MORGANTOWN — Proudly on display back home in Ocala, Fla. is what Brenen Lorient refers to as the best time of his life.
Trips to the Final Four tend to have that type of effect on college basketball players.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” Lorient says of his 2022-23 freshman season at Florida Atlantic when the upset-minded Owls advanced to the Final Four as a No. 9 seed. “Just the amount of love and support from everybody and that was my first time seeing super high-level basketball. That was a blessing for me.”
The Final Four ring stays at home, but Lorient has spent much of his college career on the move.
That includes playing his final season at WVU, which now has had two players in consecutive years with Final Four experience.
Former guard Joseph Yesufu previously won a national championship at Kansas, while Lorient has his experience with Florida Atlantic.
Lorient did not play much at FAU as a freshman and did not see any action in that 2023 NCAA tournament. He did play in the Owls’ first-round loss a season later against Northwestern.
Lorient also got some late-game action during that regular season against North Texas, which is where Ross Hodge’s introduction to the 6-foot-9 forward began.
“He actually made some really big plays against us in two games,” Hodge said. “The one at our place, he hit a big corner three to seal the game late. In the conference tournament, they beat us and we couldn’t keep him off the glass in the first half.
“I remember talking to my staff how you’d love to have a player with that level of length and versatility.”
Hodge got exactly that, signing Lorient a few weeks later to play at North Texas when he entered the transfer portal.
When Hodge made the move to WVU, Lorient came along for the ride.
“I didn’t play much at FAU, which I thought was a problem at the time,” he said. “I needed an opportunity. (Hodge) gave that to me, so as long as I play college basketball, I’m going to try and pay him back anyway I can.”
Lorient’s year at North Texas saw him develop into the American Athletic’s Sixth Man of the Year.
He averaged 11.7 points and 4.9 rebounds while never starting a single game.
“He never once came to me and said, ‘Hey, I want to start,’ ” Hodge said. “That speaks to Brenen’s heart. It never came up one time.”
That’s changing this season, Hodge said, as Lorient’s long and athletic frame is expected to crack the Mountaineers’ starting rotation.
“There will probably be some change in the nerves,” Lorient admits about the new role. “For the most part, you just trust your work and trust your teammates and I think everything else will be just fine.”
What Lorient brings to the Mountaineers is more than just a flashy Final Four ring.
His 6-9 frame allows him to play either power forward in a bigger and stronger lineup that also includes 7-footer Harlan Obioha, or Lorient can move to center in what would be a smaller and quicker WVU lineup.
Either way Lorient sees possibilities and potential on the Mountaineers’ roster.
Just how much? Lorient said he sees some similarities with WVU and that FAU team that shocked Memphis, Tennessee and Kansas State on its way to the Final Four in Houston.
“The only difference, I would say, was FAU was more homegrown,” Lorient said. “There’s definitely still that burden on your shoulder that you have to go out and perform and get things done at a high level.
“I think everybody feels that.”
