MORGANTOWN — It is a game of misdirection of sorts in the summer, that being college basketball.
What you see one day may totally be different the next.
So it is with Darian DeVries, who is attempting to bring together an entirely new WVU men’s basketball roster in his first season since moving over from Drake.
In an open scrimmage in front of the media, the blue team — generally the starting five — consisted of his son Tucker, as well as Oklahoma State transfer Javon Small, Illinois transfer Amani Hansberry, UIC transfer Toby Okani and Detroit Mercy transfer Jayden Stone.
The team in white jerseys were freshmen Jonathan Powell and K.J. Tenner, as well as returner Ofri Naveh and transfers Eduardo Andre and Sencire Harris.
How much of that is noteworthy? Likely none of it, especially considering the team in white won the 16-minute scrimmage, 33-25.
“I think it’s pretty open from my standpoint. This is just the middle of July,” DeVries says afterward. “There is nothing set. We have a group that we worked with today. Tomorrow, it will be a different group.
“You have to earn your minutes throughout the summer. If you have a blue jersey on or a white jersey on, it doesn’t mean a whole lot to me right now.”
In just six days, the Mountaineers will play the first of their three exhibition games in Italy, the first one being against BC Zalgiris Kaunas-2 in Genoa.
How much will lineups and rotations mean then? Again, not much.
“We’ll throw in some different lineups just to get a look at different things,” DeVries said. “We’ll try to play the younger guys a little more to get them some post-high school experience. I just want us to play together and for them to play the way we want them to play.”
Strengths and weaknesses
A season ago, Small was leading Oklahoma State in both scoring (15.1 ppg) and assists (4.1 apg), but now finds himself on a WVU team loaded with depth at the guard positions.
Of the 11 scholarship players, eight are listed on the roster as a guard, giving the Mountaineers plenty of ball-handlers on a team that committed the fourth-most turnovers per game in the Big 12 last season.
How many could actually be a point guard? Three? Four?
“To have that many at point may be questionable,” Small said. “I do believe we have a lot of guys who can handle the ball or bring the ball up the court.
“I don’t always like bringing the ball up the court every single time. I I like for my teammates to get a rebound and so I can go run the floor or if someone is picking me up full-court, I can just pass it to another person to get the ball up the court.”
Having a lot of guards is somewhat by design. DeVries’ system is built on speed, passing and movement.
“I think it’s important to have ball-handlers and it’s important to know when you’re not a ball-handler, too,” DeVries said. “The biggest thing in this league and in every league is you have to be able to take care of the basketball. I like this group. For the most part, they take care of the basketball and make good decisions.”
On the flip side, WVU will not have a lot of size.
Andre, at 6-foot-11, is the only player on the roster listed taller than 6-8. He averaged 5.0 rebounds per game at Fresno State last season, but an injury cut that season short.
That’s where Hansberry comes in, as both players will likely rotate as WVU’s center or power forward.
Once a 4-star recruit coming out of Silver Spring, Md., Hansberry saw limited action as a freshman last season at Illinois.
“We’d love to have size, but sometimes you don’t have it,” DeVries said. “How do you offset it? There is still a physicality that can make that a more even benchmark for us. That’s the piece we’re growing into and learning to understand.
“If we’re going to be undersized, you’ve got to do certain things to make sure we survive on the glass. There aren’t any shortcuts to it.”
The freshmen
Powell is a 6-6 guard out of Dayton, Ohio, while Tenner is a 6-foot point guard out of Memphis, Tenn.
Neither have looked out of place this summer, DeVries said.
“I’ve really liked what they’ve both done this summer,” DeVries said. “They’ve both been pleasantly surprising. A lot of times that adjustment can take longer. I think they’ve done a great job of making that transition.
“You can see it each week, each one of them makes progress in areas that maybe the week before they were struggling. I like both of them. I think they both have great upside. I anticipate them helping us throughout the year.”
TWEET @DomPostSports
