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\nWVU head coach Mark Kellogg is shown from a game last season.<\/p>\n
MORGANTOWN \u2014 UCF senior transfer forward Khyala Ngodu had the reality dating show \u201cLove Island\u201d on her television the other night, but she wasn\u2019t watching alone. The rest of the West Virginia women\u2019s basketball team was there, too, laughing, smiling and talking about the show as most women around the country are.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was probably my favorite thing together,\u201d Ngodu said.<\/p>\n
It sounds like this team had been together for a season or two, like last year\u2019s Big 12 Championship team was back and ready to repeat. In reality, just two players, guards Gia Cooke and Madison Parrish, returned for the 2026-27 season. The rest of the roster is made up of transfers and a high school recruit.<\/p>\n
So, watching the Mountaineers\u2019 open practice on Thursday morning was hard because you were constantly looking down at the roster to see who was who. There are 10 new names to learn, with nine of them being transfers.<\/p>\n
That meant head coach Mark Kellogg did a lot of work rebuilding the roster, so WVU could get back to selling out and hosting an NCAA tournament, or winning the conference tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the two kids coming back,\u201d Kellogg said. \u201cWe thought we had a couple more that were going to come back initially. Then, they made some decisions to go a different direction. We had a kid leave, and I think in 48 hours we had another kid on campus and committed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luckily for Kellogg, it\u2019s been the easiest it\u2019s ever been to pitch the program. The Mountaineers are coming off a Big 12 Tournament championship, the first since 2017. WVU also hosted an NCAA tournament regional, won the first round game and had lines wrapped around the Coliseum for two straight NCAA games. If it weren\u2019t for baseball having similar success a couple of months later, out of the major sports, women\u2019s basketball would be the highlight of the 2025-26 WVU athletics year.<\/p>\n
Also, WVU had another player, Jordan Harrison, signed and made a WNBA roster.<\/p>\n
Duquesne transfer sophomore guard Alexis Bordas is from Wheeling, West Virginia, and was the West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year three times at Wheeling Park. She grew up watching the Mountaineers, including Chase Harler.<\/p>\n
Bordas said watching the NCAA tournament and the turnout was a draw to come to the school she grew up watching, alongside he brother, who was a Jevon Carter fan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing it come to fruition and taking those extra steps last year, and then hopefully you just keep taking a step closer and closer in the coming years, seeing how everyone\u2019s just fully supporting it is so cool,\u201d Bordas said.<\/p>\n
Now that the roster is complete, it\u2019s time, especially in the summer, to get to know everyone\u2019s names and, more importantly, playing styles. Get-togethers like the \u201cLove Island\u201d watch party and some other gatherings that the team\u2019s psychologist has put together have been helping.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think mainly just how we\u2019re gelling together,\u201d Bordas said. \u201cObviously, we have so much talent individually, but just seeing how we\u2019ve all come together and really learned each other\u2019s games, being able to set each other up, knowing what we\u2019re good at. I think that\u2019s come a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also helped that some of the transfers have played together before. Senior guard Kennedy Harris and senior wing Zaza Walton both came over from George Mason. There are two players from Pitt, redshirt freshman forward Divine Tumba and sophomore guard Nylah Wilson, who know each other. Cooke knew redshirt junior forward Hawa Doumbouya from her days at Maryland when the two were there together.<\/p>\n
Some of the players have even played high school ball with or against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is nice,\u201d Bordas said. \u201cI\u2019ve actually played against a lot of the girls, so kind of already having a familiarity with them. It was super cool to kind of talk about playing in the same conference and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are two Big 12 transfers, Ngodu from UCF and BYU redshirt senior wing Marya Hudgins. Both of them played at least one game against the Mountaineers last season, so they knew what they were getting themselves into regarding playstyle, and they knew how Cooke played.<\/p>\n
Ngodu had 21 points and almost had a double-double with nine boards. She also had a block. UCF still lost by 12. Ngodu didn\u2019t play at the game at the Coliseum, but has been there before.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m used to hearing boos and stuff like that,\u201d Ngodu said. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be good to hear some cheers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hudgins played 31 minutes, had 10 points and seven rebounds. She felt the full force of Kellogg\u2019s press and turned the ball over six times in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI make a lot of jokes with Coach Kellogg of just like \u2018I hated playing against your guys\u2019 press,’\u201d Hudgins said. \u201cHated it. So now, being on that side of the havoc is such a relief. I don\u2019t have to deal with it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point, learning and creating an entire new roster is the norm, especially in basketball. There are kids who are at their fourth school in four years. WVU has multiple players on its roster who have transferred multiple times.<\/p>\n
They are used to making new friends and learning new play styles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it\u2019s nothing new with this new day and age, the college space that we are in,\u201d Ngodu said. \u201cI was on a new team pretty much everywhere. It was something that I was used to doing, and I\u2019m excited because they\u2019re good people.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of the moving pieces will have to work in unison. A couple of weeks into summer workouts, it\u2019s too early to determine if this entirely new team, except for two players, will work. For a lot of fans and the team, the expectations are to at least recreate what happened last year, a Big 12 tournament championship and hosting an NCAA regional.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be difficult, but even if he didn\u2019t have a lot of time to create the roster, Kellogg feels he has the team to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hot and heavy, that was a little hectic, a little stressful in certain situations,\u201d Kellogg said. \u201cBut, really like the group we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n MORGANTOWN \u2014 West Virginia football scored a top Pennsylvania football prospect. 3-star wide receiver Chase …<\/p>\n