WVU Basketball Excited for Long Offseason to Finally End

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It has been a long offseason for WVU basketball coach Darian DeVries and his family.

On March 21, DeVries and the Drake Bulldogs ended their 2023-24 season with a 66-61 loss to Washington State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Three days later, DeVries was named as the new head coach at West Virginia. 

“I think it’s a longer offseason anytime you take a new job,” DeVries said during a press conference on Friday. “The season gets done and there’s no time to catch your breath.” 

Four days after the announcement was DeVries’s introductory press conference inside the WVU Coliseum and after that, it was straight to work.

First, DeVries needed a staff, which started with bringing in associate head coach Chester Frazier from Illinois. 

Then came putting together a roster. DeVries’s son Tucker, the reigning back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, announced his transfer as soon as his father was hired and gave the Mountaineers someone to build around. Frazier brought a pair of sophomores, Amani Hansberry and Sencire Harris, with him from Illinois.

All-Big 12 honorable mention Javon Small (Oklahoma State) and high-scoring guard Jayden Stone (Detroit Mercy) completed the team’s initial transfer class when they signed in June. The team then went on a three-game exhibition tour in Italy in July. 

International players Haris Elezovic (Canada) and Abraham Oyeadier (Ghana) both signed with WVU in August, completing a roster that fatures 10 transfers, four true freshmen and just two returners — backup forward Ofri Naveh and football player Aden Tagaloa-Nelson.

After all of the recruiting, moving and practicing that took place over the offseason, DeVries said he is more than ready for Monday’s season opener.

“We’re ready, we’re excited to play,” he said. “(Friday was) the first time we’re really in game prep mode and preparing for an opponent with a real scout…it stays that way until March. Our guys are excited to get out there and play.”

DeVries has been a college coach for more than 20 years, but said he stills gets a little nervous for the season opener.

“I want a little nerves, I want to be excited, that’s what we do this,” he said. “I’m certainly excited for us as a team and as a staff to get out there and play for real.”

The Mountaineers open the year at home against Robert Morris. The Colonials went 10-22 (6-14 Horizon) last season. Monday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. inside the WVU Coliseum and be broadcast on ESPN+.

For a related story, WVU basketball wants to be fluid on offense this season.