MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bob Huggins is not about to play naive with the current state of college basketball or even with the current WVU men’s
basketball roster.
With the transfer portal alive and well, college coaches have quickly realized that roster stability is anything but stable.
“It’s never been this fluid,” Huggins said during a Zoom call. “Ever.”
The traditional two- or three-year building plans are no longer the blueprint for success.
Heck, Huggins even went lower than that.
“One year plans are done,” he said.
The reason? There is no clear-cut way in determining what the Mountaineers’ roster will look like past the 2021-22 season.
In truth, the roster could change dramatically before next season even begins, depending on Deuce McBride’s decision to stay in the NBA Draft or not.
That decision has to be official by July 7.
There will be other WVU players who will eventually have to make their own difficult choices.
Examples: Sean McNeil could be eligible to play as a fifth-year senior in 2022 or forwards Jalen Bridges and Isaiah Cottrell could decide to leave school early and turn pro.
More to the point will be future decisions made by the Mountaineers’ core of younger players and whether they remain with the program.
“We’re going to bring freshmen in where if everything doesn’t go the way they want it to go or maybe it’s over their head or they don’t like this or don’t like that, they can leave,” through the portal, Huggins explained. “It’s an entirely different situation.”
WVU’s 2021 recruiting class may be its most unique ever in that it includes three freshmen and three graduate seniors who have already earned their college degrees at another school.
The freshmen are guards Kobe Johnson and Seth Wilson out of Ohio and forward Jamel King, who originally signed with New Mexico State before getting a release.
The seniors are forwards Dimon Carrigan and Pauly Paulicap and guard Malik Curry.
Along with those three seniors, Gabe Osabuohien and Taz Sherman are both in their final year of eligibility.
McNeil and guard Kedrian Johnson are technically seniors next season, too, although both could return for the 2022-23 season due to the extra season of eligibility the NCAA granted athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having a bulk of seniors may not leave a lot of playing time for younger players.
That includes Wilson, Johnson and King, but could also mean sophomores Taj Thweatt and Seny N’diaye.
For now, Huggins said there is a possibility of redshirting some of the incoming freshmen.
“I thought the best thing we did for (Bridges) was redshirt him for a year and not play him,” Huggins said. “Instead of him going to a prep school and playing against high school kids, he was able to come in here and practice against grown men. I think that helped him tremendously. That’s probably what we’ll do with two of our freshmen. Let’s bring them in and let them grow up. If you can afford to do that, I think it’s a terrific thing to do.”
The question will be how will WVU’s younger core react to not playing as much and whether they decide to stick around and develop?
“Our younger guys are getting better and better,” Huggins said. “They’re just not there, yet.”
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