West Virginia has become a perennial top-25 threat over the last several years. This season’s roster will have major question marks in the backcourt after four-year players like Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr. moved on to the NBA.
Carter and Miles helped morph the Mountaineers into “Press Virginia” as head coach Bob Huggins used the two guards to create havoc for other teams. Now that Carter and Miles are gone, it creates the intriguing future of West Virginia’s future backcourt.
The West Virginia Gazette Mail’s Mitch Vingle detailed some of the Mountaineers’ roster dilemmas in speaking with Huggins earlier this week. The Mountaineers should have its interior and frontcourt in place as Sagaba Konate, Esa Ahmad and Wes Harris are all returning starters. Lamont West also started the first half of last season while Ahmad was sitting out a suspension as he provides another talented option on the wing.
But West Virginia’s backcourt has health question marks and a lot of newcomers they are working with right now. Carter said last season that Brandon Knapper was the hardest guy he played against. But Knapper is trying to return from a pulmonary episode. Reserve guard Beetle Bolden is also dealing with a high ankle sprain that has limited him this summer in workouts.
That leaves newcomers like Trey Doomes, Jermaine Haley, Emmitt Matthews and Jordan McCabe to compete with reserve guard Chase Harler for spots in the starting lineup and the rotation. West Virginia might have lost its two leading scorers from last season, but they might be a deeper team in the next few seasons because of some talented recruiting classes entering the mix. It gives the Huggins press additional athleticism and reinforcements.
“I kind of want to see guys play,” Huggins said to Vingle. “I want to see what they can do, what their strengths are… I mean, obviously we know about the returning guys. But it’s a whole lot different watching guys on the AAU circuit or in a junior college game to what goes on here. They’ll find that out certainly.”
Sounds like West Virginia’s new backcourt is a pretty open competition right now as Huggins tries to see if anyone steps up while Knapper and Bolden are limited or out.
Regardless of who ends up starting, the Mountaineers have enough frontcourt depth and overall talent to be rated as the No. 20 team in the NBCSports.com Preseason poll.