WVU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ross Hodge spoke to the media Thursday for his yearly summer press conference window. Read more: Takeaways from Ross Hodge’s summer press conference.
He answered questions for nearly an hour, where he provided plenty of insight into the state of the team. With the season a few months away, here is what the second-year head coach had to say.
Buchanan’s waiver denied
The topic that jumped off the page right away during Hodge’s press conference was the new development regarding Boise State transfer Javan Buchanan.
Hodge confirmed that the NCAA denied Buchanan’s eligibility waiver for an extra year. With that ruling, the next step is to see whether the courts grant Buchanan a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
“Obviously, you’re paying attention to other cases that are similar in nature to his; you’re following trends, and like you’re reading the tea leaves a little bit. There has been a precedent set, and it’s been fairly consistent on certain cases if you’re looking at them. It feels like they have been more lenient if you’re in that true fifth year window where you’re not trying to get the sixth or seventh. You feel like you like your chances in that situation if you’re trying to just get what was given to either previous classes or future classes. I think where it gets a little dicey is if you start trying to get a sixth year, a seventh year, regardless of the scenario.”
That “lenient” situation that Hodge referenced is exactly where Buchanan falls under. Before playing two years at Boise State, Buchanan previously played two years at an NAIA program; Indiana Wesleyan.
Despite this, the NCAA still denied his waiver for a fifth year. Now, the courts will determine whether Buchanan can finish his career at West Virginia.
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For WVU, if Buchanan does not receive eligibility for this season, the roster will still have two open spots. Hodge also said during his press conference that he and his staff are actively looking for one or two players to fill those openings.
Update on the new roster
In terms of how the current roster is shaped, Hodge had a lot of positive comments about how his team has started to shape up this summer. Thursday was also the last on-floor practice for the summer, so Hodge was able to talk about the development between all the new players.
He mentioned how much they are willing to learn and how smart of a group they are as a collective. However, the main challenge the coaching staff had to work out is getting the players out of a more individualistic mindset.
Following the end of the season, most players shift their concerns to themselves — whether that be where they will be playing for the next season or how they are individually going to improve.
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While that mindset is important for the short term, it must shift back to a more team-oriented one as the season creeps closer. This is especially important for West Virginia, as only one player returns who saw minutes last season. Sophomore point guard Amir Jenkins fills the role.
However, it would seem that the team is not having any problems of the sort. In fact, Hodge stated they are almost too unselfish at times during practice. In terms of problems to have in basketball, that is definitely one of the better ones to have.
Also, according to Hodge, Jenkins underwent surgery on his left shoulder following the end of last season. He followed that up with surgery on his right shoulder at the beginning of July.
He gave no indications that he is worried about his status for the season however.
Insight on Miles Sadler
Sticking with the point guards, reporters naturally asked Hodge about five-star freshman Miles Sadler during the press conference. While praising Sadler’s confidence, Hodge also cautioned against placing lofty expectations on him or any of the team’s young players.
“I don’t think anyone means any harm by any of that stuff,” Hodge said. “But the reality is, to ultimately get to where we are trying to get to, and even as a talented individual, you are just trying to strip it down. Let’s have a real weight room session, good practice, get treatment, go to class, get your work in. If you can encourage young players to just control what they can control.”
This is an incredibly important mindset to have for any young player, but especially for Sadler. He comes in as one of the highest-rated recruits ever across WVU Athletics, so there are some high expectations swirling around him.
However, he is still just a freshman playing in arguably the toughest college basketball conference. There is no doubt he will help WVU right away, but Hodge wants to make sure he and everyone else knows that it starts at one day at a time.
“To get to the NBA you have to have a good practice today,” Hodge said.
Excitement starting to swirl for the new season
With the addition of Sadler, WVU’s backcourt has certainly improved from last season. Hodge also pointed to Butler transfer Finley Bizjack as a player who will help increase the Mountaineers’ pace of play.
The pairing of those two players and the experience of Jenkins in his second year should provide WVU more scoring options than last year.
As a whole, Hodge also talked about the roster possessing more size, speed, and length than last year. Guys like Georgia Tech transfer Mouhamed Sylla and and St. Johns transfer Joson Sanon will help round out this roster offensively and defensively.
With students returning to campus soon, athletics at West Virginia will start to ramp up. Make sure to get the WV Sports Nation app for daily coverage.
