MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Things are moving quickly since Darian DeVries was announced as the next head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. DeVries’ son, Tucker, is already likely on his way to Morgantown, as well as former Drake star Atin Wright.
In addition, there are several possible players who have not yet entered the transfer portal who have connections to DeVries and who could be interested in following him to play for the Mountaineers.
One such player is Omaha Biliew, a 6’8 forward from Omaha, Nebraska. Biliew was a consensus five star player (Rivals, 247, ESPN) out of high school, was a McDonald’s All-American, and was considered one of the top players in the 2023 recruiting class. Biliew committed to play for Iowa State over offers from Kansas, Oregon and many others, but has struggled to find playing time with the Cyclones early in his career. During his freshman season this past year, Biliew only averaged 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game at Iowa State, but he has talent through the roof.
Here’s where it gets interesting: Biliew is the former high school teammate of Tucker DeVries. Considering Biliew has been rumored to be unhappy with his playing time at Iowa State and the fact that he has a connection to DeVries, the online chatter has been that Biliew could potentially end up playing at West Virginia next season.
According to 247’s director of scouting, Adam Finklestein, “Biliew is a physically imposing athlete with length, strength, explosiveness, and the high-motor to match. He plays very hard. Defensively, he’s active and versatile. He flies around the court and covers ground with his close-outs, but may not be quite as fluid laterally and needs to better maximize his value as a defensive rebounder. Offensively, he is a finisher who can get out in transition, get his own on the offensive glass, and should be a target rolling to the rim off ball-screens. He can also be a threat in short straight-line drive situations and has made strides with his shooting potential, although he is not yet a reliable floor-spacer in terms of his percentages.”
In addition to Biliew, another name to keep an eye on is Payton Sandfort, a 6’7 shooting guard/small forward from Waukee, Iowa. Sandfort, the Big Ten Conference’s 6th Man of the Year, averaged 10.3 points per game off the bench for the Iowa Hawkeyes this past season. Although he has not yet entered the transfer portal, there are rumors circulating online that he could possibly move to West Virginia because he also attended Waukee High School with DeVries.
At this time, these are only rumors, but both Biliew and Sandfort would make oustanding additions to the rebuilt West Virginia basketball roster!
