Sunday Morning Thoughts: So… Are You In on Ross Hodge Now?

Following three straight losses, the West Virginia Mountaineers put on a show against No. 19 BYU to pick up their 17th win of the season, moving them back to .500 in Big 12 play.

You want to know what is wild about this mark? Check this out. Through the first 29 games of the Darian DeVries one-and-done, the Mountaineers were 17-12 (8-10). He had the exact same overall record as Ross Hodge and two more Big 12 losses, although they played two more Big 12 games last season.

DeVries, Hodge — USA TODAY - Imagn Images

Sure, he had several notable top-25 wins, but at the end of the day, you're only as good as your record says you are. They lost several games by double digits — six of them to be exact. To this point, Hodge's Mountaineers have lost by 10 or more five times. It's essentially the same spot they were in a year ago, except the one thing that Hodge was missing before last night was an impressive batch of wins. Now, he's got Kansas and BYU and has an opportunity to earn a sweep over UCF, which, in my mind, would be worthy of throwing into that same bucket.

I've stated it a hundred times by now, and I'll say it a hundred more if I need to. Ross Hodge is doing this with zero NBA talent. DeVries had Javon Small, who is currently doing good things with the Memphis Grizzlies, and his son Tucker, who will play in the G League and potentially get a shot in the NBA at some point.

He (Hodge) is doing more with less.

We can all agree that the offense has been tough to watch, and there are things that this team does that will drive you crazy. But in reality, this should be the bottom floor of what a Ross Hodge-led team looks like in Morgantown.

Yet still, this group does exactly what Hodge was brought here to do — play high-level defense. Following last night's game, West Virginia now ranks fifth in scoring defense (64.5 ppg/allowed) and 36th in opponent field goal percentage (41.5). It would be concerning if that area of the game were just as big a mess as the offense.

Guys like Amir Jenkins and DJ Thomas will have a year of experience under their belt, along with another offseason to improve their game and get stronger. The school's highest-rated recruit, Miles Sadler, will be joining the party, along with a couple of other really talented high school prospects in Kingston Whitty and Aliou Dioum. And then WVU will have the transfer portal to patch things together.

Yes, there are still two games left in the season in which WVU could disappoint (mainly Tuesday at Kansas State), but the job he and his team did on a potential No. 1 overall pick last night was incredible. Just imagine what this staff will be able to accomplish when they're deeper and more talented.

The future is not all dark and gloomy as some believe it to be.