MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Back from the Bahamas, and back from watching his team win three exhibitions by an average of 46 points, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins addressed the signee who didn’t make the trip, Teyvon Myers.
Last season’s national junior college scoring leader, Myers wasn’t cleared to enroll this summer and now faces a stricter deadline after fall classes started Monday.
With admissions and compliance staff handling Myers’ situation, Huggins didn’t sound optimistic about the chances of the 6-foot-2 guard qualifying this season.
“If not, we bring him in December and redshirt him,” Huggins said. “He’s missed a lot already.”
West Virginia’s other three newcomers—freshmen Esa Ahmad, Beetle Bolden and Lamont West—have been on campus for all or parts of the summer, and each showed progress on the exhibition wins over IBA Elite 111-39, the Atlantis All-Stars 109-62 and CTG Knights 94-74.
“I think you could really see the difference with Beetle and Lamont in particular,” Huggins said. “The first game they were nervous and feeling their way through, but each game they were more and more comfortable. Beetle was terrific in the fourth quarter of the last game.
“Esa got more comfortable as he went along—got more aggressive, more assertive.”
Myers compiled 25 points per game last season, along with 4 rebounds and 3.4 assists at Williston (N.D.) State College. He played both guard positions and was especially effective as a point guard in late-clock isolation sets. His offense could be a huge weapon as WVU seeks to replace All-Big 12 point guard Juwan Staten from a team that struggled in the halfcourt, but the question becomes whether Myers, even if admitted to school this week, can learn the facets of Huggins’ press enough to stay on the court.
Until further notice, the Mountaineers will rely on junior Tarik Phillip, sophomore Jevon Carter and Bolden at point guard, though Carter will see massive minutes playing off the ball.