KenPom Rankings Show Major Improvement for WVU Basketball

The Mountaineers debut much higher in the preseason ratings than they did a year ago.

Javan Buchanan

A new college basketball season is upon us, and I know many West Virginia fans are already ready to move on from football despite there being half a season left and a lot of time to get things back on track.

Ross Hodge and his staff built a strong roster this past offseason through the transfer portal, complementing the highest-rated freshman class in program history, and because of it, the Mountaineers check in at No. 41 in KenPom's preseason ratings.

KenPom Ratings for Big 12 teams (in order)

No. 3 Houston
No. 5 Arizona
No. 6 Iowa State
No. 8 Kansas
No. 12 Texas Tech
No. 31 Cincinnati
No. 33 BYU
No. 35 Baylor
No. 41 West Virginia
No. 45 Oklahoma State
No. 49 TCU
No. 57 UCF
No. 71 Arizona State
No. 84 Utah
No. 86 Colorado
No. 96 Kansas State

If you are wondering, this is a 26-spot improvement from where the Mountaineers debuted in the KenPom ratings a year ago. They ended last season at No. 55, so clearly the expectations have heightened, and while having star power helps, having a deeper bench is even more critical to success.

Hodge believes this group is on track to have more playable bodies than they had in his first year on the job.

“Could (have more depth)," he stated. "I have a lot of confidence in everybody on the roster, so you certainly could. Not so much a straight line from depth to that, but I think it’s just the strengths of this group; it doesn’t take long to see the differences in that regard. Some of it is natural. It wasn’t something that you set out to do, but I do like our depth. I do think we have multiple ways to play, and the more ways you can play to win games, the better it is for you.”

Amir Jenkins is still working his way back, but once he returns, the Mountaineers will then have three true point guards that they feel comfortable playing with: he, Sadler, and Florida State transfer Martin Somerville, and not in that order, of course, but that's way more than what they had a year ago.

The same can be said about the frontcourt. Brenen Lorient played heavy minutes a year ago, and now he has Javan Buchanan behind him, who could have easily started at a bunch of places. And at center, it was mainly Harlan Obioha, who has transformed into this three-headed machine of Mo Sylla, Amadou Seini, and Aliou Dioum.

We'll get our first look at the Mountaineers this Sunday when they take on Maryland in an exhibition, but it's easy to see why there is a lot of optimism surrounding this team.