Looking back: West Virginia hoops decommitments
While a rare occurrence compared to its football counterpart, decommitments and new destinations do happen from time to time in college basketball recruiting.
WVSports.com takes a trip down memory lane to see those prospects that were once committed to West Virginia and how each of them fared at their new spots.
Storm Stanley
Storm Stanley committed to West Virginia before the start of his junior year after impressing the coaching staff with his size and potential. He started half of the games that season, averaging five points, six rebounds and three and a half blocked shots per game. But it was his play during the summer that really got the interest of the Mountaineers.
Still, Stanley never lived up to that potential and eventually the two parted ways, with the big man eventually signing to play college basketball at St. Francis. He played three seasons there and averaged only 1.1 points and 0.7 rebounds per game in his career.
Ryan Boatright
Ryan Boatright had an interesting recruiting process, considering he first committed to USC as an eighth grader but later backed off that pledge when Tim Floyd was fired. Then began a highly contested process, which eventually saw him commit to West Virginia at a press conference in October during his senior season. At the tim,e he cited the fact that head coach Bob Huggins had used guards of similar stature effectively as well as the style of play used by the Mountaineers as his main deciding factors.
But that pledge wouldn’t last long. Just days after committing to the Mountaineers, the program also took a commitment from another guard in Jabarie Hinds, which would force Boatright to open the process back up and back off his pledge.
Boatright would take ensuing visits to Connecticut and UNLV, eventually deciding to ink with the Huskies just a few days prior to the early signing period.
He would spend four seasons with the Huskies, averaging 14.0 points for his career, while that total was 17.4 per game during his senior season. He served as a key cog during his time with the Huskies and was effective on defense as well. He claimed a national championship with his teammates during his junior season.
Fede Federiko
Fede Federiko enrolled at First Love Christian Academy for a year of prep school and then appeared on the radar of Northern Oklahoma College, where he was recruited to play. That’s when things got interesting with his basketball career.
Averaging 11.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and around 2 blocks per game, Federiko garnered offers from Oklahoma State, St. John’s, Louisiana-Monroe, Bryant and Bradley.
Federiko committed to West Virginia without ever taking a visit to campus. The native of Finland had developed a solid connection with the coaching staff and picked the Mountaineers in large part because of those ties. But things did not work out and the program elected to go in a different direction, leaving Federiko to consider other options and eventually, he ended up at Pittsburgh but transferred yet again to Texas Tech.
Carmelo Adkins
Carmelo Adkins signed with West Virginia under interim head coach Josh Eilert after averaging 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He was recruited by then assistant Jordan McCabe and it appeared as if he would be a part of the Mountaineers plans until new head coach Darian DeVries took over.
From there, Adkins would end up requesting his release from the program because he didn’t fit into the plans of the new coaching staff and signed with South Carolina Upstate where he put together a strong freshman season.
Kelvin Odih
West Virginia didn’t extend a scholarship offer to Kelvin Odih until late July but the Mountaineers were able to quickly move up his list of options. Odih took an official visit to West Virginia during the Aug. 31 weekend and eventually committed to the Mountaineers in early October over a final six that included Rutgers, Colorado, Louisville, Oklahoma State and Creighton. Tom Ostrom served as the lead recruiter.
Odih, an athletic two-way guard who had improved drastically on defense, then signed with the basketball program in November and effectively put a close on his recruitment. That was until Darian DeVries took the Indiana job and Odih opened his recruitment after requesting his release from his national letter of intent. Committed to St. John’s.
Trent MacLean
Trent MacLean picked the Mountaineers over a number of scholarship offers, including Arizona State, Rutgers, St. Mary’s, Colorado State and St. Bonaventure following an official visit to campus Nov. 3-5. MacLean saw his recruitment increase in a major way down the stretch after he transferred to SoCal Academy. West Virginia offered Oct. 8 with then head coach Darian DeVries and assistant Tom Ostrom serving as the lead recruiters for the versatile forward.
MacLean signed with the Mountaineers but requested his release from the program when Darian DeVries left Morgantown to take the Indiana job. The California native opened his recruitment with all of his eligibility remaining and committed to St. Mary’s.
Braydon Hawthorne
Braydon Hawthorne received an offer from West Virginia in October of his senior season and committed just a few days later. The Beckley native then signed with the program the following month and it appeared to be a done deal with his recruitment. But Hawthorne’s play continued to attract attention and after the departure of head coach Darian DeVries to Indiana, he elected to open up his recruitment.
Hawthorne took official visits to West Virginia, Kentucky, Duke, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech in the spring and narrowed things down to those five before committing to the Wildcats, spurning the opportunity to play for his home state program.
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