West Virginia Among the 5 Dark-Horse Candidates to Reach Final Four
After the 2019-20 season came to an abrupt ending due to the pandemic, the West Virginia Mountaineers are gearing up for what could be a special year this upcoming season.
Not only do the Mountaineers return a ton of experience, but they have one thing a lot of other teams don't have - depth. West Virginia has a dynamic duo underneath with Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe and in addition to those two, they have Gabe Osabuohien coming off the bench who provides a defensive spark and brings the energy to the floor. If three quality bigs wasn't enough, head coach Bob Huggins went out and added two more with freshmen Isaiah Cottrell and Seny Ndiaye. Needless to say, the frontcourt is loaded. And oh yeah, don't forget about Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Jalen Bridges on the wing.
The backcourt consists of guys who also have experience and are considered good shooters, but for whatever reason all struggled a year ago. That doesn't seem to be a concern for Huggins heading into this new season.
"They're both (Sean McNeil & Taz Sherman) playing with a lot of confidence, they're both comfortable. It's hard to think and play at the same time. If you're running around thinking am I suppose to be here? Where am I suppose to go? Now, they're very comfortable with what we're doing, they're very comfortable in their role in what we're doing, and they're both shooting the ball extremely well. I mean, they're not shooting it good, they're shooting it really good. If that continues with those two guys on the floor, I think that makes us really hard to guard because obviously people are going to have to be concerned with those two bigs on the inside. And then to have two guys that can spread the floor the way they can spread the floor and on top of that, I think our point guards came back shooting the ball much, much better as well. Jordan [McCabe] and Deuce [McBride] are both shooting the ball way better than they shot it a year ago."
If West Virginia can get off the schneid and shoot the ball more efficiently in 2020-21, they will be a force to be reckoned with all season long.
The Mountaineers are currently slated to begin their season on November 25th against Texas A&M in the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic.
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