MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Woe is West Virginia.

Extraordinary Joe Alexander trundled off to Milwaukee to play for the NBA Bucks.

Ever-steady point guard Darris Nichols left to ply his trade in Hungary.

So much of last season's team went into the hoops hinterlands with them.

What will West Virginia do?

Where will it go this winter?

Coach Bob Huggins responded by going young. Three freshmen and a junior-college transfer join the defense-keyed, fast-paced bunch that remain from the Mountaineers who toppled then-No. 9 Duke, and then-No. 15 Connecticut, in winning six of their final eight games and eight of 11 amid their late-season spurt last season.

So far, the kids look all right. They have to.

"They don't have a lot of time," said guard Alex Ruoff, the only other returning starter besides forward Da'Sean Butler.

"They don't have a lot of room to be freshmen. The quicker they develop, that determines the success we're going to have as a team."

The new kids on the blocks -- New York kids, to be precise -- are so welcome, starting point guard Joe Mazzulla gave up his No. 3 to one of them, 6-foot-9 forward Devin Ebanks.

A heralded recruit, this Long Island City kid already has a place in the Mountaineers' starting lineup. His long frame and rounded game showed considerable signs in a private scrimmage -- "He played great at Virginia," Butler marveled -- but he was 1-for-7 shooting with six rebounds against NAIA Mountain State last weekend.

Off the bench come two fellow freshmen: backup point guard Darryl Bryant of Brooklyn and 6-8 Kevin Jones of Mount Vernon. Bryant had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists subbing for Mazzulla against last year's NAIA runner-up, and Jones added 14 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes' time.

Next comes the tall Texan in the middle, 6-10 Dee Proby, a transfer from Angelina Community College. He might help to spell 6-7 Wellington Smith in the middle.

"It's going to take some time before we can figure out somebody who can slide down there and score a little bit," Huggins said of the post. "It's hard for Wellington to play against all those big bodies he's got to play against [in the Big East]. We need depth."

That's where the newcomers come into play.

Butler looks as if he'll assume Alexander's mantle as the scorer and leader; he tallied 38 points and 11 rebounds in 31 minutes against Mountain State.

"Last year, I actually passed the ball and watched the show," he said of Alexander, who averaged 23.6 points and 8.2 rebounds in the 11-game stretch run. This year, Butler's the show, with Ruoff and Mazzulla as his lead sidekicks. And a bunch of new kids.

"They're not there yet," Huggins said. "They'll get there."

"We can definitely go places," Ebanks added.