MORGANTOWN — To be sure, when there are nearly 2,400 potential prospects in the transfer portal, it can almost feel like a kid in a candy store.
The sweetest of sugary treats, it would seem, all are ripe for the picking.
Just simply look for the big scorers, the big rebounders and then a guy who can dish out six or seven assists per game, right?
“The temptation for all of us is it is a talent business,” WVU men’s hoops coach Ross Hodge said in explaining the obvious. “You can get tempted by talent.”
When Hodge’s first WVU team takes the floor this season, it will be with eight additions out of the transfer portal, along with one holdover and four freshmen.
Two of the transfers — forward Brenen Lorient and Jasper Floyd — followed Hodge to WVU from North Texas, so there was obviously a sense of familiarity there.
The other six transfers are as new to Hodge’s coaching style as Hodge is to Morgantown.
And as far as making a good first impression at WVU and in the Big 12, Hodge needs all of his transfers to make some type of positive impact right away.
To be sure, there are some big scorers in the bunch, beginning with guards Treysen Eaglestaff (North Dakota) and Honor Huff (Chattanooga). They combined for 34.1 points and 215 3-pointers at their respective schools last season.
There’s a big guy in UNC Wilmington transfer Harlan Obioha, who averaged 7.8 rebounds per game last season with the Seahawks.
St. Bonaventure transfer Chance Moore was a bit of a scorer (13.0 ppg) and rebounder (6.5 rpg).
To some degree, they all measured up to Hodge’s eye test, whether it was their physical size or shooting ability or rebounding skills.
“In all the players you look at, there has to be a certain baseline of talent,” Hodge said. “You can’t go into the Kentucky Derby with a donkey.”
But, going after the players Hodge went after went well beyond their individual talent.
That’s the tricky part of the transfer portal. The temptation is there to possibly get overwhelmed by someone’s stats only to find out that player isn’t what you need at all when rebuilding a program from scratch.
“You ask difficult questions,” Hodge said. “You ask the questions you may not want to know the answer to. It is difficult. You may find a player who fits all of the physical attributes and has the talent level, and that may make you want to skip over some of the more difficult questions.”
In trying to rebuild the Mountaineers, who haven’t played in the NCAA tournament since 2023 and haven’t made it to the second round of the NCAAs since 2021, Hodge had to ask those questions.
“What’s he like when things aren’t going his way?” Hodge began with his list of examples. “What’s he like in the locker room? How does he respond to difficult coaching or situations?”
Hodge’s evaluations go beyond the tough questions, too.
He looked for mentally tough players, ones who wouldn’t panic when adversity strikes. He looked for players who had come from winning programs and knew how to play as part of a team and not a collection of individuals.
“People who legitimately love the game of basketball and then love other people are kind of the non-negotiable type traits,” is the way Hodge explained it.
Hodge said it’s a little early to tell if he discovered a bunch of diamonds in the rough. He’s waiting to see how the Mountaineers perform in their closed-door scrimmage.
He does feel secure in his approach to the transfer portal and the types of individuals Hodge searches for.
“I would hope that if you’re bringing someone into your program, you know what you’re bringing in,” he said. “You have to try and know the individual you’re bringing in.”
