MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — The West Virginia Mountaineers got its best news of the season when it was revealed that transfer guard RaeQuan Battle will now be eligible to play after today’s ruling handed down by Judge John P. Bailey of the United States District Court for Northern West Virginia.
In addition to Battle, the Mountaineers will also get point guard Kerr Kriisa back after a 9 game suspension, and could potentially also get Noah Farrakhan, the ultra-talented transfer point guard from Eastern Michigan, if he decides he wants to play this season. With that said, interim head coach Josh Eilert and his coaching staff will likely make massive changes to the West Virginia lineup rotation in the coming days.
If Kriisa, Battle and Farrakhan play this season, here’s what I suspect the Mountaineers’ rotation will look like for the remainder of the season:
1: Kerr Kriisa – 30 minutes, Noah Farrakhan – 10 minutes
2: RaeQuan Battle – 20 minutes, Seth Wilson – 12 minutes, Kobe Johnson – 8 minutes
3: Josiah Harris – 18 minutes, Ofri Naveh – 12 minutes, Quinn Slazinksi – 10 minutes
4: Quinn Slazinksi – 22 minutes, Akok Akok – 18 minutes
5: Jesse Edwards – 32 minutes, Akok Akok 8 minutes
Although Josiah Harris has underperformed so far this season, I still believe it makes sense to start him at the 3 and Slazinksi at the 4. This will give the Mountaineers’ more flexibility with Akok backing up Slazinksi at the 4 and also relieving Edwards for approximately 8-10 minutes a game at the 5. The back court is really deep and talented with Kriisa, Farrakhan, Battle, Wilson and Kobe Johnson, and Coach Eilert can use these players in a variety of combinations.
The Big 12 Conference schedule is going to be a huge challenge for the Mountaineers, but this team is deep, talented and experienced, and could really make some noise if everything falls in place after a terribly disappointing 4-5 start to the season.
