(Photo credit: William Purnell)

In coach Ross Hodge's first season, West Virginia was among the few teams to win its final game by claiming the College Basketball Crown championship in Las Vegas.

This year, Hodge's expectations are higher as West Virginia begins his second season by hosting Niagara on Monday in Morgantown, W.Va.

'It was a really great ending to a new beginning,' Hodge said. 'Set the standard and expectations moving forward that we want to play deep into April.'

West Virginia is seeking its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2023 in coach Bob Huggins' final season. The Mountaineers were tied with Cincinnati for eighth place in the Big 12's preseason poll.

The Mountaineers are heading into 2026-27 with a number of notable transfers, highlighted by Finley Bizjack from Butler, Joson Sanon from St. John's, Seydou Traore from Utah and Mouhamed Sylla from Georgia Tech.

Bizjack and Sanon are being counted on to improve an offense whose 70.6 points per game ranked last in the 16-team league.

Bizjack averaged 17.1 points last season and shot 36.1% from 3-point range across his three seasons for Butler. Sanon averaged 7.9 points for St. John's last season and is making a return to the Big 12 after he scored 11.9 ppg for Arizona State in 2024-25, though he dealt with a thigh bruise that kept him out of the second exhibition game.

They are joined by freshman Miles Sadler, a five-star recruit, who scored 16 and 18 points in two exhibition games and was named to the Bob Cousy Award preseason watch list.

'Just quiet confidence, extremely competitive, humble with his approach daily,' Hodge said about Sadler. 'Works really hard, incredibly open to being told the truth, and allows me to coach him, and endears himself to his teammates, and makes them better.'

Niagara was picked 12th in the 13-team Metro Conference's preseason poll, and its 8-22 finish last year was its worst season since going 7-25 in 2015-16.

The Purple Eagles added international players Fidel Rotta (Argentina) and Samuele Miccoli (Italy) along with Wright State transfer Logan Woods and Youngstown State transfer Tae Blackshear. Coach Greg Paulus is hoping the quartet can contribute to improving an offense whose 63.9 points per game ranked 359th nationally and marked the sixth time in seven seasons they averaged below 70 points.

'We just brought them in like family,' Woods said about the international players. 'The whole team helped us help them adjust to it. We just go at each other every day (in practice).'

--Field Level Media