West Virginia took home third-place in The Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in The Bahamas on Friday, securing their second win over a ranked opponent in three days with a win over Arizona.
Fans didn't enter the season with super high expectations following a historically poor performance by last season's team and an entire roster and coaching staff that are new to the program. Even as recently as a couple weeks ago, a blowout loss to Pitt in The Backyard Brawl brought up questions about how successful the team could be this year.
Now, fans are bubbling with excitement about the incredible Thanksgiving week performance by the Mountaineers. And after an up-and-down football season and a rough 2023-24 season in basketball, the team's exciting wins are a breath of fresh air to the fanbase.
Fans and sports media took to Twitter/X to react to the win Friday evening -- some folks are expressing their joy in the team's strong performance, some are surprised at the team playing at such a high level and gaining the week's wins in the fashion they occurred, and some still couldn't shake making the comparison between the program's trajectory year one compared to where current football coach Neal Brown has the program in year six. Check out the best reactions to the win below.
Incredibly gritty win! Let’s Go! https://t.co/rmZj91W3L3
— Wren Baker (@wrenbaker) November 29, 2024
WE. ARE. SO. BACK. pic.twitter.com/MIQBFKsJFF
— Not Tony Caridi (Never Trust Climbs) (@fauxcaridi) November 29, 2024
I forgot what it felt like to watch a major WVU team play a big game and actually feel joy.
— Huddy Tuddy (@HuddyTuddy3) November 29, 2024
Thank You Coach DeVries 🙏🏼
New West Virginia coach Darian DeVries proving the win over Gonzaga wasn’t a fluke.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 29, 2024
Mountaineers just took down former Zags assistant and Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd also.
West Virginia may not have a ton of depth, but top 3-4 guys can match up with just about anyone.
West Virginia basketball, tougher than Thanksgiving at your in-laws
— WVU Barstool (@WVUBarstool) November 29, 2024
What a great trip for these guys. Gave everything against 3 NCAA Tournament teams. 3 straight days. Pure guts. WVU appears to be in good hands.
— Randy Gyorko (@GooseGyorko) November 29, 2024
Would've been nice to beat Louisville and even win the tournament, but two wins against ranked opponents and one of them as a top 5 win is impossible for any WVU fan to be anything but happy with. This team showed they are far better than the poor showing in the Brawl.
— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) November 29, 2024
you cannot possibly look at what darian devries and this squad have done for the west virginia fanbase in three days and say that status quo is okay in the puskar building
— The Smoking Musket (@smokingmusket) November 29, 2024
Neal Brown has 3 ranked wins in the last 6 seasons.
— Joel (@WVStatsGuy) November 29, 2024
Darian DeVries has 2 ranked wins in the last 60 hours.
Our boys have got to be exhausted after the last 3 days, I’m proud of the fight and the way they’ve played.
— Jason Burger (@profireman25) November 29, 2024
#CueCountryRoads #HailWV I love this team!!! And if you can’t see that they are coached better than our teams have been the past few years I don’t know what you are watching.
— UpstateEer (@UpstateEer) November 29, 2024
Two top 25 wins in 3 days.
— Jonah⛰️ (@jonahknowsball) November 29, 2024
DeVries Era has arrived!
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