WVU Women's Hoops Featured in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25

The Mountaineers find themselves in the "rankings" after an impressive transfer portal class.

West Virginia University head coach Mark Kellogg | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

The West Virginia women’s basketball team is coming off its most successful season in over three decades. The team won the Big 12 Conference Tournament for the first time in nine seasons. They were also ranked inside the top 16 overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament, meaning they got to host their first and second-round games.

Although they fell to the Kentucky Wildcats in their second-round game, the program reached heights they have not in quite some time. However, the team lost the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Jordan Harrison, their leading rebounder Meme Wheeler, and their best three-point shooter, Sydney Shaw, to graduation. Due to losing three starters and several other key contributors, the team seemed to be heading towards a rebuilding year. However, after an impressive transfer portal class, the Mountaineers find themselves ranked 25th in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early women’s college basketball rankings.

Full “Way-Too-Early” Top 25 via ESPN

1. South Carolina
2. UConn
3. Duke
4. Michigan
5. USC
6. Iowa
7. Louisville
8. Texas
9. UNC
10. LSU
11. Vanderbilt
12. Washington
13. UCLA
14. TCU
15. Ole Miss
16. Notre Dame
17. Kentucky
18. Ohio State
19. Minnesota
20. Illinois
21. Maryland
22. Oklahoma State
23. Arizona State
24. Oklahoma
25. West Virginia

WVU is one of four Big 12 teams that find themselves in these rankings. TCU and Arizona State both made the NCAA tournament last season and are returning several starters. Oklahoma State has had arguably the best transfer portal class in the nation, headlined by Iowa State transfer Audi Crooks.

Mark Kellogg rebuilt the Mountaineers through the portal (again)

West Virginia lost a ton of minutes and production from their key players, but Kellogg has worked overtime to make up for that production in the aggregate. Their two biggest additions through the portal so far are Marquette’s Skylar Forbes and George Mason’s Zahirah Walton.

Forbes averaged 15.5 points per game last season and fits the defensive culture that Kellogg has built in Morgantown with her 1.8 blocks per game. Forbes should provide some much-needed scoring and be a threat to consistently block shots on defense, something the Mountaineers didn't have much of last year.

Walton averaged over 18 points per game last year and played guard and forward last season. Walton and returning guard Gia Cooke could form an elite scoring duo that could put the Mountaineers right where they left off.

The Mountaineers have done well consistently in the portal during the Kellogg era. Jordan Harrison was originally a Kellogg recruit at Stephen F. Austin, but transferred to WVU. The Mountaineers also added Wheeler through the portal last offseason, where she went on to have over a dozen double-doubles for the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers may have lost some of the contributors that got them to new heights last season, but Kellogg is making the moves necessary to continue his winning trajectory, and now the national media is taking notice.