With COVID-19 shutting down everything in the sports world, especially March Madness, it is incredibly easy to look ahead to the 2020-2021 college basketball season.
This look into a hypothetical crystal ball could be a positive one for Mountaineer fans as WVU has opened up with 19-1 odds to win the National Title next season. (vegasinsider.com)
West Virginia started their quarantine with Oscar Tshiebwe announcing that he would go through the NBA Draft Evaluation process, with the possibility of returning for his sophomore campaign kept in tact. In order to gain a better understanding of where he stood in the eyes of NBA scouts, Tshiebwe received a better than expected evaluation. Even with the positive feedback, "Big O" has decided to return for the 2020-2021 season.
With the return of both Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe set in stone, the Mountaineers and Bob Huggins return one of the most dominant front courts in the nation. Transfer forward Gabe Osabuohien returning in a Dennis Rodman like role for his second season in the gold and blue shows that buckets in the paint will most definitely hard to come by.
Seeing the incoming recruits like Isaiah Cottrell that will just add the depth and length of the Mountaineers, it is looking like Bob Huggins is preparing a defensively dominant WVU team for years to come. Is Press Virginia making a comeback?
WVU is also returning a solid veteran backcourt with two pure point guards in Jordan McCabe and Miles McBride, who burst onto the scene late last season. They will be accompanied by pure shooters on either side with Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil. Let's just hope they can defend the speedy guards in the Big-12. Incoming junior college transfer, guard Kedrian Johnson will look to help on both sides of the ball in any way he can.
What may be the most exciting thing that Mountaineer faithful can look forward to, may also be the conference's if not the nation's best kept secret. Guard/Forward hybrid Jalen Bridges, who utilized a redshirt season last year looks to make a name for himself among the nations elite.
It has been a while since WVU Hoops has had this type of preseason hype surrounding it's program. Let's all hope that it isn't just hype and talk, but that the Mountaineers are able to walk the walk as well. One thing is for sure, Bob Huggins, who should be in the Hall of Fame, will have his squad ready.