West Virginia Basketball: Should the Mountaineers look for a point guard in the grad transfer market?
West Virginia loses the team’s top player and starting point guard in Jevon Carter. Should the team go into the transfer market and replace him with another veteran guard?
It seems like forever, but Jevon Carter of West Virginia has graduated from the program. He’s one of the best Mountaineer players in school history and symbolized perfectly what “Press Virginia” was all about.
He’s not the kind of player that can easily be replaced. But Bob Huggins and West Virginia will have to find a way. Even though the team loses both Carter and second-leading scorer Daxter Miles Jr., next year’s team still has a shot at making a run in the NCAA Tournament.
They have all the pieces from the frontcourt, wing position and shooting. Most of the team will be juniors and seniors and will be a preseason top-20 team.
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Problem is, there isn’t a ready-made point guard on the roster that West Virginia should feel comfortable with. No one remaining averaged more than 2.0 apg, and the only point guard in the 2018 freshman class is Jordan McCabe. He’s ranked outside of the top-100 and has talent, but at 5’11 and 155 pounds, McCabe might not be ready for significant minutes in his first year.
Luckily for West Virginia, there’s the transfer market, filled with already over 350 players available. A lot of them will be grad transfers, eligible to play right away next year. The Mountaineers could be looking for a point guard, who can lead this roster to another Sweet Sixteen spot and beyond.
One player to look out for is Aaron Calixte, a grad transfer from Maine University. After missing most of the previous season with an injury, the 5’11 guard broke out scoring 16.9 ppg while shooting 48% from the field and 39% from three-point range. He’s already set to visit fellow Big 12 member Oklahoma sometime in April.
I’ve said that West Virginia should go on the transfer market, but I have to admit that it’s risky. Especially because of the defensive system the team plays. Huggins will gladly sit a player for not doing well on defense, so a transfer situation could end badly.
Next: 10 best transfers from the 2017-18 season
But at the end of the day, the Mountaineers need a ball handler to replace Carter. If someone can convert on the current roster, then great. Otherwise, they might have to take a look outside of the team, in hopes of securing up a potential weak spot on next year’s team.