Three Questions Heading Into WVU's Exhibition vs. Charleston

Diving into some of the unknowns entering Friday night's exhibition.

West Virginia University basketball / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Friday night marks the unofficial start of the Darian DeVries era in Morgantown as the West Virginia Mountaineers are set to host an exhibition game against an in-state opponent, the Charleston Golden Eagles, from the Division II level.

With a whole new coaching staff and essentially a brand new roster, there are a ton of questions surrounding what Mountaineer basketball will look like in 2024-25.

Here are my top three entering the night.

What will the main identity of this team be?

Everything we've heard from Darian DeVries and the players so far is that this is going to be uptempo offense that likes to push the ball in transition and really stretch the floor.

Defensively, DeVries has always had his guys playing well on that end of the floor, but how does he combat not having much at the center position? Is this going to be a group that presses much? Mix in any zone? Halfcourt trapping? Or will it just be straight-up man-to-man?

For a team mostly made up of newcomers, they have to buy into DeVries' vision and find an area of the game that they can rely on. Whether that be intense defense, pushing the pace, shooting the three-ball extremely well, etc.

Can they win enough on the glass?

The Mountaineers only have one true center on the roster, Eduardo Andre, and he'll more than likely be coming off the bench. Illinois transfer Amani Hansberry has a high ceiling as an undersized five, but he's going to need some help battling in the paint, especially when going up against some of the bigs in the Big 12.

Aside from Andre who is 6'11", the Mountaineers don't have anyone taller than Hansberry and true freshman Abraham Oyeadier, who stands at 6'8". DeVries will need to see his guards crashing the boards hard to avoid getting crushed on the boards.

Who is further along than expected?

One player who has seemed to have turned a lot of heads thus far is true freshman guard Jonathan Powell. Is he able to earn some minutes right out of the shoot? Obviously, we won't know for sure by the end of tonight, but it could give us a good idea as to where he is in his development.

Fellow true freshman guard KJ Tenner seems to be more of a long-term project, but perhaps he surprises.

Really, the only other youngster that I'm most intrigued with is sophomore Ofri Naveh who is the only returning player from last year's team. I'm not sure that he'll factor much into the rotation at the start of the season, but once again, we'll be able to get a good read on his situation tonight.

West Virginia and Charleston will throw the ball up in the air at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN+.

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