Basketball

Jose Perez is returning to the Mountaineer after recently entering the transfer portal.   MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- After entering the transfer portal earlier in the month, Jose Perez has decided to return to finish out his collegiate career with the West Virginia Mountaineers! Perez, a 6'5 guard from Bronx, New York, spent the 2022-23 season with the Mountaineers, but did not play due to the NCAA denying his waiver. Previous to his commitment to West Virginia, Perez averaged 18.9 points, 4.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game at Manhattan, earning First Team All-MAAC honors. Perez received interest from Michigan, Gonzaga and California, among others, but West Virginia reportedly was able to offer more NIL money. Perez will almost certainly be in the starting lineup at guard for the Mountaineers for the upcoming season. https://twitter.com/tiptonedits/status/1682590029967704065?s=46&t=USDKe35TLtcCPitgUlQ1PA

The West Virginia coaching staff is rebuilding its roster after being decimated by the transfer portal since Bob Huggins' resignation last month.   MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- Despite losing four key players - Tre Mitchell, Joe Toussaint, Mohamed Wague and James Okonkwo - over the last month, the West Virginia coaching staff has been busy, rebuilding what was torn down after the Bob Huggins' fiasco last month. Today, the Mountaineers added one of the top players available in the transfer portal, St. John's transfer Quinn Slazinski, a talented presence who has performed well at a high level and who will fill the void left by Wague and Okonkwo. Last week West Virginia signed Jeremiah Bembry, a talented point guard from Florida State who will back up Kerr Kriisa this season and compete for the starting position in the future. But West Virginia is far from done. Jose Perez, the 6'5 transfer guard from Manhattan, has seen interest from Michigan, Gonzaga and several other programs in the transfer portal, but West Virginia is reportedly very close to luring him back to Morgantown with an increased NIL financial agreement. If the Mountaineers land Perez, the rumor going around is that West Virginia wouldn't only get a starting guard back in Perez but that he would also bring another player with him. That player, according to several sources, is a former 5 star player and a Top 30 player out of high school. That player is not currently in the transfer portal, but I've been told by multiple people that him entering the portal is inevitable and a move to West Virginia is almost certain if Jose Perez returns. With the additions of Perez, Slazinski and this former five star player, the Mountaineers would be in great shape heading into the 2023-2024 season and would likely be as talented or more talented than the team was prior to the Huggins' mess. The West Virginia coaching staff - Josh Eilert, Jordan McCabe, Alex Ruoff, DerMarr Johnson - should be commended, and the program's Director of Recruiting/Player Personnel, Jay Kuntz, continues to work miracles in the portal. Although it didn't seem like it was possible a month ago, the Mountaineers are going to be just fine - and perhaps even better - heading into next season. https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1682114755215912960?s=20 https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1682123904943288320?s=20

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- The West Virginia Mountaineers' basketball team has been decimated by the transfer portal this offseason following the arrest and resignation of Bob Huggins. However, Jay Kuntz, the Director of Personnel/Recruiting at WVU, is a miracle-worker and continues to attract top talent available in the transfer portal. Moments ago, the Mountaineers landed Quinn Slazinski, a 6'9 forward from Houston, Texas, who played at Huntington Prep in West Virginia during high school, where he averaged 14.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists on a balanced team that posted a 20-5 record. Slazinski was selected to the All-USA West Virginia Boys Basketball Team second team. After high school, Slazinski played at Louisville for two seasons before transferring to play for Rick Pitino at Iona, where he averaged 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last season. When Pitino took the job at St. John's Slazinski followed his coach there, but ultimately decided to re-enter the transfer portal yesterday. Slazinski was one of the top names available in the portal and West Virginia is an absolutely perfect fit. The Mountaineers desperately needed an interior player after losing Tre Mitchell, Mohamed Wague and James Okonkwo to the transfer portal this offseason and Slazinski fills that void. https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1682118688713981954?s=20

WVU has learned who and where they will be playing in Big 12 play this season. Morgantown, WV - Moments ago, the Big 12 Conference announced the home and away slate for all league members during the 2023-24 College Basketball season. The Mountaineers, who will be without legendary coach Bob Huggins, will play each league opponent at least once. https://twitter.com/big12conference/status/1682103329047060481?s=46&t=cXIQ4JQG-pp-P6qrRwLwjw Their conference slate is as follows: Home-And-Away: UCF, Cincinnati, K-State, TCU, and Texas Home Only: Baylor, BYU, Kansas, and Texas Tech Away Only: Iowa State, Houston, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State   (Photo by WVU Athletics)   

