NCAA Basketball: 13 most pleasant surprises of the early season

West Virginia Mountaineers (11-1)

West Virginia has easily been one of the more impressive teams in the country so far this season while launching out to an 11-1 record. The Mountaineers have already secured five wins over the KenPom Top 100 to begin the year and that includes a neutral-site victory over Ohio State, who is highly-regarded as a Top 5 team. Their only loss to date came in a true road game against St. John’s (more on them in a bit) and that isn’t anything to be too upset about.

As has been the case in the past, West Virginia’s defense is carrying the weight so far this season. While limiting teams to just 41.9% shooting inside the arc and 25.4% beyond it, the Mountaineers have emerged as a shutdown unit. WVU currently ranks seventh nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency as it is excelling against every opponent on the schedule. This version of WVU might not force the same number of turnovers as “Press Virginia” but still exhibits some opportunistic tendencies.

On the offensive end of the floor, West Virginia works the ball into the paint extremely well. Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe are the team’s scoring leaders thus far and that is indicative of how much the team values finishing around the basket. It is also important to mention that West Virginia derives many of its buckets on second-chance opportunities and at the free-throw line. The team ranks 6th nationally in offensive rebounding rate (38.0%) and 38th in FTAr (39.5).