West Virginia
Frazier finds the right mix of factors at West Virginia
Chester Frazier was appreciative of his time spent coaching at his alma mater Illinois. And the success that came with it with two championships in three years and an Elite 8 run in the tournament.
But Frazier wanted an opportunity to further grow in his role in order to prepare him for his next step up the coaching ladder and West Virginia provided that.
“It just needed something that I thought fit me a little bit more. And again, as I continue my journey to be a head coach, I wanted to learn something different,” he said.
It was a chance for Frazier to get back to his East Coast roots considering he’s from Baltimore and as well as work with a head coach in Darian DeVries that he had often watched from afar given how the pair aligned offensively and defensively.
The two had not met each other, but Frazier had done his homework watching Drake games as well as talking to others in the industry.
“He’s a winner, does things the right way. And I heard nothing but glowing remarks from my peers on his coaching style. So it drew me here,” he said.
Combine those two factors and it made the job an attractive position for him when it came open.
“It made a lot of sense when the job came open to make the move,” he said.
On the offensive end, West Virginia will continue to use a lot of ball movement with good sets and actions. Overall, it will be selfless basketball and they want to get out and play in the open court with the ability to slow it down when they need to. On the defensive end, the Mountaineers will be tough and stingy with a physical and connected brand of basketball which they’ve shown to date.
Some of the identity of this current team is still developing but the team is competing at a higher level than when the team first arrived and roles are starting to be established.
“I think connectivity has been the biggest piece. They’re getting along, they love each other and they’re playing hard. And that’s the only thing you can ask as a new group with so many new guys,” he said.
West Virginia
ESPN Bracketology: West Virginia Rises Again, Officially Off the Bubble in Latest Projection
Darian DeVries probably wasn’t all that thrilled with how his team performed in their final game ahead of the Christmas break, but the Mountaineers were still able to take down Mercyhurst by a 67-46 score, finishing non-conference play with a 9-2 record.
The last couple of weeks have been cupcake central for West Virginia, which was much needed after the challenging start to the schedule they had and then, of course, what awaits them when they return to the floor with Big 12 Conference play beginning,
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has continued to move WVU up in his NCAA Tournament projections over the last month. In his Christmas Day projection, he finally has the Mountaineers safely off the bubble and in the field as a No. 9 seed in the South Region.
1. Auburn vs. 16. Southern/American
8. Clemson vs. 9. West Virginia
5. Memphis vs. 12. Furman
4. Texas A&M vs. 13. High Point
6. Ole Miss vs. 11. Drake/Saint Mary’s
3. Oregon vs. 14. UMass Lowell
7. Michigan vs. 10. Utah State
2. Kentucky vs. 15. Montana
West Virginia will have the next few days off before traveling to Lawrence to take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12 opener on New Year’s Eve.
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Examining West Virginia’s lost offensive production after the 2024 season
West Virginia is in the midst of a roster overhaul as new head coach Rich Rodriguez starts to build from the ground up. In the last weeks, the Mountaineers have lost dozens of players either to the transfer portal or to eligibility loss, and we look at how much production from this past season will not be returning.
On offense, about 20 guys who recorded snaps this past season will not be returning to the Mountaineers. Nine are out of eligibility, and nine have entered the transfer portal, while that number could still increase.
On offense as a whole, West Virginia has lost 83.25 percent of the total snaps played. 64.52 percent of the snaps lost are due to running out of eligibility. Out of WVU’s top four snap totals, all four came on the offensive line.
Three of them exhausted their eligibility (Ja’Quay Hubbard, Nick Malone, Brandon Yates), and the fourth (Tomas Rimac) entered the transfer portal.
Number of Snaps Lost
Note: In the table above, under the column ‘Total Percentage Lost’, the 52.42% and 46.58% are the share of the total number of snaps played, not the total numebr of snaps played at each position
At the quarterback position, Garrett Greene does not have any remaining eligibility. Greene accounted for just about 30 percent of WVU’s rushing yards, 84 percent of WVU’s passing yards, as well as 22 percent of their scores on the ground, and 75 percent of their passing touchdowns thrown.
At running back the loss of CJ Donaldson looms large. He accounted for 29 percent of WVU’s rushing total this season and between him and others who tallied up much lesser totals, West Virginia has lost 60.21 percent of their rush yards from this past season.
At the receiver position, it’s even more drastic. West Virginia has lost Hudson Clement, DayDay Farmer, Traylon Ray, Justin Robinson, and Kole Taylor, among others who were some of WVU’s top pass catchers. The Mountaineers have lost 76.23 percent of their receiving yards from last year as well as 80 percent of their receiving touchdowns.
Offensive Production Lost
Overall, there is a significant loss on the offensive side of the ball.
West Virginia lost most of their passing game as well as their receiving game due to guys leaving the program. While it’s easy to point to Greene in the passing game because he was the starting quarterback for the majority of the year, most of the production lost at receiver was due to guys entering the transfer portal. At running back, it was roughly a 50-50 split between what percent was lost to the portal and what was lost to eligibility, as Greene as well as Donaldson, were the main contributing factors there.
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