Quick Hits: Early Standouts, Freshmen to Know, Injury Update, Goals + More

West Virginia men's head basketball coach Ross Hodge met with the media on Thursday afternoon to discuss the official start of preseason practice and what he's learned about his group after watching them in summer workouts.

Here's everything he had to say.

Initial thoughts on this year’s team

“I think they’ve established really good routines. It’s a hard-working group. They really support each other. They’ve allowed us to coach them hard and direct. Still a lot of learning, but we’ve kind of transitioned to the phase where I like to call it, we’re making some new mistakes. You want to get to the point where you’re not making the same mistakes. Let’s make some new mistakes. They’ve done a good job of that. It’s a fun group to be around.”

Anybody that has stood out

“Some guys that have made big strides, like big Harlan (Obioha). His body, the work he and Coach Martinez put into his body this summer… came in pushing 300, now he’s 267 and did it the right way. Lost bad weight and put on some muscle mass.”

If he feels like he knows what this team can do well and what it may struggle with

“Not so much yet. When you really start learning about yourself if when you get to play other people. Until you get out there and you put your entire group together and play another group… you can get better, you can learn what you’re trying to do, but I think you got to start playing other people before you can really figure your team out.”

The biggest difference he’s seen in Harlan Obioha

“The first thing that jumps out to you is the way he looks, and then being able to be lighter on his feet. He’s always had incredible hands and incredible feet. He was a high-end football player coming out of high school. He’s got great touch, great hands, great feet, and now he’s just able to be a little lighter, and it allows him to play longer stretches of quality basketball.”

What he and his staff are looking for when recruiting out of the transfer portal

“There’s got to be a baseline talent that you’re looking for. But what we’ve really tried to identify, for the most part, is people that have been a part of winning and know what winning looks like. If you’re on a championship-level team or championship-level program, you understand that it’s not necessarily just about you. You have some understanding of what it takes to win instead of teaching somebody the universal traits that lend itself to winning — toughness, competitiveness, selflessness.”

What the goal is for this year’s team

“That is the mindset (to win the Big 12). As we know, it is difficult to win one game in the Big 12. It’s difficult to win a college basketball game, period, let alone 20 games, let alone championships, let alone national championships. It’s not lost on me on how difficult it is, but at the same time, I think there is a way to win each game that you play. Your big picture goal is to win a national championship. We do want to win Big 12 championships. That is the ultimate goal. But in that short term, I’m just trying to get our guys to sprint back on defense, call ball, and stay in a stance.”

Thoughts on DJ Thomas and Amir Jenkins

“DJ and Amir, even though they didn’t come from the portal, they fit a lot of the same qualities that we were talking about. I think that’s what gives a young player the opportunity to play. Yes, there’s a physical requirement, but a lot of it is mental — the mental makeup and the mental maturity and the ability to process information. DJ Thomas, what is going to ultimately give him a chance to be a very, very good player for a long time is his ability to listen, comprehend, and then do. It sounds simple, but it’s hard to do.”

What Treysen Eaglestaff and Honor Huff bring

“Their shot-making ability and the range that they can shoot it with creates a lot of space, and it opens up of space for the other players on the floor. Those guys have a gravitational pull that you have to know where they are on the floor because if you make a mistake for half a second, I mean, the ball is in their hand and out of their hand, and they shoot it at a really good clip. Both those guys are also underrated passers, and they’re unselfish.”

Jackson Fields injury update

“He can run. He was obviously never impacted from that area. He can shoot. He still is a couple weeks away from getting the pins out of his wrist. It’s his non-shooting hand, which is a blessing. He tries to mimic as many drills as he can offensively and defensively without a ball because you don’t want a random ricochet to hit his thumb. He’s progressing well and things are trending positively.”

Chance Moore’s skillset

“He gives you a lot of versatility out there. He gives you the ability to play bigger because you can play him at the wing, or you can play smaller with him, and kind of go with maybe a small ball lineup where he’s at the four. He’s an incredible rebounder. He’s very good in the open floor in transition and has a physicality associated with him.”