If anybody had any doubts that Ross Hodge wouldn’t be ready to hit the ground running in constructing his first roster at West Virginia the last week should have calmed those concerns.
Hodge and his coaching staff have already added five players to the roster over the last week with some key pieces already being put in place for what the Mountaineers are going to look like in year one.
West Virginia has already added transfer commitments from UNC Wilmington center Harlan Obioha, North Texas forward Brenen Lorient, Chattanooga guard Honor Huff and Troy forward Jackson Fields.
Obioha, 7-foot-0, 280-pounds, attracted plenty of interest once he entered the transfer market from schools such as Texas, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Wichita State, Wake Forest and Rutgers, among others.
Obioha spent only one season with the Seahawks, where he averaged 9.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and shot 63-percent from the field while starting 23 games this past year. Quality bigs are hard to come by in the transfer market and adding Obioha was an excellent start to the base the roster build.
Lorient, 6-foot-9, 215-pounds, is coming off a standout season with the Mean Green where he averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and over 1.1 blocks per game across 24.8 minutes per game.
He shot 57-percent from the field and his efforts were rewarded by being named a first-team all-American Athletic Conference selection and the league’s Sixth Man of the Year. The talented forward would have had a major transfer portal market but when he entered the database had a no-contact tag and then elected to follow Hodge to Morgantown for the final year of his career.
Huff, 5-foot-10, 168-pounds, had previously narrowed down his options to West Virginia, St. John’s, Iowa, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt and was considered one of the best shooting guards available in the portal.
The high-scoring guard became a priority for West Virginia in the transfer portal and is coming off a season where he averaged 15.2 points, 2.3 assists and 1.8 rebounds while hitting 42.4-percent of his shots and an impressive 41.6-percent of his three-point attempts.
Overall, Huff made a total of 131 on the season from deep and that total ranked him atop all of college basketball in terms of made three-pointers. He was an all-Southern Conference first-team selection.
Fields, 6-foot-8, 210-pounds, averaged 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds this past season while shooting 48.7-percent from the field and 33.3–percent from three on 63 attempts. He spent three seasons at Troy and is a versatile option that can finish around the rim as well as being used to stretch the floor from his forward spot.
Fields also can protect the rim and defend multiple positions on the defensive end which makes him an intriguing option in the roster build as an athletic option to add quality depth.
The final piece to date is Allen (Tx.) 2025 forward Deandre Thomas who was previously committed to North Texas but elected to follow Hodge to Morgantown. Thomas, 6-foot-7, 210-pounds, signed with North Texas in November but requested his release and now will spend his college career in Morgantown.
Thomas averaged 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a senior and is another versatile forward that will have a chance to make a ...
