You may or may not have been able to tell by the 100+ articles on this website, the YouTube channel, or the TikTok account with over 1000 videos, but I sort of like this game of basketball. I would say that the bulk of my content is NBA centric (not because I’m more passionate about it, it’s really just a scope thing and the fact that they play 82 games a year), but those who know me would tell you that my love of basketball actually started at the college level, and there is a good argument from me that I’m actually more passionate about the college game.
My dad ingrained the love of WVU basketball into me at the young age of 5 and here we are 26 years after the fact and I’m still letting WVU dictate my mood on game days. At the start of the new year I came to the realization that I’ve been watching this team for a quarter of a century, longer than some of you who are reading this have been alive. Once I was faced with this reality, I figured I could do one of two things:
- Think about the never ending passage of time, the fact that I’ll never be as young as I am right now and that I’ll never be able to capture my precious memories again, and that the person who helped develop this love I have for the game isn’t here anymore to experience the game with me
Or
- I could talk shop about the best players to ever play for my favorite university in the past 25 years.
It’s a no-brainer, really.
I do have some parameters to talk about before we get to the meat and potatoes of the article:
- This is not necessarily a “greatest Mountaineer” conversation. There are true blue Mountaineers like Nate Adrian, Johannes Herber, and even Joe Mazzulla who spent their entire college careers in Morgantown, but they weren’t the best Mountaineer basketball players.
- I don’t really believe in a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd team when it comes to lists like these. In reality, if we could live in a magical world where all of these guys played at the same time, there would only be like 12 guys who would play in a rotation so I will be limiting the list to a starting unit, a bench unit, and some reserves, but I will also have some honorable mentions.
- This is a personal list. There is some favoritism in my selections (sue me) but I promise you that the stats and/or the longevity at the school will back up my decisions. If you’re also a WVU fan and I leave off your favorite Mountaineer, I am sorry but do leave me a comment and let me know who it is.
Without further ado, let’s talk some Honorable Mentions.
Honorable Mentions
Honor Huff
It really is a shame that we’re only going to have Honor for one year, because I would love to see what he could do with a full career here. In 21 games with the university (at the time of writing this) he’s averaging 16.3 PPG while shooting 38% from 3 on more than 9 attempts a game. I’ve watched every single second of every single game this year and let me assure you, if we didn’t have Honor Huff on our basketball team, we might have 6 wins on the year. While he hasn’t even been here for a full year, he truly understands what it means to wear the Old Gold and Blue. He has taken to this state like very few I’ve seen, and it’s been a true joy to see him play.
He’s one of the most talented scorers we’ve ever had and he is certainly the best shooter we’ve had in quite some time. Had he been here for 3 or 4 years, maybe we’re talking about him as a top 5 Mountaineer in the last 25 years. Also, his name is a dead giveaway. I had to add him to the list somehow.
Deniz Kilicli
Deniz had an uphill battle in front of him early in his Mountaineer career due to the immense talent that was on the roster, some of which we will get to very shortly. Despite the fact that he probably expected to play heavy minutes early on he had to pay his dues. His Freshman year he barely played any minutes. During his Sophomore year he was starting to become a vital role player. Then during his Junior and Senior year he was a full-time starter for the team.
He was always reliable for 8-11 points a game, he was an underrated post defender, and most importantly (and the reason he’s on this list for me) he embodied the spirit of West Virginia. For someone who didn’t grow up here and didn’t understand Appalachian culture, he really took to the state. He showed up every day with his hardhat and lunch pail and just went to work.
Daxter Miles
God, do I miss Dax. He came to the university at a time where I felt like we were really hitting our stride in the Big 12. Bob Huggins had just implemented his “Press Virginia” defense and in Dax he found one of the architects of that system. Over the next four years he spent in Morgantown he would be part of one of the most menacing defensive backcourts in the entire nation with Jevon Carter (spoiler alert, he’s on this list).
He spent all four years at the school, averaged 9.6 PPG, was one of the best defenders we’ve ever had, and was a perfect running mate next to Jevon. While we didn’t see any real success in the NCAA Tournament Dax helped lead us to a top 5 seed every year, and that level of sustained excellence shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Reserves
Javon Small
You have to be pretty special to only spend one year in Morgantown and make it on this list, and Javon’s time here was certainly special. After Tucker DeVries “got injured” 6 games into the season the entire offensive load was thrown onto Javon and he answered the call in a big way. On the year he averaged 18.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.5 steals a game with 41/35/88 shooting splits.
In what turned out to be one of the most dysfunctional, dark, and depressing years in recent WVU history, Javon was certainly a beacon of hope. It’s just a damn shame that all of his hard work wasn’t rewarded with a NCAA Tournament birth. Oh, and the fact that his head coach turned out to be Judas reincarnated BUT DON’T GET ME STARTED.
John Flowers
John Flowers may not be a household name in the pantheon of college basketball greats, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s West Virginia royalty. In his four years in Morgantown his counting stats don’t necessarily pop off the page, but during his Senior year he came alive when it mattered the most. He averaged 9.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and a staggering (especially for his previous averages) 2.2 blocks per game.
