The West Virginia Mountaineers finished their first season under Ross Hodge on a strong note, finishing 21-14 and capturing the College Basketball Crown. And that was followed by a thrilling offseason which saw Hodge bring in an impressive portal haul, which garnered national acclaim.
Now, with the season still months from beginning, that class is beginning to look even more impressive. That's due to a rule change that was officially passed by the NCAA on Tuesday, which officially changes the collegiate eligibility rule to a five seasons of eligibility over a five year period, eliminating redshirts and waivers – with exceptions in place for pregnancy and religious or military exemptions.
NCAA's 5-for-5 eligibility rule change is a huge deal for West Virginia Mountaineers basketball
So let's start off with this – the reason the rule change is a huge deal has nothing to do with Brenen Lorient or Treysen Eaglestaff, although it eventually could, depending on legal challenges.
That's because players who saw their eligibility end last season, even if they have only played four years, are not eligibile to benefit from the rule change. It's possible that players in the same position as Lorient or Eaglestaff will file a lawsuit against the NCAA and eventually a decision will allow them eligibility, but this late in the cycle, that opens a Pandora's box of nightmares for college sports. So we'll put that aside unless it actually happens.
But what it does do is change how long any players with eligibility remaining can play, and they are allowed to choose whichever version of the rules which is most advantageous for them. That means incoming tansfers Finley Bizjack and Seydou Traore, who have each played three seasons of basketball, will now have two seasons remaining – before, they would have been one-and-done for the Mountaineers.
Guards Joson Sanon and Martin Somerville, who originally would have two years of eligibility left, will now have three years to play for West Virginia. And center Mouhamed Sylla will now have four seasons of eligibility remaining, essentially turning him into a freshman under the prior models.
We talked about it during the portal cycle itself, but Ross Hodge seemed to attack the transfer portal in a way that allowed for this sort of payoff, targeting mostly players who mostly had played three years or less. The only exception among six portal additions was Javan Buchanan, who has played four seasons since enrolling in college – two at the NAIA level, and two at the NCAA level.
Whether this was intentional on Hodge's part or whether these were his preferred portal targets regardless in unknow, though the 5-for-5 rule change had already began to be reported at the time. But the intent doesn't really matter as much as the effects at this point, and the main effect has been to take a portal class that was already impressive, and make it look stronger.
Because if things go well this season, and the Mountaineers can put together the money to keep the key piece of next year's roster around in Morgantown, this could end up being a special group of talent. And make no mistake – this was a pricey group to put together, so it's clear the program is working to get it's spending in the right place.
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