West Virginia taking right steps in roster construction

West Virginia has undergone not one, but two roster reconstructions this off-season.

The first was a masterful job by the coaching staff, spearheaded by Director of Recruiting Jay Kuntz, in adding talented pieces such as center Jesse Edwards, point guard Kerr Kriisa, guard RaeQuan Battle and guard Omar Silverio to a roster that was returning plenty of potential.

However, after the resignation of head coach Bob Huggins in mid-June the roster fractured with four players exiting the program through the transfer portal and another still considering his options.

The losses were forward Tre Mitchell (Kentucky), point guard Joe Toussaint (Texas Tech), forward Mohamed Wague (Alabama) and forward James Okonkwo (North Carolina).

The last remaining player that is considering his options is guard Jose Perez who is weighing his options on whether to return to West Virginia or consider other schools such as Michigan or Gonzaga.

However, while we wait for a resolution on Perez the show must go on in the world of college basketball which meant that head coach Josh Eilert and Kuntz had to get to work filling out the roster yet again.

Once the dust settled, the Mountaineers were left with eight scholarship players on the roster with that number potentially increasing to nine if Perez elects to return. That meant that the primary focus was filling out those slots with quality pieces that can help this basketball team win games.

So far, so good on that front.

West Virginia has added two transfers to the mix in the past few weeks with Florida State guard Jeremiah Bembry and St. John’s forward Quinn Slazinski.

Bembry, 6-foot-6, is a versatile guard that can fill a number of roles given his length. He has the ability to score off the bounce and get to the rim while possessing the length to defend multiple positions. The point guard is an excellent distributor and understands where to go with the basketball.

Bembry didn’t play during his time with the Seminoles due to an injury but is a good addition considering his overall skill set and how he can step in a fill the vacancy left by Toussaint as a depth option behind Kriisa at the one which was a need.

The second piece was important as well as Slazinski is another versatile piece at 6-foot-9 that can stretch the floor with his shooting while displaying the ability to rebound the ball. He isn’t a direct fill in for what was lost in Mitchell but does bring a similar skill set that the roster simply didn’t have.

Slazinski has proven to be a productive role player during his time at the college level and helps to provide some versatility and scoring to space the floor at his size.

Both fill major needs for the roster and are impressive additions considering the time on the calendar which they occurred. That’s a good start and it becomes even better if the Mountaineers are able to keep Perez in the fold over the next couple days.

It’s been an off-season of building for the basketball program and the coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for not only one but two different construction projects. And Kuntz has been at the center of it all so whatever he is making, it's time to increase that.

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