MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia’s disappointing loss against Coastal Carolina in the second round of the CBI was not an ending point to months of confusion and drama.
Instead, more storylines have spilled into the Mountaineers’ off-season following their first-ever 21-loss season in school history.
Forwards Lamont West and Andrew Gordon entered the NCAA transfer portal on Thursday, leaving the Mountaineers with just seven players on scholarship — six who are healthy enough to play — heading into the spring signing period that begins April 17.
There was also a positive glimpse to the future with incoming 6-foot-8 freshman Oscar Tshiebwe, who finished with a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) in the McDonald’s All-American game on Wednesday. He is just the second-ever WVU recruit to play in the prestigious game.
All of it is just the latest in what was a long season filled with two key injuries to Sagaba Konate and Beetle Bolden, a first-semester suspension to forward Derek Culver and then forwards Esa Ahmad and Wes Harris were dismissed from the team in February.
That was followed by five players transferring, beginning with Harris, but then later joined by Bolden and freshman Trey Doomes, before West and Gordon added their names after the season.
Even the final game presented some drama, as Culver was suspended for the first half of the 109-91 loss to the Chanticleers.
The ending brought this reflection from West Virginia coach Bob Huggins:
“I guess the positive is I’ve learned not to compromise your principles for anybody,” he said. “Nobody is more important than the team, which is the way it’s always been. This year, for whatever reason, it’s not what I did. It was my fault, 100 percent my fault.”
As the Mountaineers look to renovate their roster in hopes of avoiding a second straight difficult season, here are the top five questions heading into next season:
1. Will Konate return?
There is no definitive answer to that question at the moment. Huggins is on record as saying Konate’s return would be a family decision.
“I just want him to be able to make a well-informed decision,” Huggins said during the season.
At the moment, though, sources inside the WVU program have told The Dominion Post that no decision has been made by Konate.
Culver, who was named to the all-Big 12 second team and finished his first season averaging 11.5 points and 9.9 rebounds, also said he would welcome the opportunity to play next to Konate.
“We haven’t really got to put the product on the floor how we wanted, but you can tell everyone has the feeling of, ‘Wow, imagine if these two really got to jell,’ ” Culver said during the Big 12 tournament. “Nobody could stop us.”
If Konate returns and his right knee is back to full health, it instantly creates a lot of optimism for next season, because the Mountaineers would potentially have one of the more talented front lines in the country with Konate, Culver and Tshiebwe.
“If you add all three of us, that trio together could really …” Culver began before tailing off. “I’m just speaking, but I really honestly hope we can get to that.
“Having two other high-volume players like that, I don’t understand how we would make any team worse.”
2. Will anyone else leave the team?
Not every WVU player was interviewed at the end of the season, but guard Chase Harler said he was set to return for his senior year and looked forward to playing with the nucleus of guys who were on the team at the end of the season.
“With the group we have, we’ll start doing some things and get in the weight room again,” he said. “By summer, we’ll have the news guys in. There are things that we didn’t do this season that we can do differently next season.”
Jermaine Haley has spent his entire college career moving around, first starting at New Mexico State, before enrolling at Odessa (Texas) Junior College and then at West Virginia.
“I’m really looking forward to just having a second year at the same place,” Haley said. “I’m looking forward to coming back with these same guys and going back to work and trying to improve for next season.”
WVU has signed Tshiebwe and Ohio point guard Miles McBride. Huggins still has four scholarships to give, and at least two of those he would like to give to junior-college guards who could come in and play right away.
If that happens — long story made short — playing time at the guard spots could be interesting with Harler, Haley, McBride, Jordan McCabe and Brandon Knapper already on the roster. Adding two more guards would give WVU seven, which is a lot. Whether or not some more leave depends on how each individual views their role on the team.
3. Who will WVU sign?
The two junior-college guards high on the Mountaineers’ wish list are Sean McNeil from Sinclair (Ohio) Community College and Tajzmel “Taz” Sherman out of Collin College in Texas.
Both are high-scoring. McNeil, who is 6-4, led all junior college Division II schools in scoring at 29.7 points per game and scored 55 in just his fourth game of the season.
He shot 43.1 percent (132 of 225) from 3-point range.
Sherman, who is also 6-4, finished fourth in junior college Division I at 25.9 points per game. He shot 39.3 percent (94 of 239) from 3-point range.
WVU is also in the running for forward Kenyon Martin Jr. (6-7), the son of Kenyon Martin Sr., who was a standout at Cincinnati under Huggins.
Martin played at Sierra Canyon High in Chatsworth, Calif., where he averaged 20.4 points and 9.7 rebounds as a senior. The school won a second consecutive California Open Division state championship.
WVU also has an offer out to 6-2 guard Clarence Nadolny, who played in prep school this season at Scotland (Pa.) Campus Sports. A native of Paris, France, Nadolny guided Scotland Campus to a 36-2 record.
Martin Jr. and Nadolny have four seasons of eligibility remaining, while McNeil has three and Sherman has two.
4. What’s the schedule look like?
The Mountaineers will play the third of a four-game series against Pitt, on Dec. 7, at the Petersen Events Center.
WVU will also travel to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland for a neutral-court game against Ohio State, on Dec. 29.
The Mountaineers will also play Youngstown State on the road, but not at the Penguins’ home arena, which is the second of a three-game series.
Youngstown State, coached by former WVU assistant Jerrod Calhoun, will travel back to Morgantown during the 2020-21 season.
Rhode Island is also scheduled to visit Morgantown next season.
WVU will also play in the Cancun Challenge, which features home games against Northern Colorado (Nov. 18) and Boston University (Nov. 22), before traveling to Cancun to face Northern Iowa (Nov. 26) and either South Carolina or Wichita State (Nov. 27).
The other two key non-conference games will likely be a home game in the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge and also a game in the first-ever Big 12/Big East Challenge.
The Big East game is scheduled for December and the opponent is expected to be announced sometime after the NCAA tournament.
The SEC game is played in January and the opponent is generally announced each summer.
WVU still has four non-conference games left to announce.
5. Can WVU get back to the NCAA tournament?
OK, it’s prediction time.
Huggins’ first losing season at WVU, in 2012-13, was followed up by a first-round loss in the NIT in a follow-up season that didn’t show drastic improvement.
That doesn’t mean the same will hold true for next season.
A lot of things have to go right for the Mountaineers, beginning with a healthy return of Konate and then Huggins will have to figure out a rotation of Konate, Culver and Tshiebwe.
Emmitt Matthews Jr. has to take a step forward in development, so do Haley, Culver and McCabe.
Tshiebwe in no way has to arrive on campus thinking he has to be some sort of savior, but he’s got to be productive.
The other incoming recruits have to be able to provide some quality depth, if not make a push to become a starter.
And no more drama, please.
At the very least, next season’s schedule appears challenging, with maybe a maximum of seven or eight gimme wins before Big 12 play.
With all of that said, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that WVU returns to the NCAA tournament.
The way-too-early prediction: WVU goes 21-12 and gets a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament.
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