It’s a shame that we couldn’t have ended his time in Morgantown on a better note but he’s always been viewed as a true Mountaineer, and as someone who used to have a John Flowers jersey on his wall growing up, there was no chance he was going to be left off my list.
Bench Unit
Derek Culver
Derek Culver seems to be a bit of a forgotten gem in Mountaineer history. I wouldn’t blame people for not remembering him because during his three years in Morgantown the team, in my opinion, underperformed. We didn’t make the NCAA Tournament in his Freshman and Sophomore years, and we lost in the second round of his Junior year, but that was certainly not his fault.
Culver was always a threat to put up a double-double (he averaged 12 points and 9.3 rebounds a game in his career) and he was pretty efficient. He also played like a traditional big man; played the short roll, back to the basket, and was a lob threat. I certainly wouldn’t mind having him on this year’s team.
Sagaba Konate
I don’t know how to explain Sagaba Konate to you if you didn’t get to witness his defensive dominance live, but I’ll try my best. During his Freshman year he played sparingly (about 10 minutes a game) but was used as a defensive superweapon. He was the last line of defense for Bob Huggins’ “Press Virginia” teams and Konate averaged 1.4 blocks per game.
His Sophomore year is when he became a household name averaging 3.2 (!!!) blocks a night to go with 7.6 rebounds. The way he blocked shots was as impressive as how many he blocked; demoralizing isn’t a strong enough word. How would you feel if you were a D1 athlete and this guy comes out of nowhere to volleyball spike your shot back to the ground, or god forbid, he two hand pinned your shot on the backboard? Konate sustained an injury early into his Junior year and then he declared for the draft, but in the relatively short amount of time he played for the Mountaineers, he was able to leave his mark.
Joe Alexander
I’d have to imagine that this is one of the more well known names from WVU as he was the 8th pick of the 2008 NBA Draft. While I wish his time in the NBA would have been more fruitful, his time at WVU was the visual proof needed to go that high in the draft. His Junior year was one for the books as Alexander averaged 16.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.2 stocks per game.
He was able to display his elite two-way potential and his midrange mastery. I would make the argument that he could have stayed one more year in college to hone some of his skills, but you have to strike while the iron is hot. Joe went 76-32 during his time in Morgantown and was able to get Bob Huggins off on the right foot during his first two years coaching the team.
Darryl “Truck” Bryant
It’s hard to not like a guy who’s nickname is Truck, you know what I mean? It also doesn’t hurt that his nickname matched his playstyle to a tee. Truck was such a physically imposing guard; when he got downhill and put his shoulder into someone’s chest, there was really nothing they could do.
Truck had a very solid first three years in the Old Gold and Blue, but his Senior year was when he took the leap as a true leader. On the year he averaged a career high in points, rebounds, and steals (16.9/3.1/1.4) all while shouldering a much larger offensive burden, becoming the second option behind Kevin Jones. Truck is also one of the few guys on this list who can say they made the NCAA Tournament all four years in Morgantown.
Juwan Staten
I just have one word to describe Juwan: BUCKET. After transferring from Dayton and having to sit out a year (back when the NCAA had guts) Juwan became a very valuable piece to our offensive and defensive schemes. Much like Truck Bryant, he was a very physical, downhill attacking guard with really solid efficiency numbers.
Juwan was able to strike a balance between being an elite scoring guard (18.1 PPG his Junior year) while also being a defensive weapon for the “Press Virginia” defense (1.2 steals per game in his 3 years at the school). He also took on a playmaking role in his last two years which made him one of the most complete players the school has ever had.
Starting 5
Kevin Jones
It was truly a pleasure watching Kevin Jones go from being a complimentary piece on the team that made the Final Four to being a 20/10 kind of guy his Senior year. Over time, Kevin also morphed into a prototype of what a modern Power Forward should play like; a defensive presence, a scoring threat, and a floor spacer.
His Senior year was his coming out party as he averaged 19.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 1 block a night while shooting 50.9% from the floor, which was good enough to earn him Second-Team All-American honors (which is now the second most prestigious accomplishment on his résumé behind ending up on this list).
Miles “Deuce” McBride
Deuce couldn’t have been a more perfect guard to come in and replace what we lost in Jevon Carter a couple years prior. What I would have given for them to be in the backcourt together. While Deuce only played two years in Morgantown, his impact was felt immediately. His Freshman year he averaged a respectable 9.5 PPG while also being a defensive mercenary for Bob Huggins, averaging 1.1 steals per game.
His Sophomore year he took a leap that I’m not sure anyone really expected. He had a scoring explosion averaging 15.9 points per game, bumped his assists up to 4.8 a game, and also averaged nearly 2 steals a game. That same year he led the Mountaineers to a 19-10 record which resulted in a 3-seed placement for March Madness. We didn’t see much success that year in the tournament but his efforts were enough to get him noticed by NBA Front Offices. After his Sophomore year he declared for the NBA draft, was selected 36th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder (traded to the New York Knicks on Draft Night), and has proudly represented WVU during his time in the league.
