Forget Last Year's Offense — This WVU Team is Built to Run

Miles Sadler will lead the change of pace for West Virginia in 2026-27.

WVU Athletics Communications

A year ago, the West Virginia Mountaineers were one of the slowest-paced teams in all of college basketball.

Field goal attempts per game aren't necessarily a direct indicator of that, but it is a pretty good barometer for it, and WVU ranked 355th in that category with 55.5 shots per game. Possessions per game are another metric that can give you an idea of how fast or slow a team plays, and there, the Mountaineers ranked 337th (out of 365 teams) at 66.8 possessions per contest.

Jasper Floyd was a big reason for that, but so was center Harlan Obioha. You are not going to push tempo when you have bigs who can't get up the floor quickly. That slow, rock-you-to-sleep kind of offense is a thing of the past for the Mountaineers. Now, I wouldn't expect them to turn into Alabama's style of play where they are getting over 76 possessions per game and pushing 91 points a night, but the offense is going to operate much faster.

Ross Hodge said it himself.

“I think, naturally, the pace of play will pick up more this year just because of who’s at your point guard position. It’s kind of like your quarterback. Typically, if that position doesn’t want to play fast, then you typically are not going to play fast. So naturally, I think it will pick up with Miles’ speed and Finley’s speed. Also, the length and athleticism in your frontcourt with Mo (Sylla), Amadou (Seini), and Aliou (Dioum), and Joson (Sanon) and Seydou (Traore) are both really good athletes. The pace of play will pick up without even having to say anything.

"And I think for me personally, as a coach, I think you’re always just trying to generate the best shot that you can on each possession, and sometimes that may only take one pass, and sometimes that could maybe take more of the shot clock. It’s really just trying to figure out what are good shots for you as a group, and that’s part of the learning curve with a newer group is getting everybody to understand shot selection is not an equal opportunity. What is a good shot for me may not be a good shot for you, and vice versa.”

Sadler is the polar opposite of Floyd. He wants to go, go, go, whereas Floyd wants to get everyone set in the halfcourt, milk some of the clock, and run a play. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but the style of play that Sadler brings is one that will be more appealing to the fans.

Sadler will also offer more of a scoring punch from that point guard spot, which will open a new dimension of the offense that we didn't see a year ago. His ability to make shots and create shots (for himself and others) is what will take this offense to a whole other level.