to do to round things out for next season. The focus remains on several spots such as a scorer and another big along with any other additions. Considering the difficulty of the Big 12, finding the right fits will be critical to blend with what is already remaining on the roster as the Mountaineers are undergoing almost a complete rebuild from a year ago.
It’s a solid base so far but the focus moving forward and hitting on those final pieces in order to round this thing together and then add any additional depth needed.
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