Ross Hodge reshaped West Virginia’s roster this offseason with a busy run through the transfer portal, adding multiple players with meaningful experience at the highest level of college basketball and pairing that haul with a top-15 high school class led by Miles Sadler.
Now the Mountaineers are waiting on one more major piece.
Brenen Lorient said Wednesday that he plans to play a fifth year at West Virginia after weighing his options, though his status is still tied up in the courts. A preliminary injunction issued by Colorado Judge Charlotte Sweeney would grant Lorient and others in the 2022 class a fifth year of eligibility, but that ruling is under appeal to the Tenth Circuit.
Lorient and fellow WVU forward Javan Buchanan also filed suit against the NCAA in West Virginia, and if the judge in that case rules for the Mountaineer forwards, both would be eligible.
If Lorient gets the go-ahead, West Virginia suddenly looks like a real Big 12 title threat. That doesn’t mean the Mountaineers are the favorite - Houston is still Houston, Kansas is always lurking, Arizona, BYU and Texas Tech are in the mix, and Baylor is expected to bounce back. On top of that, there’s usually a surprise team or two that pushes into the race.
But Lorient would fit this group cleanly.
Without him, West Virginia doesn’t have quite the same kind of versatile four-man who can defend multiple positions, switch 1 through 5, and stretch the floor offensively. Seydou Traore can play that spot and did it at Utah, but he isn’t as long as Lorient and isn’t as dependable from three.
Traore shot 33% from deep last season, but his career mark is 26% from range. Buchanan gives the Mountaineers versatility too, just in a different style, and he doesn’t bring Lorient’s level of athleticism.
That kind of flexibility matters for a team this deep. Hodge usually settles into an eight-man rotation, but this roster could stretch beyond that, with 10 or 11 players potentially seeing regular minutes.
And the ceiling gets even higher if a lineup built around Sadler, Bizjack, Sanon, Lorient and Sylla becomes available. That five-man group would be a nightmare to scheme against because every one of them can score.
Last season, opponents could focus their attention on Honor Huff. This year, that luxury won’t exist.
They’ll have to account for all five.
In Other News...
WVUs 2026 Backfield Already Has One Unsettling Camp Question
West Virginias backfield picture for 2026 already has a question mark hanging over it, and it centers on freshman running back SirPaul Cheeks. He is not currently listed on the roster, and the situation has only gotten murkier as summer has gone on, even though the Mountaineers still have two scholarship spots available and have been sorting through roster decisions tied to other players working through eligibility issues.
Rich Rodriguez has made it clear he is not going to push out current players to create room for fifth-year options or transfers, which only adds to the uncertainty around how the roster will settle. Cheeks also had been working back from an ACL injury, but with little recent update on his status, the larger concern is whether he is still on track to join the program at all, or whether the Mountaineers will have to plan around a backfield that may look different than expected before camp even fully takes shape. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginias Rebuilt Defense Faces Early Test Up Front
West Virginias defense is almost unrecognizable from a year ago, with a near-complete turnover in the two-deep and a reworked front that now includes junior college and FBS additions at defensive line and bandit. As preseason practice ramps up and scrimmages begin, Rich Rodriguez is getting his first extended look at how the new pieces fit together, while a few returning veterans could be asked to step into bigger starting roles.
For a unit still sorting out its identity, the early test comes up front, where the Mountaineers need the new personnel to come together quickly enough to handle the physical demands of camp. The staff has brought in bodies to compete and raise the floor, but the real questions are how fast the line can gel and which of the holdovers can stabilize a defense that has been rebuilt from the ground up. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Heads Into The Opener With Key Starting Jobs Still Unsettled
Rich Rodriguez used his final media session before next Wednesday to give a broad update on where West Virginia stands as the opener approaches, and the answer in several spots is still very much up in the air. He talked through position battles, player conditions and the way some players are shifting into coaching roles, while also clearing up a few eligibility questions and pointing to the progress made by transfers and younger players.
What stood out most was how much of the roster remains in competition mode even with game week here. Rodriguez stressed the technical side of football and the need for the Mountaineers to keep sharpening detail before the games begin, but he stopped short of settling every starting job, leaving a little mystery around how the lineup will look when the season finally kicks off. [Read more 🡒]