MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — West Virginia received some absolutely massive news today, and it impacts not just one program, but two.
Following months of uncertainty surrounding the NCAA’s eligibility rules, West Virginia basketball players Brenen Lorient and Javan Buchanan, along with WVU football cornerback Jason Chambers, have won the opportunity to play another season following their legal challenge against the NCAA. The case was heard last Thursday after Lorient and Buchanan originally filed suit seeking a fifth season of eligibility and Chambers was later added as a plaintiff.
For Ross Hodge and the West Virginia basketball program, this is about as big as an offseason victory can get.
Lorient was arguably WVU’s most consistent player last season. The 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward started all 34 games for the Mountaineers and averaged 11.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. He shot an outstanding 54.1% from the field and led West Virginia with 45 blocked shots. Lorient scored 404 points and grabbed 178 rebounds on the season, and he really seemed to be playing his best basketball down the stretch. He scored in double figures in each of West Virginia’s final 15 games and was eventually named to the College Basketball Crown All-Tournament Team.
And Lorient has already accomplished quite a bit during his college career. He began at Florida Atlantic and was part of the Owls’ incredible 2023 Final Four team before eventually transferring to North Texas. During the 2024-25 season with the Mean Green, Lorient averaged 11.7 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting nearly 57% from the floor. Even more impressively, he did all of that without starting a game and was named the American Athletic Conference Sixth Man of the Year and First-Team All-AAC. He then followed Hodge to Morgantown and immediately became one of WVU’s most important players.
Getting Lorient back alone would have been huge. Getting Javan Buchanan eligible as well could completely change the ceiling of this team.
Buchanan is a 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward who spent the last two seasons at Boise State after beginning his career at Indiana Wesleyan. Last season, Buchanan started 31 games for Boise State and averaged 12.6 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 42.3% from the field and 83.6% from the free-throw line. He scored in double figures 21 times, dropped a career-high 29 points at San Diego State and produced a monster 28-point, 13-rebound double-double against San Jose State in the Mountain West Tournament.
Over his two seasons at Boise State, Buchanan scored 747 points while shooting 47.6% from the field. He averaged 9.6 points during his first season with the Broncos while shooting 53.4%, which ranked third among Mountain West players, and he was named the Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year. He followed that by earning All-Mountain West Honorable Mention honors last season. His career 82.7% free-throw percentage at Boise State ranks third in program history.
And his accomplishments go back even further. Buchanan was a First-Team NAIA All-American at Indiana Wesleyan, where he scored 718 points as a sophomore. He ranked fourth nationally in the NAIA with 273 made field goals and sixth nationally in total points that season. This isn’t simply another body being added to Hodge’s rotation. Buchanan is an experienced, proven scorer who has produced at multiple levels of college basketball.
Think about what this means for West Virginia basketball. Hodge now gets a proven returning starter in Lorient and another experienced double-digit scorer in Buchanan to add to a roster that already has plenty of talent. CBS Sports recently projected Lorient as a starter and Buchanan as one of WVU’s top reserves, noting that having both eligible gives West Virginia the foundation of a potential Top 25 team because of the size, scoring, rebounding and defensive versatility they provide.
But basketball wasn’t the only West Virginia program to get great news.
Jason Chambers is now able to return to the Mountaineer secondary, and his addition could be extremely important as West Virginia begins Big 12 Conference play.
Chambers isn’t some unknown player who needs months to learn the defense. He’s a veteran cornerback who started all 12 games for West Virginia last season. In 2025, Chambers played 768 total snaps, including 664 defensively, and finished with 34 tackles, 29 solo tackles, three tackles for loss and an interception. More importantly, he already has experience playing in Zac Alley’s defense, which should make it much easier for him to get back onto the field quickly.
His overall college résumé is even more impressive. Chambers has appeared in 46 career games with 38 starts and has totaled 140 tackles, including 99 solo stops, six tackles for loss, five interceptions, 22 pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. During the 2023 season at North Carolina Central, Chambers finished with 41 tackles, three interceptions and six pass breakups while earning College Football Network HBCU First-Team All-American recognition and becoming a semifinalist for the Aeneas Williams Award, which honors the top HBCU defensive back in Division I football. He also helped North Carolina Central reach the FCS playoffs that season.
The year before that, Chambers recorded 27 tackles, seven pass breakups and two tackles for loss while helping North Carolina Central finish 10-2 and win the HBCU national championship with a Celebration Bowl victory over Jackson State. In other words, this is a player who has played a ton of football and has been productive everywhere he’s been.
And the timing couldn’t be much better.
Rich Rodriguez now potentially gets another veteran defensive back to add to a secondary that already received a major boost this week with JaCorey Thomas gaining eligibility. Suddenly, WVU’s defensive backfield is becoming deeper and much more experienced at exactly the right time.
For West Virginia athletics, Thursday’s ruling was a huge win.
Lorient gives Hodge back one of his best and most reliable players from last season. Buchanan gives WVU another proven scorer, rebounder and veteran presence who could become a major piece of the Mountaineers’ rotation. Chambers gives Rodriguez and defensive coordinator Zac Alley an experienced cornerback with 38 career starts and nearly 50 games of college football under his belt.
These aren’t insignificant depth pieces.
All three have proven they can play at a high level. All three can make an immediate impact. And in the case of both the basketball and football programs, their additions could legitimately change just how high the ceiling is for West Virginia this season.
The Mountaineers just got a whole lot better.
