West Virginia will see three familiar faces on the other side this season, a reminder of just how much the roster has churned in recent years.
The transfer portal has reshaped college basketball everywhere, but the Mountaineers have lived through an especially wild stretch of turnover over the last four years. With instability at the head coaching job, players have come and gone quickly, and now three former WVU players are set to line up against their old team.
Amani Hansberry is first on the list, with West Virginia set to face him on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 4:30 p.m. ET in Morgantown at Hope Coliseum.
Hansberry looked like he could be a major piece for the Mountaineers, but that changed when Darian DeVries left for Indiana. Chester Frazier’s move to Blacksburg also made the decision easier for Hansberry, given his close relationship with the assistant coach who recruited him to Illinois and then followed him to West Virginia.
Next up is Darrion Powell, who will return to the area on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. ET when North Carolina meets West Virginia in Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena.
Powell started 23 games as a true freshman for the Mountaineers before entering the portal as the Darian DeVries situation unfolded. His role shrank at North Carolina, but he still shot the ball well from deep, connecting on 36% of his three-point attempts.
He is now at West Virginia’s biggest rival, and even without any connection to WVU’s current roster or staff, this is one he’ll surely have circled.
The final former Mountaineer on the schedule is Thomas, who will come back to Morgantown on Wednesday, March 3 at 5 p.m. ET at Hope Coliseum.
His exit caught many WVU fans off guard. Even with the sense that a move could happen because of how well he played as a true freshman, his production and role still made the departure surprising.
West Virginia ended up in good shape at the four anyway, with Brenen Lorient returning for a fifth year and Javan Buchanan transferring in from Boise State. WVU and TCU do not have a home-and-home this season, so Thomas won’t get the chance to host his former team in his hometown, but he will still have to make the trip to Morgantown.
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Jon Rothstein has already put the Mountaineers on the radar as a team with NCAA Tournament potential, which is a notable vote of confidence for a roster still trying to establish its identity. The question for West Virginia is whether that optimism matches the reality of a team with so many new faces and so few returning pieces, and the first few weeks should go a long way toward revealing how high this ceiling really is. [Read more 🡒]