Wichita State heads to Manhattan on Saturday morning for a basketball scrimmage with Kansas State. It’s a low-key affair from a publicity standpoint by mandate of the NCAA.
- No fans or media are allowed to watch.
- Statistics can be kept. They may not be publicized. The practice can be filmed, but the film cannot be publicized.
- Coaches and athletes can participate in interviews, “provided the comments are limited to the practice scrimmage in general and the interview was not established by either school to promote the scrimmage. The coach or student-athlete may not comment specifically on the score or team and/or individual student-athlete statistics.”
The teams will practice in the morning, break for lunch, practice some more in the afternoon. The day will include a scrimmage or two and work in specific situations. In these cases, coaches can talk before the scrimmage and prepare to work against, for example, a 1-2-2 press or a man-to-man defense or whatever the teams agree upon. The point is to prepare, not to surprise the opponent. So WSU isn’t going to throw something new at the Wildcats on Saturday.
Coaches love this format, and it is easy to see why. Both teams will get a good read on where they are. WSU’s challenge will be to deal with a team that is athletically superior. It should be beneficial to players and coaches as a landmark on the way to the regular season. Shockers coaches are quite interested to see how things unfold.
FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman compiled a list of scrimmages this weekend.
MVC coaches are already playing the “no respect” card. Illinois State would not have been a bad choice for an NCAA spot last season. The Redbirds killed their chances by not winning any notable non-conference games and going 0-3 against Drake. Read More »
It was just 2007 when Shocker basketball ruled the MVC in October. The men were picked third and the women second. Two seasons later, nobody loves the Shockers. The men are picked ninth; the women 10th. Since they finished in those spots last season, this can’t be a surprise.
Men’s poll
School (first-place votes) points
1. Creighton (36) 386
2. Southern Illinois (2) 322
3. Illinois State (1) 309
4. Drake 274
5. Bradley 219
6. Northern Iowa 186
7. Indiana State 137
8. Evansville 122
9. Wichita State 105
10. Missouri State 85
Preseason All-MVC
Jonathan Cox, Drake
Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State
Bryan Mullins, Southern Illinois
P’Allen Stinnett, Creighton
Josh Young, Drake
Honorable mention – Shy Ely, Evansville; Andrew Warren, Bradley; Theron Wilson, Bradley
Player of the Year – Eldridge
Women’s poll
School (first-place votes) points
1. Illinois State (40) 400
2. Creighton 310
3. Drake 297
4. Evansville 251
5. Northern Iowa 245
6. Missouri State 215
7. Indiana State 166
8. Bradley 161
9. Southern Illinois 108
10. Wichita State 47
Preseason All-MVC
Kristi Cirone, Illinois State
Maggie Dwyer, Missouri State
Jacqui Kalin, Northern Iowa
Maggie Krick, Illinois State
Shannon Novosel, Evansville
- I did not go to media day because of my injury. I wanted to get Jim Les to sign my cast, but no luck.
- I can’t blame people for picking the WSU men ninth. Evansville returns five starters from a team that split with WSU in 2008. Indiana State returns two starters from a team that went 2-1 against WSU. I will be surprised if WSU finishes ninth. I picked the Shockers seventh, ahead of both UE and Indiana State. That is a leap of faith, to be sure. I don’t like Evansville’s inside game. I don’t like Indiana State’s depth, especially without Marico Stinson on the roster. By March, WSU will be better than both those teams. Of course, people in Evansville and Terre Haute have equally valid concerns about WSU. There will be rough spots along the way. It is hard for me to see WSU finishing much higher than seventh (perhaps a spot or two higher if things go really right for WSU and wrong for others). I do like the talent and I think the Shockers will improve throughout the season. The inexperience is the big downer.
- I have no read on the WSU women. If Gregg Marshall got a free pass on last season because of the transition, Jody Adams should get several years of passes. She has a bigger job rebuilding than Marshall did.
- Drake is the most interesting men’s team to watch. Coach Mark Phelps owns the toughest job in the Valley. Keno Davis raised expectations with last season’s MVC title. Yet, there are reasons why Drake did not record a winning season from 1988-2006 and did not finish higher than fifth from 1987-2007. Phelps has a big job to recreate the chemistry, confidence and enthusiasm that characterized last season’s Bulldogs.
