West Virginia Basketball: The good, bad and ugly through first 3 games of 2023-24

The Bad

Losing to Monmouth at home in game 2 is not what the Mountaineers had envisioned. Xander Rice (son of Monmouth Head Coach, King Rice) came into the WVU Coliseum and dropped 30 points en route to an 8-point victory. West Virginia shot just 7-32 (22%) from beyond the arc. Sophomore, Josiah Harris shot 1-12 from the field. Yes, the Mountaineers are shorthanded to start the season, but losing to the Monmouth Hawks who were picked 11th of of 14 teams in the CAA preseason poll is not indicative of a team who has aspirations of making some noise in conference play.

This West Virginia team simply look much better when the aforementioned Jesse Edwards is on the floor. Using the eye test alone, it is easy to see just how much Edwards’ presence is missed when he is on the bench. The Mountaineers look like a team that is lacking an identity on both ends of the floor. In the first three games of the season, Edwards has been forced to play 37 minutes, 39 minutes, and 32 minutes respectively. The minutes with Edwards on the bench this season (12 in total) have been so few because of the great need to have him on the floor. The cause for concern is what does Coach Eilert elect to do in the future if Edwards were to pick up two early fouls?

At least to this point in the season, the Mountaineers cannot afford to have Edwards miss significant time in any game.