MAILBAG: Transfers In, Transfers Out, Recruiting Momentum + More

Good afternoon, Mountaineer fans! It's time to crack open this week's West Virginia On SI mailbag.

From @EERSBeers:

Q: With what we’re at in recruiting right now (32 commits, I think), how many transfer portal players do you think we take, assuming no max exodus of players?

A: Rich Rodriguez has said somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12, but I think it's going to be more than that. Yes, they're signing a large high school class, but there will be guys that transfer out, and the only way to replace them with game-ready talent is through the portal. I may be completely wrong, but I think it's going to be more like 16-18. They have to beef up the trenches on both sides, rebuild the entire secondary, and add some

From @Vensel__:

Q: Why do college basketball coaches love help defense so much? All I ever see come out of it is wide-open 3-pointers. I would rather have a contested layup than a wide-open 3.

A: Great question. I think it's the lack of trust in 18-22-year-olds to do their role. However, part of what makes Ross Hodge's defenses so good is that they typically play well in a connected manner. It didn't show up against Xavier or in the final eight minutes against Clemson, but threes are going to be there when there is no pressure on the ball. WVU didn't do a good enough of job of pressuring the ball against Xavier. The other thing, too, is that WVU is going to smother people out of the paint. They'd rather force teams into long twos and contested threes, so I imagine we'll see opponents shoot threes in volume. You just have to do a better job of slowing down the ball and hope they don't make a ridiculous 16 threes.

From @ktriplett_1212:

Q: Number of football players entering the transfer portal?

A: Ooh, that's tough to predict. I'd guess somewhere around 15 or so. It's hard to gauge because there are a lot of underclassmen who are talented and will be in line to contribute next fall, but do they get jumpy? It won't be anything ridiculous, nor will they lose any big-time pieces, in my opinion. I think they'll be able to retain Scotty Fox, Jahiem White, Curtis Jones, etc.

From @wvuremfan:

Q: What do you think is the “secret sauce” when it comes to the recent success of both MBB and football recruiting? Ross pulling down 5-star and 4 stars before he has coached 10 games!!!! RichRod getting Brown to flip!!!! Let’s Gooooooo!

A: This is a factor of WVU finally being in a good spot financially. Don't get me wrong, they are still far away from where they want to be, but right now, they're able to compete against some top programs in the country when they want to. Obviously, they don't have Texas Tech money, but it's night and day from what it was this time a year ago.

To participate in next week's mailbag, send me a DM on X (@Callihan_) reply to my tweet asking for submissions on Saturday, or place your question in the comments section under my poston Facebook.

From @EERSBeers:

From @Vensel__:

From @ktriplett_1212:

From @wvuremfan:

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