Kevin Pittsnogle
We’ve reached my Top 3 favorite Mountaineers ever. I know this is a longer article than what I usually write, but believe me if my buddy Riley hadn’t talked me off a ledge this could have been an entire book’s worth of words. I’ve kept the entries relatively short (for me), so please indulge me as a wax poetic about the three guys who cemented my love of both WVU and college basketball in general.
Kevin Pittsnogle was one of the coldest hoopers in the country, a glimpse into the future of what a Power Forward/Center would play like, and the bane of my dad’s existence all at the same time. Kevin didn’t play how my dad “thought a Power Forward should play.” He stretched the floor, at times he was allergic to the paint, and he didn’t rebound particularly well for a guy who’s 6’11”.
As a very impressionable child who was playing basketball at the time, I wanted to be like Kevin. Kevin shot threes, so I tried to shoot threes. The thing about Kevin though was that he wasn’t just shooting threes; he was making them at an extremely efficient clip while taking unheard of (at the time) attempts from beyond the arc. His Senior year was his best outing as he averaged 19.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.1 stocks per game all while shooting 40% from 3 on 7 attempts per game.
I have an even deeper connection to Kevin as after his Senior season he declared for the NBA Draft. Unfortunately, he was not selected (fools, all of them). However, he did sign a Summer League contract with the Boston Celtics. Again, as an impressionable youth, I decided to follow my favorite Mountaineer into the pros by becoming a Boston Celtics fan. Kevin Pittsnogle was employed by the Celtics for 92 days which has turned into nearly 20 years of my fandom, and for that, I will always be thankful.
Da’Sean Butler
Oh my sweet, sweet, Da’Sean. My little Icarus. I have never believed more that a college athlete could excel at the NBA level than I did with Da’Sean Butler. It wasn’t just my rose-tinted glasses either; the numbers backed it up. Butler was an absolute HOOPER averaging over 17 PPG his Junior and Senior year. He was a legitimate three-level scorer, an efficient first option on a winning team, and an incredibly underrated defender.
His isolation game was what drew me to him, honestly. He loved a jab-step and for a while there, as they say, he could get open in a phone booth. I was convinced that he would be able to carry this kind of scoring into the NBA, but fate had other ideas.
During his Senior year, alongside Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones, and Truck Bryant, Butler led the Mountaineers to a 2-seed placement in the March Madness Tournament which is still as high as we’ve ever been placed to this day. I truly felt like this team was destined to win a National Championship especially after we knocked off the John Wall/DeMarcus Cousins Kentucky squad who would go on to have 5 players drafted in the first round of that year’s NBA Draft. Unfortunately we ran into an elite Duke team led by Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer. Even more unfortunately, Da’Sean tore his ACL while attacking the rim and that was the end for him. His last game as a Mountaineer ended in a loss, but his effort during his time at the school granted him Legend status. I wish his time at the school could have had a happier ending, but he cemented himself as a fan favorite for millions of Mountaineer fans across the country.
Jevon Carter
Jevon Carter is THE Mountaineer, in my opinion. From the second he stepped on campus he committed himself to The Treadmill Mentality. Jevon’s growth during his four years in Morgantown was gradual, but by the time his Senior year came around, he was read to put the country on notice. He was primarily used as a defensive bulldog by Bob Huggins, and honestly I can’t blame him. The lowest steals per game average he had was 1.7 in his Sophomore year, and he would go on to lead the nation in steals per game his Junior and Senior year (2.5 and 3.0 respectively).
The entire country knew that Jevon was a defensive demon after his Junior year, but the jury was still out about his ability to score with the best of them at the college level. While he didn’t lead the country (or even the Big 12) in scoring that year Jevon bumped his scoring average to 17.3 a night with 42/39/85 shooting splits. As his game flourished the accolades started pouring in. All in his Senior year Jevon Carter walked away with a Second-Team All-American honor, First-Team All-Big 12, and four different awards signifying that he was the best defender in a his conference and the country as a whole, including being named the INAUGURAL Naismith Defensive Player of the Year in 2018.
My love for Jevon has evolved during his time in the NBA. I do wish that he would get more burn on the Chicago Bulls (actually, the Bulls just released him and I wrote about it which you can read here), but Jevon has never forgotten where he came from and has worn his Mountaineer Pride like a badge of honor. Every time he steps on the floor and shows that defensive intensity he reminds the world of West Virginia University and the hard working people of the state. I couldn’t think of a better person to represent an entire state and mentality than Jevon, and that’s another reason why he’s my favorite Mountaineer of all time.
I know that this was a longer one but I appreciate you sticking to the end. I have another article like this in mind but I promise that one will be shorter because I don’t have the same emotional attachment to that school as I do WVU. If you’re a WVU fan and I missed someone who you think should have been on the list go ahead and drop me a comment. While you’re at it feel free to check out my socials and connect with me in different mediums.
Be kind. Tell somebody you love them.
Round The Game 
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