NCAA Basketball: Top 25 frontcourts for 2020-21 season

Bob Huggins was given a huge sigh of relief this offseason, as he avoided two significant losses to his roster. Sophomore Oscar Tshiebwe and junior Derek Culver both tested the draft waters and decided to return to Morgantown for another year. Huggins would be in a tough spot losing his two leading scorers, rebounders, and best defenders at the same time.

The duo is very disruptive on the court and nearly averaged 20 points and 20 rebounds together. The only thing stopping them was minutes restrictions for both players around 23-24 a night, which could have only increased their impact further.

Now that Huggins has retained his best players, he can now focus on bringing along his solid recruiting class. Notably is 4-star forward Isaiah Cottrell from nearby Huntington Prep, who is an explosive player around the rim and runs the floor quite well.

Cottrell has accumulated many highlight plays of put-back dunks over defenders and dominating the glass. However, he has shown some range to his shot attempts and could add a new wrinkle to what the Mountaineers are able to work with this season.

Among the remaining players likely to see quality minutes, Gabe Osabuohien, Emmitt Matthews Jr., and redshirt freshman Jalen Bridges will be fighting to take over Jermaine Haley’s now vacant starting spot.

Since Huggins capped all of his players at less than 25 minutes per night, it would make the most sense that former top-100 recruit Jalen Bridges has the most to gain entering the season. Emmitt Matthews is already near the minutes’ cap and has not run away with any offensive priority just yet, although the tides could change in his favor with shot attempts to replace.

Bridges is a do-it-all kind of wing that has plus size to battle for rebounds down low and fight through contact at the rim. A redshirt season to get his body right and adjust to the college game should help to pay immediately with on-court success in Morgantown.

This group stands to improve scoring the ball and will be one of the most physical and dominant frontcourts in the nation. It’s hard to improve as the top offensive rebounding team in the country last season, but you can bet that these guys will compete to break their own mark from 2019.