16. West Virginia Mountaineers
While the transfer portal has made basketball rosters quite unstable in this sport that barely compares to the instability at West Virginia in recent years. The Mountaineers just finished what was a fourth straight season with a different head coach, though Ross Hodge sure seems like he’s sticking around after winning 21 games in that debut, the most the program has had since before the pandemic. A senior-laden lineup did decent work despite falling just short of the Big Dance but perhaps the future is even brighter.
Notable changes have come to West Virginia’s frontcourt, namely with the addition of Mouhamed Sylla. The 6-10 center from Senegal did great work at Georgia Tech as a freshman by averaging 9.6 points and 7.2 rebounds and now steps into a major role with the Mountaineers. Alongside him this new-look frontcourt should also see plenty of Javan Buchanan, who put up 12.6 points a game at Boise State last season.
The big boost to the backcourts comes in Finley Bizjack after he averaged 17.1 points per game in the Big East at Butler. He’s not the only notable guard from that league, as Joson Sanon is hoping to jumpstart his career after underwhelming at St. John’s. Florida State’s Martin Somerville put up decent figures and should get opportunities as a junior while Seydou Traore is looking for a solid ending to his career after his time with Utah.
While we’re not really diving deep into how all these pieces fit together, the Mountaineers probably just grabbed three or four starters for next season with this nice transfer haul. Obviously, West Virginia has a lot of players to replace like Honor Huff and Brenen Lorient, but Hodge has done solid work getting notable pieces to Morgantown with hopes of building a program that can someday soon win those meaningful Big 12 showdowns.
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