Big 12 Season Preview: West Virginia Mountaineers
Posted by Kory Carpenter on October 31st, 2014Throughout the preseason, the Big 12 microsite will preview each of the league’s 10 teams, from worst to first. Today: West Virginia.
West Virginia
West Virginia rebounded in its second Big 12 season last year, finishing 9-9 in conference play and above .500 overall at 17-16. Both were improvements from its inagural Big 12 campaign, in which it finished 13-19 (6-12) in 2012-13. The Mountaineers ended the season with an opening round NIT loss to Georgetown and are looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. They should make the Big Dance if their upward trend continues, but they have a few pieces to replace if that is to happen. They still have one of the best coaches in the Big 12 in Bob Huggins, who has won 739 games and made two Final Four appearances in a long Division I career that began at Akron in 1984. The Mountaineers also have a soft non-conference schedule this year, so racking up early wins should not be a problem. Only three of West Virginia’s 11 non-conference opponents are from Power 5 conferences, and they might be favored in all 11 of those contests. But like I said, there are definitely holes to fills thanks to a few transfers.
Bob Huggins will need to work some magic after some big losses this offseason.
Strengths: Juwan Staten. The 6’1″ senior guard led last year’s team with 18.1 PPG and shot 48.5 percent from the field. He had a number of big games, including 23 points and seven assists on 8-of-13 shooting in the season-ending loss against Georgetown. You certainly couldn’t say that loss was on him. Staten will be joined in the backcourt by fellow senior Gary Browne, who has been consistently average at West Virginia (6.5, 5.6, and 5.9 PPG in three seasons) but will help form one of the most experienced backcourts in the nation this season. Then you have sophomore forward Devin Williams, who averaged 8.4 PPG and 7.2 RPG in his first college season — the 6’9″ forward should make a considerable leap and average double-figure points for the Mountaineers.
Weaknesses: The biggest weakness, by far, will be the void left by guard Eron Harris, who transferred to Michigan State in the offseason. Harris averaged 17.2 PPG last season and was poised for a big 2014-15 in Morgantown alongside Staten and Browne, but he told NBC Sports that “At West Virginia I just didn’t feel like my life was whole.” He added that basketball was fine, but something else seemed to be missing in Morgantown. He left to play for Tom Izzo and it is a big blow for Bob Huggins’ team. They still have an experienced backcourt in Staten and Browne, but they will miss Harris’ scoring punch and will need someone to pick up the slack if an NCAA Tournament berth is in the cards. Role players Remi Dibo and Terry Henderson are also gone from last year’s team. Dibo gave up his senior season for a chance to play overseas, while Henderson transferred home to Raleigh to play at North Carolina State. It’s not just that the Mountaineers lost two starters from last year’s team and another solid contributor, it’s that all three losses were largely unexpected and left Bob Huggins hanging. It won’t be easy replacing them.
Non-conference tests: “Tests” might be a bit strong here. Maybe “non-conference homework” is a better way to put it. Like I mentioned, eight of West Virginia’s 11 non-conference games come against teams that play outside the power 5 conferences. Teams like VMI and Marshall and Lafayette and Northern Kentucky. The Mountaineers play LSU and Virginia Tech at home and meet up with North Carolina State in Madison Square Garden, but even with all the personnel losses, our friend Ken Pomeroy favors the Mountaineers in every non-conference game. It doesn’t mean that West Virginia will be 11-0 heading into Big 12 play, but North Carolina State looks like the only legitimate competition. On paper anyway.
Toughest conference stretch: The Mountaineers better hope they pick up some early wins in conference play, because from Valentine’s Day onward they won’t get a break. Here’s what the schedule looks like from February 14 to March 3: At Iowa State, Kansas, at Oklahoma State, Texas, at Baylor, and at Kansas. According to Pomeroy, the best chance they have of winning in that stretch is 50 percent against Texas on February 24. Their other home game, against Kansas on February 16, comes on Big Monday just 48 hours after a road game against Iowa State. Such is life for West Virginia in the Big 12.
If everything goes right… Gary Browne picks up the slack from the departure of Eron Harris and his experience gives West Virginia one of the best backcourts in the Big 12. Devin Williams makes a tremendous leap from his freshman season and averages 10 PPG and 10 RPG. The Mountaineers take care of a laughable non-conference schedule and are 11-0 heading into conference play. Juwan Staten takes another step forward and contends for Big 12 Player of the Year, and the Mountaineers finish in the top half in the Big 12 before earning an overdue NCAA Tournament bid.
If everything goes wrong… The losses of Harris, Dibo and Henderson prove to be too much, and the Mountaineers pick up a few bad losses in the non-conference portion of their schedule. They finish in the lower third of the Big 12 and don’t have enough marquee wins to impress the NCAA Tournament committee, heading to the NIT for the second consecutive year.
Projected starting lineup:
- Juwan Staten (Sr. 6’1″, 190 lbs. 18.1 PPG)
- Gary Browne (Sr. 6’1″, 195 lbs. 20.4 MPG)
- Chase Connor (So. 6’1″, 190 lbs. 4.3 MPG)
- Devin Williams (So. 6’9″, 255 lbs. 8.4 PPG, 7.2 RPG)
- Nathan Adrian (So. 6’9″, 235 lbs. 18.9 MPG)
Key reserves:
- Richard Romeo (Jr. 6’0″, 190 lbs.)
- Kevin Noreen (Sr. 6’10”, 245 lbs.)
- Brandon Watkins (So. 6’9″, 245 lbs.)
- Tyrone Hughes (Jr. 6’0″, 185 lbs.)
There are a whole lot of question marks after Staten, Browne and Williams. No one else played much of a factor last season and it’s hard to guess who will fill the voids left by Harris, Dibo, and Henderson. With an easy non-conference schedule, though, the Mountaineers will have time to figure things out. Whether they will remains to be seen, but you have to figure Huggins will turn this thing around.
