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Bock: What’s Next for West Virginia Basketball?

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Photo: Kelsie LeRose / WVSN

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Watching West Virginia basketball. Tougher than a long weekend at your in-laws.

Since starting the season 13-2, the Mountaineers have won one contest in their last 12 games. What the hell happened?

Short answer: this team has too many weaknesses to compete in a stacked Big 12 Conference. They can’t rebound, make layups, defend the paint and even listen to their coaches.

“If we pay attention to scout and stop teams from doing what they do best, I feel like we’ll be good,” WVU guard Malik Curry said. “I think it starts with us as players listening to the coaching staff.”

On Tuesday, WVU is looking at a 14-13 record with just four regular season games and one guaranteed Big 12 Tournament game. The sun is not shining in Morgantown. You even have Bob Huggins hinting at throwing in the towel for this season and preparing for next year.

“I’m going to go back and look at the game and the guys who didn’t give us what we expect are going to sit their butt on the bench,” Huggins said after the TCU loss. “They open their mouth on the bench, I’m going to send them home.”

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame finalist did admit that they still have a chance at making some magic happen, but something has to change overnight, literally. West Virginia’s final four games in the regular season are road games at Iowa State and Oklahoma, while Texas and TCU come to the coliseum. Mountaineers aren’t dancing in March unless they win the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

So, what’s next for WVU?

No, it’s not fire Huggins or ask him to step down. I’ve seen that sadly too many times this season and I’m not entertaining that possibility. Don’t complain about Huggs not making the Hall of Fame, while continuing to put him down for this underachieving season. Huggins and his staff will figure it out and bring the program back.

For the remaining games of the season, the coaching staff should prioritize playing Jalen Bridges, Isaiah Cottrell, Kobe Johnson, Seth Wilson, Jamel King and James Okonkwo. With the exception of Senior Day where the seniors should be honored, the freshmen and sophomores should play much more than they have this season. There’s nothing to lose. They haven’t been able to win with the regular rotation, so you might as well get these guys some development. Maybe you’ll be able to catch magic in a bottle and rattle some wins off at the end of the season.

Regardless, the team needs to find an early plan for next year. A lot of players are set to leave the program and a new generation of Mountaineers are ready to take over.

Taz Sherman, Gabe Osabuohien, Malik Curry, Dimon Carrigan and Pauly Paulicap are all fifth-year seniors, with Sean McNeil and Keddy Johnson with the opportunity to come back next season. That’s five departures for sure and a potential two more.

Surround your plan around Bridges, Cottrell and the freshmen. Bridges is the clear leader for next season, barring any transfer portal announcement. I know everyone rolled their eyes at the team needing to build around Cottrell, but if you haven’t seen his small development from the beginning of the season to now, you’re blind. Cottrell got WVU back into the game against Kansas State last week, while scoring nine points on 3-of-3 shooting against TCU on Monday night. Give him a full off-season injury free and Cottrell will be a great player for this team.

Kobe Johnson and Wilson are the next future backcourt for this program and they’ll be a great one on top of that. King and Okonkwo have some more development to do, but they’re also on their way. King was brought into the TCU game late to try and create turnovers. The freshman from Alabama hit a three with two minutes left in the game to give him his first basket as a Mountaineer.

Here’s the early look for next year’s team.

Yellow = Returning Players
Green = New Players
Red = COVID opt-in’s

For the past month, Huggins has admitted that he thought his staff did a poor job at the transfer market last off-season after losing Deuce McBride and Derek Culver. After the loss to Kansas over the weekend, Huggins went on a small rant about how he wants to attack the transfer portal like Mark Adams has at Texas Tech, compared to how Chris Beard does at Texas. Huggins wants the tough kids who aren’t big shots.

“I’d give my arm for [guys like] Cam Thoroughman,” Huggins said.

When Adams was hired at TTU in April 2021, all he had was Terrence Shannon, Marcos Santos-Silva and Kevin McCullar. After acquiring great transfers out of the portal in Bryson Williams, Kevin Obanor, Davion Warren and Adonis Arms, the Red Raiders are national title contenders just like that. This is the plan that Huggins and his staff need to do. It’s okay to get mid-major guys in the portal, but get guys that are going to be here for multiple years.

West Virginia needs a big man transfer that can rebound, defend the paint and make layups. These are the factors that have cost the Mountaineers many games this season, as the big men can’t do what big men are supposed to do. They could use two of these, actually.

Eventually, WVU will get back to, “West Virginia basketball. Tougher than a long weekend at your in-laws.” Until now, it’ll be a process to retool the team.

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