West Virginia’s new men’s basketball group is still 123 days away from its first game of the 2026-27 season, but the roster already has a few clear identities taking shape.
On Independence Day, the superlatives write themselves.
Miles Sadler is the face of the program. Even as a true freshman, he stands out as the leader of the group, the player teammates naturally gravitate toward when the pressure rises.
He may not be the loudest voice in the room, but he has a way of steadying everyone around him when the moment gets heavy. And on top of all that, today is his birthday.
If Brenen Lorient had another year, he would have been the easy choice for the team’s top big-man athleticism. But Fousseyni Sylla brings plenty of bounce of his own.
He moves well for a center and gives West Virginia a level of size-and-skill athleticism that’s hard to ignore. Sylla played only half of his true season at Georgia Tech because of an ankle injury, but he is expected to be ready for the coming year and should give WVU more scoring from the center spot.
There’s also a pure shot-maker in the mix. This player is a bucket from all three levels, but the real separator is the jumper.
At Butler last season, he shot 34% from three. The year before, he was up at 42%.
With Sadler drawing attention at point guard, the looks should get cleaner, and it would not be a surprise if he finishes the season at 36% or better from deep.
Then there’s Moustapha Dioum, whose biggest calling card is nonstop effort. Whether or not he plays a major role as a freshman is still to be determined, but his motor is impossible to miss. He plays every possession at full speed, and while there are still things he needs to tighten up and control better, the energy alone will be valuable for the staff and the fan base.
As for the bench scoring question, West Virginia may not have a true microwave option unless Traore starts and Joson Sanon slides into a sixth-man role. Traore is the most experienced of the reserve options and has the ability to get into double figures.
His value goes beyond scoring, though. The defense is real, and one moment from last season still stands out: in Utah’s win over WVU in the Coliseum, Traore was the one who got a hand up on Honor Huff’s final three-point attempt and helped force the miss.
In Other News...
Former Mountaineer Kerr Kriisa Is Suddenly At Center Of FBI Trouble
Kerr Kriisa, the former West Virginia point guard, has suddenly become part of a federal case that stretches well beyond basketball. According to reports, the FBI arrested him in connection with a multi-year, multi-million-dollar fraud investigation, a stunning development for a player whose Mountaineer stint in 2023-24 is now being pulled into a much larger legal spotlight.
Kriisa was taken into custody and is expected to be extradited to West Virginia for an initial court appearance next week. For now, the most important details remain out of public view, but the fact that federal authorities are pursuing a case tied to his time in Morgantown is enough to leave the program and its followers waiting for the next shoe to drop. [Read more 🡒]