Last week, I mentioned how I felt good about the future of WVU football, despite a disappointing overall 2025 season. Part of that reason was the recruiting appeared to be getting better. Well, the early signing period was last week, and boy, did things get better. The Mountaineers had what is, on paper, its best recruiting class in the modern era. They capitalized on the coaching situation at Penn State, and were able to flip a couple of well-regarded commitments to WVU. They also changed the mind of a few other well-regarded recruits. When everything was over, WVU had either the best or second best class in the Big 12, and a Top 25 class in the nation. (Keep in mind that there is still a late signing period, and the transfer portal will be big for some schools). Regardless, there is a lot to be optimistic about this class. It is also well balanced. There are a lot of skill players, but plenty of linemen as well.
In basketball, we might see a similar scenario play out. WVU’s non-conference results have been more-or-less like this: the Mountaineers win convincingly against mediocre and bad competition, but struggle with decent teams. That isn’t good news for Big 12 play, where pretty much everyone is good. After a loss to Wake Forest this weekend, WVU is now 7-3, and in each of the three losses: Clemson, Xavier, and now Wake Forest, we’ve seen some similar issues pop up: the offense goes away, the defense starts to give up open shots, and they just have trouble keeping up. (They were tied or ahead of Clemson and Wake at halftime). Some of the issues are fixable, but it might be a case of waiting for the well-regarded recruiting class to show up next year before we start seeing major progress.
The women’s basketball team had its worst game of the season in an 81-59 loss to Villanova. It was one of those nights that nothing went right. They did bounce back with a 97-51 win over Mercyhurst. They have a couple of big non-conference games coming up at home against Georgia Tech (Thursday, Dec 11, 7:00pm, ESPN Plus), and on the road at Texas A&M (Sunday, Dec 14, 3:00, SEC Plus). Those will be a good measuring stick before WVU starts Big 12 play.