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- The West Virginia Mountaineers' basketball team has been decimated by the transfer portal this offseason following the arrest and resignation of Bob Huggins. However, Jay Kuntz, the Director of Personnel/Recruiting at WVU, is a miracle-worker and continues to attract top talent available in the transfer portal. One player that just entered the portal is Quinn Slazinski. Slazinski, a 6'9 forward from Houston, Texas, played at Huntington Prep in West Virginia during high school, where he averaged 14.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists on a balanced team that posted a 20-5 record and was selected to the All-USA West Virginia Boys Basketball Team second team. After high school, Slazinski played at Louisville for two seasons before transferring to play for Rick Pitino at Iona, where he averaged 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last season. When Pitino took the job at St. John's Slazinski followed his coach there, but ultimately decided to re-enter the transfer portal yesterday. Now available, Slazinski is one of the top names available in the portal and West Virginia  would be an absolutely perfect fit. The Mountaineers desperately need an interior player after losing Tre Mitchell, Mohamed Wague and James Okonkwo to the transfer portal this offseason. Andrew Slater of Cerebro Sports seemed to indicate that West Virginia has the inside track on Slazinski on a social media post this morning. If it happens, Slazinski would likely immediately be inserted into the starting lineup next to Jesse Edwards and would provide the Mountaineers with a veteran presence to replace the talented players lost during the offseason. https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1682059513606569985?s=20 https://twitter.com/Andrew__Slater/status/1682030103445012482?s=20

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- Although he denies that it ever happened, it's been exactly one month since Bob Huggins resigned as the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. When Huggins resigned, it opened up a 30 day window for players to transfer without penalty and without a waiver for the upcoming season. Tre Mitchell, Joe Toussaint, James Okonkwo, Mohamed Wague and Jose Perez all took advantage of this opportunity. Now that the 30 day window is up, RaeQuan Battle, Kerr Kriisa, Jesse Edwards, Josiah Harris, Kobe Johnson, Pat Suemnick, Omar Silverio and Seth Wilson are no longer able to transfer this season. However, graduate transfers are able to transfer at any time, which means if Jose Perez graduates this summer and decides to return to West Virginia, he would likely still be able to transfer to another school prior to the start of the season. The Mountaineers currently have nine players on the team with the recent addition of Florida State transfer Jeremiah Bembry and will need to add at least 2-3 more players in the portal to fill out the roster. https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1670451771695669248?s=20 https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1681449352315777025?s=20

Colorado and Connecticut have reportedly been evaluated by the Big 12 Conference.   Arlington, TX - After months of speculation, it now appears that two schools are on the fast track to be considered for expansion of the Big 12 Conference. According to Farouk Yusuf of Sports Keeda, the Big 12 has completed evaluations of both Connecticut and Colorado, and conversations between all parties have continued for several months. There has been no indication as to when these schools could officially be added as members of the Big 12 Conference. However, Commissioner Brett Yorkmark did confirm that the league has a “plan for expansion” at Big 12 Media Days. Stay tuned to The Voice of Motown for updates. (Photo by UConn Athletics) 

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia - The West Virginia Mountaineers basketball staff has reached out to Kansas SF transfer Marcus Adams Jr. Adams entered the transfer portal on Monday and asked for his NIL release. Full statement from Adams: https://twitter.com/marcusadams21/status/1680636809288601601?s=46&t=UeiobZw0DLjMOQp47AHBOQ Adams younger brother, Maximo Adams, a class of 2026 SF also announced he had received an over from West Virginia. Since entering the portal, Adams told On3Sports that he has heard from Gonzaga, BYU, Oregon, Binghamton, Missouri, San Diego, Boston College, Mississippi State and UCSB. Adams was ranked as a four-star recruit prior to committing to Kansas. He committed to Kansas on March 3 as a member of the 2024 class, but later reclassified to the 2023 class on April 17, according to the Kansas City Star.

