Bock: Reaction to WVU Basketball’s 2024-25 Schedule

Welcome to the Big 12, Darian DeVries.

WVU basketball now has a full schedule for the 2024-25 season, the first for DeVries. After much drama in 2023 that led to the most losses in a single season for West Virginia, DeVries is looking to rebuild a proud program back up.

Here are my thoughts on WVU’s nonconference and Big 12 schedule, and what the realistic expectations could be.

Non-Con

In past years, West Virginia’s non-conference schedule consisted of a mixture of high-majors in a multi-team event with home games against respectable mid-majors. WVU would strategically schedule mid-majors with a higher NET ranking at home, collect those victories that would be more valuable than some Big 12 games. Last season, it came back to bite them as the team would collect a pair of quad-4 losses to Monmouth and Radford at home.

This year, West Virginia has a more favorable slate with KenPom sub-250 opponents Robert Morris, Bethune-Cookman and NC Central. The Mountaineers also host the first year D-I program Mercyhurst. Some teams in the Big 12 have found a way to manipulate the NET ranking, which helps the NCAA Tournament committee fill out the bracket. If these teams are any similar to last year, West Virginia will have to win convincingly.

West Virginia does still have a core of good opponents at the beginning of the year: vs. UMass, at Pitt, vs. Georgetown. WVU also plays in a stacked Battle 4 Atlantis field that consists of Arizona, Davidson, Gonzaga, Indiana, Louisville, Oklahoma and Providence. West Virginia plays Gonzaga in the opening round before playing two other opponents listed above.

WVU senior wings Toby Okani and Tucker DeVries.

Big 12

The Big 12 officially released the conference schedule on Thursday, this time with 16 teams and 20 games.

DeVries’ first game in the conference? At Allen Fieldhouse on New Year’s Eve. What a way to start out in the Big 12.

West Virginia’s schedule doesn’t get any easier as they play Arizona, Iowa State and Houston (2x) within the following four weeks. During that stretch, WVU does have favorable home games versus Oklahoma State and Arizona State that could help their win total.

Once West Virginia is done with January, the schedule is not that bad for Big 12 standards. I’ve seen worse. The Mountaineers play notably at Baylor, Cincinnati (2x) and BYU (2x). Other teams like Texas Tech and TCU aren’t ones to look past but again, I’ve seen worse schedules in the Big 12.

With a new-look conference as BYU, the AAC and Pac-12 teams are settled in now, the schedule format itself looks different for the Big 12. The conference moves to 20 games but seems to have fewer double-up road trips. West Virginia travels to the state of Texas four times and Kansas twice during play. No clue how the league couldn’t pair Houston and TCU together or even Baylor and Texas Tech for West Virginia. Not pairing KU and K-State for a road trip does not make any sense either.

It’s not just West Virginia tho. A lot of other teams in the league are traveling multiple times to a state or only have one road game before coming back home. For a college athletics world that’s transitioning to country-wide conferences, you’d think the schedule would be as accommodated as possible. On the bright side, it seems the Big 12 did pair BYU-Utah and Arizona-ASU road trips for teams going out west.

WVU freshman guard Jonathan Powell.

Expectations Based on Schedule

I’d expect West Virginia to end the nonconference schedule with a few losses. Gonzaga is once again a top team in the country, at Pitt for the Backyard Brawl isn’t ideal especially when Jeff Capel has the Panthers in a comfortable spot and the rest of the Battle 4 Atlantis field is no joke. The Mountaineers will have to take care of business at home against UMass, who beat WVU in Springfield last December, and a Georgetown-coached team by Ed Cooley, who’s trying to bring the Hoyas back to national relevancy.

West Virginia’s conference schedule is easier than other league members, only playing Houston twice out of the projected top five teams. The beginning of the schedule is the typical Big 12 gauntlet. I expect West Virginia to be limping into the month of February after getting beat up by the powerhouses early. If everything is gelling at the same time, the Mountaineers could take advantage of an “easier” schedule afterward. WVU will need nine conference wins to make the NCAA Tournament in year one with DeVries.