Busting Brackets
Fansided

West Virginia Basketball: Why Mountaineers will be better than Pittsburgh in 2019-20

By Jason Burgess

MORGANTOWN, WV - FEBRUARY 12: The West Virginia Mountaineers student section against the TCU Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum on February 12, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
MORGANTOWN, WV - FEBRUARY 12: The West Virginia Mountaineers student section against the TCU Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum on February 12, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 4
Next
KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 12: West Virginia Mountaineers cheerleaders and mascot cheer on their team prior to a quarterfinal game against the Baylor Bears in the Big 12 basketball tournament at Sprint Center on March 12, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 12: West Virginia Mountaineers cheerleaders and mascot cheer on their team prior to a quarterfinal game against the Baylor Bears in the Big 12 basketball tournament at Sprint Center on March 12, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

3.WVU will get more consistent contributions from their newcomers

While Pittsburgh returns more production, the final reason I think West Virginia will be better than the Panthers is that they will get more production from their newcomers in 2019-20. West Virginia only returns one of their top six scorers, Derek Culver, a 6-10 forward who enters his sophomore season after averaging nearly a double-double as a freshman with 11.5 points and 9.9 rebounds.

The Mountaineers also return a few role players that averaged five to seven points per game, but if they are to bounce back they will need consistent contributions from new guys like 6-2 guard Miles McBride who recently averaged over 10 points per game during the team’s three-game trip to Spain. Another guard, 6-3 sophomore Sean McNeil scored 24 points in the first two games of the trip but missed the finale due to an illness.

Taz Sherman is a 6-4 guard from Collin Junior College in Texas where he averaged just under 26 points per game last season, the third-highest total at the JuCo level. The frontcourt will be supplemented by a typical Huggins big man with 6-9 245lb. Oscar Tshiebwe from the Republic of Congo. Tshiebwe is an interior banger that a is bit of project offensively, but defensively can help replace the beloved Sagaba Konate.

Next. Analyzing WVU's 2019 recruiting class. dark

Consistent contributions from these four newcomers will be the third reason that West Virginia ends up having a better 2019-20 than the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Home/West Virginia Mountaineers