Bob Huggins still wants to coach college basketball again after his unfortunate exit from West Virginia University.  MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- Bob Huggins can't live without college basketball. Or at least he doesn't want to live without it. Huggins has made that clear over the past couple of weeks, claiming that he did not resign from his position as the head coach of the Mountaineers. Huggins still believes - despite all reason suggesting otherwise - that once he finishes rehabilitation for his reported alcoholism, he will once again take over the West Virginia basketball program. As delusional as that sounds, Huggins and the people surrounding him truly believe it. With that said, Gordon Gee and Wren Baker have made it abundantly clear that Bob Huggins will never coach the Mountaineers ever again under any circumstances. Gee and Baker have both been on record in recent days saying that they have "moved on" from Huggins and "hope that he takes care of his health and gets the help that he needs." However, Huggins is far from ready to simply move on. Huggins, who has 935 wins over a remarkable nearly-40 year career, knows nothing else at this stage in his life than coaching basketball. He's done it his whole life and he's one of the most successful to ever do it consistently over a long period of time. Huggins is a proven program builder, recruiter and in-game strategist, and if he is able to rehabilitate his personal issues and his image, a school desperate for success will absolutely consider him as their future head coach, despite his age and baggage that comes along with him. Chris Beard, who was arrested and charged with choking his fiancee, was hired only months later by Ole Miss. Yes, Bob Huggins drove drunk and made some really inappropriate remarks on a radio station, but he also has many, many years of major success with relatively few problems. Although West Virginia University will likely never consider Bob Huggins again, many schools will. I could see Huggins taking a job at a lower level - perhaps in the MAC or SunBelt Conference - win big, and then finding himself back in a Power 5 Conference in 2-3 years. Bob Huggins isn't done with college basketball and it's unlikely that college basketball is done with Bob Huggins either. https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1681292668419153920?s=20

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — West Virginia has extended an offer to class of 2026 forward Maximo Adams. Adams, who is from Harbor City, CA announced the offer via his Twitter. https://twitter.com/maximoadams7/status/1681049380189782016?s=46&t=UeiobZw0DLjMOQp47AHBOQ Adams is the younger brother to former Kansas four-star forward Marcus Adams Jr., who requested his NIL release from the Jayhawks on Monday. “I would like to request a release from my national letter in order to find out where I truly belong,” he said via Twitter. “It was a hard decision. I decided it would be best for me mentally and for my family. I will re-open my recruitment as well. Thank you and please respect my decision.” Since being offered by WVU, Adams has received two more offers from UC Santa Barbara and Missouri but has compiled over 10-plus offers.

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- After Bob Huggins' DUI arrest and resignation as the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers, several players left the program. The very first player that left the team was Tre Mitchell, a 6'9 redshirt senior from Pittsburgh, PA, who transferred to Kentucky. Kentucky played four games this past week in the GLOBL JAM, an event featuring national teams from around the globe. During the event, Mitchell was outstanding, averaging 14.5 points, 8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Because of Mitchell's success, Kentucky fans have flocked to social media to "thank Bob Huggins." They say that Mitchell is playing for Kentucky due to Bob Huggins' poor decision-making. All players on the West Virginia roster were given a 30 day window to transfer following Huggins' resignation and Mitchell took advantage of that. Fans have "thanked Bob Huggins" by saying things like, "If I ever meet Bob Huggins, I’m buying him a beer as a thank you for Tre Mitchell", "Hey, Bob Huggins! I’m sorry about your recent problems, but thank you very much. With love, The Big Blue Nation", and "Thank you for your graciousness Bob Huggins." https://twitter.com/Nikki_boy731/status/1680803151337725955?s=20 https://twitter.com/ChrisJenkinsBBN/status/1680753013542072320?s=20 https://twitter.com/proberts27/status/1680734511590408192?s=20 https://twitter.com/BleedBlueUKY/status/1680734440069242885?s=20 https://twitter.com/BBNTonight/status/1681088894459318272?s=20

WVU returns less than 10% of their production from the 2022-23 College Basketball season. Morgantown, WV - When the 2023-24 College Basketball season tips off, the West Virginia Mountaineers will be dealing with a lot of turnover. Not only will they be without their Hall of Fame Coach Bob Huggins, WVU will also have to replace almost all of their scoring production from last year’s team. According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, WVU has the least amount of returning production in the Big 12 with 9.1% of their scoring from the 2022-23 team currently on the roster. https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1681039857357934593?s=20 No other team in the Big 12 had less than 24.6% (Oklahoma State). This is far from an ideal scenario for a team already dealing with a plethora of turmoil. (Photo by WVU Athletics)

