Ross Hodge Hints That WVU's Pace Will Be Different in 2026-27

West Virginia's offense lulled many to sleep this season with its pace and frustrated the majority of the fans with the overdribbling and lack of urgency.

Ross Hodge's teams have always typically played at a slow pace, but when at North Texas, they did so while being incredibly efficient. This year's team struggled with efficiency, which made the product feel much worse.

But as Hodge described on 3 Guys Before the Game, playing slow gave this team the best chance to win as the personnel wasn't geared to run the floor and play in high-scoring affairs. What you saw this season isn't necessarily what we will see from the Mountaineers offensively in the future.

“It may not be that way every year because you’re going to put the team in the best position that that team can do to win games," Hodge said. "Jasper has many qualities that we’ve talked about that are strengths. I wouldn’t say speed is one of those. Harlan has many strengths. I wouldn’t say speed is one of those. Treysen (Eaglestaff), (too). So, by nature, you’re not going to probably want to get into an up-and-down running game with the way that you’re constructed.

“Naturally, our pace will pick up next year with Miles Sadler because he is your quarterback and he’s faster," he continued. "The tempo, like even this year, you saw when Amir (Jenkins) came into the game, the tempo and the pace with Amir, Chance (Moore), and DJ (Thomas), it’s going to pick up a little quicker.

As Hodge also referenced, folks are only going to complain when things aren't going as well as you had hoped for.

No one ever complains about Houston's pace, who is consistently inside the top 15 and at the top of the Big 12 Conference. In their last four NCAA Tournament appearances, they've been a No. 1 seed three times and a No. 2 once, and have made it to three Sweet Sixteens and a national title game. This season, the Cougars averaged 67.1 possessions per game while West Virginia averaged 66.3 — not even a full possession difference.

For Hodge, it all comes down to getting better athletes, more reliable depth, and time to build the roster needed to be the next version of Houston. Landing Sadler, the highest-rated recruit in program history, is a pretty good start. They will still play at a rather slow pace, but it's not going to be anything like we saw this season.