It is no secret that the West Virginia men’s basketball team is going to look a lot different next season with the hiring of coach Darian DeVries.
Many players from this past season are no longer with the team due to either graduation or entering the transfer portal, after WVU athletic director Wren Baker announced that the program would be parting ways with interim head coach Josh Eilert. That opened the door for DeVries to start with a fresh slate, having just one returning player who started a game last season, Ofri Naveh.
The Mountaineers have already added a handful of transfers as they look to continue to fill out their roster for next season. Let’s take a look at which each transfer was ranked according to On3, sorted from highest ranked to lowest.
Tucker Devries, Ranked No. 4
It did not take long for it to be announced that former back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Tucker DeVries would be following his dad from Drake to WVU. The 6-foot-7 forward/guard averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals this past season, helping the Bulldogs reach the NCAA tournament. He was the only NCAA Division I men’s basketball player to average at least 20.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in 2023-2024.
Javon Small, Ranked No. 35
Although he did not officially sign with the Mountaineers yet, former Oklahoma State guard Javon Small announced his commitment to West Virginia last week after entering the transfer portal. Before his short tenure with the Cowboys, Small started his collegiate career at East Carolina. He was OSU’s top-scorer last season averaging 15.1 ppg, while also 4.7 rpg, 4.1 apg and one steal per game. The 6-foot-3 rising senior scored a career and season-high 29 points against Notre Dame on Nov. 17, 2023.
Amani Hansberry, Ranked No. 182
Amani Hansberry was one of two Illinois transfers to sign with WVU this offseason, having ties to newly named associate head coach Chester Frazier, who also came from Illinois. Hansberry, a 6-foot-8 forward played in 19 games last season and averaged 2.4 ppg and 2.1 rpg, shooting 45.2% from the field as a freshman. He was a four-star recruit coming out of high school.
Fifth-year senior center Eduardo Andre (Fresno State), redshirt sophomore Sencire Harris (Illinois) and Fifth-year senior forward Toby Okani (UIC) were not ranked within On3’s top-301 men’s basketball transfers, but could make a difference for West Virginia this upcoming season.
The Mountaineers new Basketball coach is definitely putting together a good core team for his first year with the Mountaineers and the players who are coming to West Virginia are going to be surprised with the love ,passion and support of Mountaineer nation.
What happens after the end of the next season will be decided by the success of the this team, so I hope that he can continue to recruit more players of Big 12 caliber, because Big 12 basketball is a tough league to compete in and especially for a first year coach, but I have confidence in coach Devreis.