West Virginia President E. Gordon Gee appeared on MetroNews Talkline this morning and discussed the Bob Huggins' situation.   MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- For the first time since Bob Huggins' DUI arrest and resignation as the head coach at West Virginia, West Virginia President Gordon Gee spoke out about his feelings about the situation and Bob Huggins on MetroNews' Talkline this morning. “I am a great admirer of Coach Huggins in so many different ways. He’s done many good things for our state and for our university, so that’s the reason I’m so immensely disappointed in him. The fact he was given a second chance and just did not perform at the level that he should,” Gee said. Gee continued: "We’re now focused on Coach Eilert. In other words, we have moved on. I hope that Coach Huggins will move on with his life too and take good care of himself and his family." Gee was asked if there's any chance of Huggins returning as the head coach of the Mountaineers and the WVU President responded by saying, "No. None.” Huggins issued a statement last week, claiming that he did not resign from his position and intends to continue coaching the Mountaineers when he finishes his stint in rehab. Obviously, the university has moved on and is preparing itself for a big legal battle with Huggins if he continues to push.

Erik Stevenson will join Best Virginia, a TBT team competing this summer for a $1 million prize.   MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- According to his father Craig, former West Virginia guard Erik Stevenson will join WVU alumni team Best Virginia in the TBT this summer! Craig Stevenson posted the following message on social media last night: "For all of you that are following Erik's journey, he is wrapping up summer league action tomorrow and will fly back home Sunday night. Home for a couple days and flies to Pittsburgh to join the Best Virginia TBT team and will play for them in The Basketball Tournament, 7/25-8/3 or so. Most games are on ESPN. After that, as of right now, he will report to Austin, Texas and play for the Austin Spurs in the G League this next season. We thank all of you for your support." Stevenson, 24, averaged 10.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in his one season with the Mountaineers last season. Since leaving Morgantown, Stevenson signed an NBA contract with the San Antonio Spurs and played in the NBA Summer League. In his first game with the Spurs, Stevenson shined off the bench, scoring 13 points on 3-4 from 3 point range. In addition to Stevenson, Best Virginia will feature former West Virginia players Sean McNeil, Chase Harler, Jaysean Paige, Kedrian Johnson, John Flowers, Kevin Jones, Nathan Adrian and Teyvon Myers. Other players on the team include Jamel Morris, a former player at Fairmont State, Jordan Allen, who played at Rider University, Keith Wright, who played at Harvard, Nathan Flowers who played at Oklahoma City and Quincy Ford, who played at Northeastern University. James Long will once again serve as the head coach of the team. https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1680626913230876675?s=20

Country Roads Trust should hold an NIL benefit concert at Milan Puskar Stadium.   Morgantown, WV - Country Roads Trust has quickly become one of the best NIL collectives in the nation. The West Virginia University Athletics based fund for athletes has achieved many incredible feats so far, including Million Dollar May. Now, one former WVU athlete has come up with an incredible idea for Country Roads Trust to raise even more money for the athletes. Hold a benefit concert featuring West Virginia’s very own Charles Wesley Godwin and Brad Paisley. https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1679665859613147136?s=46&t=cXIQ4JQG-pp-P6qrRwLwjw https://twitter.com/aruoff/status/1679532019724738566?s=46&t=cXIQ4JQG-pp-P6qrRwLwjw With both being Mountaineer fans, Wesley Godwin and Paisley would certainly be a major attraction for individuals all across the Mountain State. Holding the concert in Milan Puskar Stadium while setting the price at $20 a ticket would bring in “mountains” of money for WVU to use to attract high-level talent to Morgantown. However, this would also only work if a portion of the proceeds go to another worthy cause - WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital. https://twitter.com/_jamesclark3_/status/1679671427241320448?s=46&t=cXIQ4JQG-pp-P6qrRwLwjw There is a massive opportunity here to take the next step in the NIL game. It all rests in the hands of Brad Paisley and Charles Wesley Godwin.