It’s been a roller coaster for West Virginia men’s basketball, but things have finally settled down entering the 2024-25 season.
After the tumult of the last year and a half, during which the Mountaineers parted ways with their legend, Bob Huggins, and watched his interim replacement, Josh Eilert, slog through a nine-win season, athletic director Wren Baker settled Darian DeVries, one of the hottest coaching candidates on the market coming out of last season.
In six seasons at Drake he won 150 games and led the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament each of the last two seasons. Baker and the Morgantown faithful are hoping that by hiring the 49-year-old they’re tapping into a coach who’s willing to be there for the long haul and get the Mountaineers back to the Final Four.
It won’t be an easy first season. The new coach had to tap heavily into the transfer portal to replace a roster that basically turned over and, of course, this is the Big 12 so nothing’s easy on the floor.
Here’s a preview of the West Virginia Mountaineers’ upcoming season.
Odds
BetOnline’s opening odds gave the Horned Frogs +12000 odds to win the national title. The Big 12 coaches picked West Virginia to finish 13th in the preseason poll. The Mountaineers were not ranked in the AP preseason Top 25.
Three Players to Watch
G Tucker DeVries: The son of the head coach played for his dad at Drake for three seasons, and in 2023-24 he was the only NCAA Division I men’s basketball player to average at least 20.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He was also the Larry Bird Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year for two straight seasons.
G Javon Small: The coaching change at Oklahoma State prompted Small to test the transfer market and he landed with the Mountaineers. In doing so he gives West Virginia another proven scorer, as he averaged 15.1 points, along with 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists last season for the Cowboys. He’s also a proven defender.
G Tobi Okani: This is the third stop for the guard, who played two years at Duquesne and two years with UIC. With the Flames last season he averaged 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He also earned selection to the MVC All-Defensive team. He is familiar with DeVries and his system because he played against Drake for two years in conference action.
Biggest Strength
A clean slate. Everything was a mess last season at West Virginia. Huggins was vocal that he never “resigned” from the job, his long-time assistant was the interim coach and Huggins couldn’t help but make cameo appearances at games throughout the season. This isn’t to say that West Virginia should completely turn their backs on their GOAT. But with DeVries and a completely new roster, the program has the clean slate it needs to move on from the past and look forward to getting back in Big 12 contention.
Biggest Weakness
Frontcourt play. This team could have a similar issue as last year’s in that there isn’t a clear-cut group of players that are going to handle the rebounding and interior defense. Eduardo Andre, a 6-11 center from Fresno State, is the most likely candidate to see serious time in the pivot after averaging seven points and five rebounds in an injury-shortened year last season. He is the tallest player on the roster, with the only other center listed as 6-9 Abraham Oyeadier, a native of Ghana who played his prep ball in California last year. The Mountaineers are going to have to get rebounding from every available source this season.
Season Prediction
These days you have to recalibrate how you think of rebuilding in college basketball thanks to the transfer portal. There are good examples of this in the Big 12, most notably what Jerome Tang did in his first year at Kansas State. There’s little doubt the Mountaineers have the guard talent to be competitive in the Big 12. There are two all-conference performers to start with, not to mention the talented KJ Tenner, a freshman who could make an immediate impact in the back court. But this is going to be a multi-year process for DeVries and while they’ll be competitive in the Big 12, just as they were a year ago, their projection is likely anywhere from 15 to 17 wins before they get to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
