West Virginia’s 2026-27 basketball roster could look a lot different under the NCAA’s new age-based eligibility rule, but the biggest changes may not come from the players everyone expects.
The rule gives athletes five years and up to five seasons in college sports, and it should keep rosters from getting overcrowded for 2026-27 - unless the courts intervene. It also does not automatically create room for players who have already used four seasons in four years and are looking for a fifth season in a fifth year. Those cases are already headed for legal fights.
For WVU, that means there is no likely path for guard Treysen Eaglestaff and forward Brenen Lorient to return unless the NCAA grants an unlikely waiver or the players file suit. Eaglestaff logged plenty of college mileage, appearing in 133 games with 111 starts and scoring 1,703 points across four years at North Dakota and WVU. He is also headed to a summer league opportunity with the New York Knicks.
Lorient’s case is much murkier. He played in 122 games, including 21 as a true freshman at FAU, but only totaled 74 minutes in all that time.
His career line includes 16 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and five blocked shots. He played three minutes in two conference tournament games and never got off the bench in the NCAA Tournament as FAU reached the Final Four.
There is at least an argument for another year there, and the situation brings to mind the Chance Moore dilemma.
The real ripple effect for the Mountaineers comes elsewhere on the roster. Several WVU players stand to benefit from the new setup, including freshmen, older players and a couple of athletes dealing with injuries.
Center Mouhamed Sylla played 16 games as a true freshman at Georgia Tech last season, which is too many for a medical redshirt. Still, his year was cut short after an ankle injury on Dec.
- He played two minutes in one game and eight in the next before shutting it down, with his last appearance coming Jan.
- The season still counts, but the new rule gives him four more years, making it feel a lot like a redshirt year anyway.
Guard Amir Jenkins is in a different kind of spot. He was scheduled for two shoulder surgeries in the offseason to repair separate labrum tears, and while he is recovering, the new rule gives him more flexibility.
If his rehab stretches into the fall and he is not at full strength when the season opens, the old system could have forced a hard choice between playing through it, missing games or burning a season. Now he can ease back in, wait until he is fully cleared, or move in and out of the lineup without the same pressure.
He still gets three full seasons after this one and can leave with four full seasons of college competition.
There are other players in the same broad benefit zone. Wing Seydou Traore and guard Finley Bizjack are seniors who have already played three seasons and now have two more left. Guards Joson Sanon and Martin Somerville are juniors with three more years available to them.
The freshmen may end up being the biggest winners. Ross Hodge has not leaned heavily on freshmen or even fully folded them into the rotation. Evans Barning redshirted last season, and Jayden Forsythe played only sparingly before transferring, which effectively gives him that year back under the new rule.
Miles Sadler is expected to play a lot in 2026-27, but centers Aliou Dioum and Amadou Seini and guard Keonte Greybear are part of a different kind of test. Under the old rules, even a little playing time could cost a freshman a season of eligibility, so coaches sometimes kept young players on the shelf if they were not ready right away.
Others played a bit and still burned the year. With the new model, those three could grow as the season goes on and give the roster a lift later.
Separate from all of that, forward Javan Buchanan is still pursuing a waiver. If needed, court remains an option, and players have been winning the junior college argument even recently.
His case swaps NAIA for junior college, so he does not directly benefit from the new rule, but it could still help. At the very least, it does not hurt, since the NCAA is saying he has played four years while giving players five.
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