MORGANTOWN — Ross Hodge’s immediate expectations among his fellow Big 12 coaches is somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The WVU men’s basketball team was picked 11th overall in the Big 12 preseason poll on Thursday, per a vote by the league’s coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own team.

Hodge is in his first season with the Mountaineers, after being hired away from North Texas. He follows Darian DeVries, who coached WVU during the 2024-25 season before moving on to Indiana. WVU’s preseason selection this season is a slight step up. The Mountaineers were picked 13th in the 2024 preseason poll.

Houston, which swept the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles last season, as well as advancing to the national championship game, was the overwhelming favorite.

The Cougars, led by sharpshooting guard Emanuel Sharp, received 14 first-place votes and finished with 224 points, followed by BYU, Texas Tech and Arizona. BYU and Arizona received the remaining two first-place votes.

About the only real drama leading into the selections was who would the Big 12 coaches select as its top incoming freshman? BYU forward AJ Dybantsa and Kansas guard Darryn Peterson were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 overall nationally in the 2025 recruiting class. The Big 12 coaches went with Peterson, but both freshmen were named unanimous selections to the all-Big 12 preseason team.

Texas Tech forward JT Toppin was named the league’s preseason player of the year after averaging 18.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game last season.

Houston led the way with the most all-league selections with three.

Sharp, who connected on 40.7% of his 3-point attempts last season, was joined by teammates Joseph Tugler and Milos Uzan. Tugler averaged 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 points per game, while Uzan shot 42.8% from 3-point range and averaged 11.4 points per game last season.

The preseason newcomer of the year was Texas Tech’s LeJuan Watts, who averaged 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game at Washington State last season.

Much like DeVries last season, Hodge had to completely rebuild the Mountaineers’ roster. He signed eight players out of the transfer portal, as well as four freshmen. WVU begins the regular season with five home games, before traveling to Charleston, S.C. for the Charleston Classic.

Hodge went 27-9 in his final season at North Texas, leading the Mean Green to the NIT semifinal round.

Rounding out the rest of the all-Big 12 preseason team were BYU’s Richie Saunders, Tamin Lipsey of Iowa State, P.J. Haggerty and Kansas State and Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson.