It’s not often you can add a preseason player of the year to a roster after the season has started, but that’s what West Virginia is balancing right now.
Jose Perez has signed up for the upcoming spring semester and brings with him many exciting credentials during his time in Manhattan.
A 6-foot-5, 220-point guard from Bronx, New York, Perez started 29 of 30 games last season, where he averaged 18.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists, winning All-MAAC First Team honors.
He was named the league’s Pre-Season Player of the Year ahead of this season but chose to enter the transfer portal after his head coach was surprisingly fired.
This led to a five-day recruiting whirlwind that eventually landed him in Morgantown. The Mountaineers were far from the only program to throw their hats into the ring for Perez’s services, but the idea of being able to play for head coach Bob Huggins was appealing.
On the ground, Perez will give climbers an exciting skill set.
“Jose definitely gives us more firepower for our team,” Huggins said. “He’s a guy who can score the ball at different levels, he shoots the ball well, he drives it well and he scores from close range. He’s another experienced guy who has played a lot of basketball. We think he will fit perfectly.”
The Mountaineers said they are finding a rhythm with the current roster, so there are obviously questions about what will happen once Perez is thrown into the mix. West Virginia is currently awaiting a waiver from the NCAA as to when exactly Perez can train and play with the team.
“We are awaiting a response,” Huggins said.
Huggins doesn’t think the transition from Perez’s acclimatization to rotation once that waiver is finally decided will prove so difficult to navigate.
“I wouldn’t think as hard as people claim to be. I had to do that in Akron, I had to do that in Cincinnati a time or two. It’s the same thing, I play against people because they deserve to play,” Huggins said. “I don’t play people because of their name or who they think they are.”
The goal is to field the best groupings that will allow West Virginia to succeed and it looks like Perez should be able to add to that in some form.
“It really hasn’t been seen yet who the best sevens, eights, nines are – the guys who will play the majority of the minutes are,” Huggins said.
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