Big 12 Basketball: 10 biggest questions entering 2023-24 season

3. Can Josh Eilert mesh together West Virginia’s transfer-heavy class without Bob Huggins?

It’s been a wild offseason in Morgantown — to put it mildly.

After the departure of 2022 Hall of Fame inductee Bob Huggins in June following a DUI arrest in June, West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker promoted 42-year-old Huggins assistant Josh Eilert as the team’s interim head coach with hopes of keeping the majority of the transfer class intact.

What is interesting about Eilert is that he served as the Director of Basketball Operations (DOBO) for the Mountaineer program from 2013 to 2022. It was just last season that he was a full-time, first-year assistant under Huggins.

Nonetheless, Eilert was able to keep the bulk of the talented transfer class together — featuring the likes of Kerr Kriisa (Arizona), Jesse Edwards (Syracuse) and RaeQuan Battle (Montana State). (Note: Battle is still awaiting a waiver from the NCAA as of October 20, 2023)

The big question surrounds Morgantown: Can Eilert mesh this team together?

It’s a tall task given the tumultuous offseason the Mountaineers have faced. Projected to finish 9th in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, the Mountaineers look the part of a competitive — but not top-half worthy — Big 12 squad. The pending waiver of RaeQuan Battle looms large and the late-September departure of Jose Perez (who recently committed to Arizona State) is another question mark surrounding this program.

Certainly, the Mountaineers have enough talent on the table to win some big games this year. Jesse Edwards and Kerr Kriisa are both primed for big years, but the pending waiver of RaeQuan Battle seems to be the difference if the Mountaineers can be an NCAA Tournament team or an NIT team in the inaugural interim season of Josh Eilert.