It's been a busy time around West Virginia's basketball programs -- the men's team was snubbed from the NCAA Tournament and embarked on a coaching search following Darian DeVries' departure, and the women's team recently wrapped up their season in the NCAA Tournament.
With everything going on, it's easy to miss all the news updates surrounding the programs: here are some recent news about the Mountaineers that may have slipped past your radar.
Another WVU MBB Starter Bites The Dust, Enters Portal
The transfer portal has not been kind to WVU men's basketball.
Following the departure of Darian DeVries, his son Tucker DeVries and fellow starters Jonathan Powell and Amani Hansberry hit the transfer portal, as well as reserve KJ Tenner.
Now, another starter has hit the portal in guard Sencire Harris, who will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. Harris averaged 5.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game for WVU this season while averaging 26.9 minutes per game.
Harris' departure means that the Mountaineers have lost 10-of-12 players that saw action for the Mountaineers this season, leaving just Haris Elezovic and WVU football safety and basketball walk-on Aden Tagaloa-Nelson at WVU -- Nelson only played in one game this past season for two minutes. Also remaining on the roster currently is Ofri Naveh, who saw limited action in 2023-2024 as a freshman for WVU but did not play due to a redshirt season last year.
New Head Coach Receives Glowing Praise Across College Basketball
West Virginia men's basketball has hired Ross Hodge from North Texas to helm the men's basketball program, and early reviews on the hire are quite impressive.
Multiple prominent college basketball coaches in the Big 12 and Big 10 showered heavy praise on Hodge as a coach -- including Baylor coach Scott Drew and Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland, who employed Hodge as an assistant on his staff at North Texas. The move was also lauded by ESPN analyst and former Division 1 head coach Fran Fraschilla.
Check out what these big-time college basketball personalities had to say about Hodge below.
Didn’t want to spill the beans but I think @WVUhoops made a very good hire in Ross Hodge. A very capable ball coach, quietly super competitive and smart. And he’s got an athletic director that has total faith in him. Don’t see him cutting and running like the last guy.…
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) March 26, 2025
Respect level 💯
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) March 27, 2025
We've got a good one in @coachrosshodge 🫡 pic.twitter.com/yBGDB7ozNr
West Virginia secures a pair of All-American honors
Now that the season has ended, college basketball accolades are pouring in -- this season, one Mountaineer on the men's team and one Mountaineer on the women's team earned AP All-American Honorable Mention status. The honor was handed out to senior guard Javon Small on the men's team, and senior guard JJ Quinerly on the women's team.
Quinerly spent her entire four-year career in Morgantown. She paced the Mountaineers with 20.4 points per game this season and was second in the Big 12 in steals per game and third in points per game. She finished her WVU career as the third all-time leading scorer with 2,017 career points.
"If we had a Mount Rushmore, JJ Quinerly should be on that list," said WVU Head Coach Mark Kellogg.
Small was a new addition to the program this year, spending his final season of eligibility with the Mountaineers. He led the Mountaineers with 18.6 points and 5.6 assists per game -- he recorded the highest scoring average for a WVU player since the program joined the Big 12 in 2012. He finished the season second in the Big 12 in scoring and third in assists per game.