Is West Virginia’s Future Brighter with Ross Hodge Than It Was with Darian DeVries?

Everyone was blown away, myself included, with the job that Darian DeVries did in Morgantown a year ago. He picked up several big-time wins over programs like Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas (at the Phog), and Iowa State, before fizzling out down the stretch.

It was remarkable and, to some degree, unbelievable.

The truth is, Javon Small played a massive part in that team's success, and if it weren't for him bailing the Mountaineers on a nightly basis, DeVries may still be the head coach at West Virginia. He got lucky landing an All-Big 12/NBA talent that helped him win a bunch of eyebrow-raising games. Small came to WVU, however, through his connection with then GM Nelson Hernandez, who came over from Oklahoma State. He wasn't DeVries' guy.

And if you look at two other key parts of that team — Amani Hansberry and Sencire Harris — they were locked in because of their relationship with Chester Frazier. Yes, I know assistants play a massive role in recruiting, and the same thing goes now with Yusuf Ali, who has been an ace recruiter for Ross Hodge, but still, the connection to the head coach matters.

Hodge has done a spectacular job of establishing a relationship with recruits and their families, which is why I think we'll see a high retention rate throughout his tenure, assuming WVU doesn't get outbid by a ridiculous amount on the recruiting trail or by schools trying to poach talent on the existing roster.

When you look back at that team a year ago and what they could have headed into year two with, I'm not sure it's as good a situation as what Hodge could enter his second year with. Obviously, this is a hypothetical conversation, and we'll never truly know the roster that DeVries would have put together. That said, the returning pieces plus the high school class probably don't match what we'll see from Hodge's group.

West Virginia University forward Tucker DeVries | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

If you buy into the theory that Tucker sat out to transfer and play one more year, then you'd say that if the plan was to stay at West Virginia, he would have played and would be out of eligibility. Sencire Harris, Amani Hansberry, and Jonathan Powell would have been the only key returning pieces. And really, it would have been just Harris/Hansberry, considering Powell entered the portal before DeVries left.

Those two, plus Braydon Hawthorne (Kentucky), Kelvin Odih (St. John's), and Trent MacLean (Saint Mary's), none of whom are in the rotation at the schools they ended up at, don't exactly provide a ton of optimism for how this year would have gone. Sure, he could have landed some key transfers, but Hodge will have that same opportunity.

West Virginia University guard Amir Jenkins | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

For Hodge, Amir Jenkins has the skillset to turn into a high-level two-way Big 12 player. You have to keep in mind that he should be a senior in high school right now, so to see that he's already logging serious minutes and playing well is impressive. DJ Thomas is another piece that Hodge can count on moving forward, posting a handful of performances where he looks way beyond his years of experience.

On the recruiting side, well, it certainly helps that Hodge will have the highest-rated recruit in program history, Miles Sadler, joining the party. He's an elite two-way guard who will start and make a massive impact from day one. Fellow guard Kingston Whitty has soared up recruiting rankings over the past year and was a finalist for the McDonald's All-American team. Lastly, center Aliou Dioum is athletic and bouncy enough to log some minutes as a bench piece as a freshman, providing some much-needed rim protection.

It's not going to be a polished roster in year two for Hodge, but I do think it's a team that has more answers going into the transfer portal than last year's squad.