Can Isaiah Cottrell Make a Big Impact in 2020-21?

Bob Huggins likes what he sees in his young true freshman

West Virginia head basketball coach Bob Huggins may have the most dominant returning frontcourt in the country with Derek Culver, Oscar Tshiebwe, and Gabe Osabuohien. All three guys bring a different element to the game, but the one thing they all do very well? Rebound. 

Over the years, Huggins has had some very good rebounding teams, especially on the offensive glass. The 2020-21 season should be no different and could potentially be the best rebounding team he's ever had during his time in Morgantown. 

In addition to the three returners, the Mountaineers will also have true freshman Isaiah Cottrell, who was a very highly and nationally recruited forward in the 2020 recruiting class. Prior to finishing his high school career at Huntington Prep, Cottrell was a big piece of Bishop Gorman's (NV) success where he earned first team all-state honors and All-Southwest League first team accolades and averaged 15.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game as a junior in 2018-19. As a senior, the 6'10", 240-pound Cottrell averaged 18.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, and two blocks per game at Huntington Prep (WV) under head coach Arkell Bruce.

There's no question that the sky is the limit for Cottrell, but it may take him some time for him to make a big impact on the team. Coach Huggins is excited about his future and is happy that he has some great people to practice against and learn from.

"He's a very skilled guy. He passes it well, he shoots it well, he handles it probably better than most of our bigs. I think he would be the first one to tell you that it's hard particularly for a big because people are bigger, stronger, faster. They get to the ball so much faster, they're so much harder to move and he's finding that out. I think it's great for him that he gets to play against a Derek Culver, and Oscar Tshiebwe, play against Gabe Osabuohien. You're playing against men, it's not high school anymore. You're playing against real men and I think that can do nothing but help him. Has he struggled at times? Sure, but I don't know who wouldn't. Bringing Seny [Ndiaye] in I think has helped, that's given us another big, strong big guy that is very physical, so I think it helps guys like Isaiah and really all of the younger guys. It gives them a better taste of what's going to happen when we get into Big 12 play."

So, does Cottrell see much of a role in 2020-21? 

The answer is yes. How big of a role is the biggest question. He obviously won't be in the starting lineup and with Osabuohien likely being the first big off the bench, he will probably see very limited action in Big 12 play, but could see a fair share of minutes early on in non-conference games. It's hard to gauge how Huggins will rotate his bigs and which lineups he will use on a consistent basis, but if I had to guess, I would say you'll see anywhere from 6-10 minutes per game from Cottrell as a true freshman. If he plays extraordinarily well, those minutes will increase, but that may be hard to do when you also have Culver and Tshiebwe.

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