Moore

He comes from the University of North Texas, where he had the Mean Green in the National Invitation Tournament last season.

Hodge’s initial 15-player roster has just one player returning from the 2024-2025 team and that is reserve Abraham Oyeadier.

At North Texas for the past eight seasons, Hodge was the head coach for only the last two years. He has a five-year contract to begin his tenure in Morgantown.

Athletic Director Wren Baker has hired Hodge, because of his reputation as a defensive innovator and because he has won 80% of his games, as a multi-school head coach.

Lorient

Coming into the Big 12 with a quickly assembled group that has never been together before this season is not ideal to say the least.

Two players — Jasper Floyd and Brenen Lorient — were brought from North Texas by Hodge.

Seven-footer Harlan Obioha (UNC Wilmington) and Morris Ugusuk (South Carolina) transferred from recognizable programs. Chance Moore was at St. Bonaventure last season.

Other transfers are Honor Huff (Chattanooga) and Treysen Eaglestaff (North Dakota).

Three freshmen — Amir Jenkins (Worchester Academy), DJ Thomas (Allen, Texas) and Jayden Forsythe (Westtown School in Pennsylvania) will probably be in the useful player rotation when the season begins on Tuesday, at home against Mt. St. Mary’s at 7 p.m.

Floyd

There are few people connected with Big 12 basketball that believe these Mountaineers can be a real challenger for league honors or a regular season or conference tournament championship this season.

Houston, Kansas, Arizona State and Cincinnati would have to be tamed.

The homecourt schedule is almost exclusively made up of teams the Mountaineers are expected to beat. The only team visiting the Coliseum that has any sort of star power is heated rival Pitt on Nov. 13.

Some recognizable non-conference rivals to be played on neutral courts are Ohio State, Wake Forest, Clemson and either Georgia or Xavier in a tournament.

If Hodge can mold a team with defensive intentions and the ability to make three-point shots, this team may surprise with its resiliency. Otherwise finding enough offense to compete on the road in conference games will be more than just a challenge.

Obioha

If the games are generally low scoring and with few fast breaks or an up-tempo pace, West Virginia will be interesting because of its intensity. But a rebounding deficiency and hot pace won’t be pretty to watch in conference games.

Oyeadier

Ugusuk