The basketball roster is starting to come together in West Virginia.
It was quite a task for new head coach Darian DeVries, considering he was basically tasked with building an entirely new roster when he took over in March.
The Mountaineers will only return one player from the 2024-25 roster, sophomore Ofri Naveh, and he was limited to just 13.8 minutes per game, which turned into just 2.6 points and 2.5 rebounds.
This means that almost all of the team’s production from last season came through graduation or the transfer portal, with seven players leaving the program based on the database.
Some of them have already committed to other schools, with guard Kerr Kriisa to Kentucky, forward Patrick Suemnick to DePaul, guard Kobe Johnson to Saint Louis, forward Josiah Harris to Akron and guard Seth Wilson to Akron. Meanwhile, guard Noah Farrakhan and guard Jeremiah Bembry are still looking for their next destinations but will not return to Morgantown.
As for new players, DeVries and his coaching staff have been active in the transfer portal, filling out most of the roster so far.
That started with two-time Missouri Valley Player of the Year Tucker DeVries. The son of the head coach, the versatile forward averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Bulldogs last season and 18.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this year previous.
This is a good starting point for any lineup, as DeVries is an experienced option who has obviously played the system and had success. He’s a piece that should certainly be built around and that’s exactly what DeVries has done so far with a mix of experienced and young talent.
On the experienced side, Oklahoma State point guard Javon Small will take on a key role as a facilitator and scorer alongside DeVries. The Indiana native was one of the most sought-after point guards in the entire transfer portal and is a stat-filling option who can do it all.
An even bigger bonus is the fact that there won’t be any worries about how this will translate to the Big 12 because he’s already done it by averaging 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists while shooting 44% from the field. and 37-percent from three last year with the Pokes.
The Mountaineers also added a piece the coaches prioritized in University of Illinois-Chicago guard Tony Okani. A player DeVries was familiar with after facing him in the MVC, the 6-foot-1 forward is a versatile option who can fill multiple roles on both ends.
Last season, Okani averaged 11.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals per game while earning Missouri Valley Conference All-Defensive Team honors and ranked near the top of the MVC in many of the categories on the defensive end of the floor.
Another player DeVries was familiar with was Washington State transfer guard Joseph Yesufu because he coached him during his first two years at Drake. Yesufu spent two seasons with the Bulldogs and had his most productive campaign when he was named the Missouri Valley Conference Sixth Man of the Year after averaging 12.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
Yesufu then decided to transfer to Kansas, where he played in 69 games, but was limited to just 2.1 points per game in the former and 4.1 in the latter, before transferring again to Washington State. There he played just six games before a hip injury cost him the rest of the year.
As far as the frontcourt goes, the coaches added a piece in Fresno State center Eduardo Andre. The 6-foot-2, 248-pounder started 18 of the 20 games he played in last season, averaging 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the floor. However, a knee injury shortened his season, but the year before he was putting up 8.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 58 percent from the field and started the last 15 games of the season.
Andre began his career at Nebraska and is a traditional back-to-the-basket player who is active in rebounding the ball and is an effective tracker and shooter to the basket.
All of these players only have one year left in their careers, but the Mountaineers are also adding players with more years remaining. Two former top-100 recruits from Illinois, forward Amani Hansberry and guard Sencire Harris, still have three years remaining.
Hansberry was the Mayland Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior, but was limited to just 7.5 minutes per game in a loaded Illini frontcourt. Still, he was productive averaging 2.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 45% from the floor and with increased usage could be a candidate to take off with the Mountaineers during his second season.
Harris spent two years with the Illini, but only one of those was spent on the floor as he redshirted last season to focus on improving his strength and developing his game. The year before, the Ohio native appeared in all 33 games as a true freshman and even started seven of them while averaging 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. He also shot 43% from the floor and 32% from three.
An elite on-ball defender, Harris will find his way onto the court based on that alone, but is expected to make a leap on the offensive end as well.
The final pieces are from the high school ranks of Memphis (Tn.) Cordova guard KJ Tenner and Centerville (Oh.) 2024 guard Jonathan Powell,
Tenner, who followed DeVries from Drake after requesting his release from his letter of intent. Tenner, 6-foot-4 and 165 pounds, is physically undersized for a tall guard but is a proven scorer.
Tenner is coming off a season in which he averaged 21.2 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game en route to winning Mr. Basketball in Division 4A Tennessee.
The 6-foot-2 Powell initially signed with Xavier in November, but requested his release and things moved quickly with West Virginia when he took an official visit just days later. This trip would result in his commitment giving the program a talented guard with length who can hit shots and also defend multiple positions.
Ohio’s first-team selection averaged 19.1 points per game last season and held a number of high-profile scholarship offers before choosing the Mountaineers.
It’s certainly a better position than when DeVries took over the program, but there’s still work to do to round things out and make the Mountaineers competitive in the Big 12. The Mountaineers still need another scorer and another big, among other pieces, but you can see the picture coming into focus when it comes to the basketball roster for next season.
