Between The Eers: Predicting the Ceiling and Floor for WVU Basketball

In this story:
Ross Hodge and the West Virginia Mountaineers will tip off the 2025-26 season tonight at Hope Coliseum against the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers.
On today's episode of Between The Eers, I discuss...
The Hodge Factor
At first, I wasn't all in on Ross Hodge being the right guy for WVU. In the summer months, I went and watched some condensed games of his final year at North Texas and came away impressed with how efficient his team was offensively and how they played connected on the defensive end. He still has to go out and win games, but the more I dug into Hodge's background, the more I like the hire.
The Ceiling
When you have a pair of elite bucket getters, you've always got a chance. If those two plus one other (Brenen Lorient or Harlan Obioha) can be a legitimate threat on offense, defense is going to have a heck of a time slowing this team down. Paint touches for Obioha, who is a good facilitator, seem like a nice recipe.
The Floor
Aside from Obioha, where is the level of physicality? We all know this league is as tough as it gets, and if there's one major concern I have with this group, it's whether or not they can handle that physicality on a nightly basis. If not, they'll likely finish with a record just above .500.
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Recent Between The Eers episodes:
Heating Up? West Virginia Could Finish the 2025 Season Strong
Playing Both Ways? Is This a Four-Game Experiment for Curtis Jones?
How Many Wins Will West Virginia Hoops Get This Season?
Is Scotty Fox Jr. the Answer at QB for West Virginia?
Football season show schedule
Between The Eers: Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays
The Walk Thru GameDay Show: Thursdays
Mountaineer Postgame: Immediately after the game
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Schuyler Callihan is the publisher of West Virginia On SI and has been a trusted source covering the Mountaineers since 2016. He is the host of Between The Eers, The Walk Thru Game Day Show, and In the Gun Podcast. The Wheeling, WV native moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2020 to cover the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers.
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