- Is it necessary to have honorable mention preseason All-MVC picks?
- Voters went with the chalk for all-conference picks. If I have to go off the board, the first name that comes to mind is UNI center Jordan Eglseder – if he can stay healthy. Evansville’s Shy Ely is another guy who make another big move this season. For some reason, I expect SIU’s Carlton Fay to play much better as a sophomore than as a freshman. He may blossom with more minutes and the departure of Falker and Shaw.
- This is a big season for the MVC. It can’t afford another one-bid, one-loss performance in the NCAA Tournament. Most of the burden is on Creighton, which needs to have a big season. The Bluejays are rightfully one of the MVC’s marquee programs. They have not, however, won an MVC title or an NCAA game since 2002. A lot of eyes will be on SIU and Drake. The Salukis need a rebound season. Drake needs to prove last season’s wasn’t a fluke. Illinois State should be a contender, but a soft non-conference schedule will hold the Redbirds back.
WSU released its baseball schedule today. Find it here.
The home schedule features two primo weekend series against Peppedine and Long Beach State. Hope for good weather. Nebraska and Oklahoma State also visit Eck Stadium. The Shockers go on the road to TCU. The big road MVC series is at Missouri State in mid-April. Creighton, which should also be an MVC contender, comes to Wichita for the last regular-season series. The Shockers play ORU four times, which is a good series for both schools.
The schedule features an unusual stretch of five-games-in-five-days from from Feb. 27-March 3. Beyond that, I like the way the mid-week games set up. WSU plays single games against Kansas, Nebraska, ORU and Oklahoma in March and April. That should make pitching matchups more even. Only twice does WSU play different opponents on back-to-back nights (OSU-OU in April and KU-ORU in May).
For me. Not the Shockers. I crutched to the practice gym to watch WSU basketball for the first time this season (my nightmare headline: Sportswriter’s crutch impales Clemente). WSU coach Gregg Marshall said Thursday turned into one of the more demanding practices to this point. He put together a more experienced team – Ramon Clemente, A.J. Hawkins, J.T. Durley, Clevin Hannah, Reggie Chamberlain – and matched them against a less experienced group and the scrimmage produced the expected result. The Black team dominated the White, and many of the Shocker freshmen got a lesson on adversity. Marshall ended the session by asking if the youngsters were going to be bitter or get better. I remember him saying last season that he enjoys pushing people’s buttons on occasion. He pushed some Thursday.
“We’ve had some pretty good practices and we’ve had some just OK practices,” Marshall said. “There’s a lot of explaining that’s going on. There’s a lot of teaching going on. How quickly they decide they’re going to be able to handle the physical, as well as mental, challenges and rigors that Division I basketball at this level present will determine how quickly they’re prime-time players in this program.”
Gabe Blair, a transfer from East Carolina, will miss his one chance to show off this season. He is sidelined with a stress fracture in his back and won’t play in Saturday’s Shocker Madness. He planned to win the dunk contest with a routine that included 360 windmill, a behind-the-back and between-the-legs dunks. Instead, he will rest for a few weeks until his pain subsides. Thursday’s practice was the first one missed for Blair.
“I was going to win it,” he said. “Next year.”
- Mantas Griskenas sat out due to an infected toenail. He is expected to practice today and play in Saturday’s scrimmage.
- A.J. Hawkins made the biggest impression during the hour or so I watched. He drove the basket and scored several times during the scrimmage.
- Hannah and Chamberlain appear to make a nice combination. They are both quick, good shooters and good penetrators. They’re small, but I think they will play together and give the Shockers some zip they lacked last season in the backcourt. Of course, I’ve only seen one practice, so that opinion isn’t based on a whole lot. Freshman Toure Murry played some point, something I did not expect.
- Brett Steven drained two free throws to end practice – the penalty for missing is sprints for the team. He looked quite relieved and happy as his teammates congratulated him. I imagine it’s been tough for Steven to get caught up to the rest of the players this week. He missed most of WSU’s individual workouts while he waited on the NCAA to clear him. A little victory like that is important for a freshman walk-on.
- Assistant coach Chris Jans welcomed me into the club of people with a ruptured Achilles tendon. His story is much more grim than mine. He tore his in 2004, five days into practice when he was head coach at Chipola (Fla.) Junior College. He took no time off and coached from an easy chair with his foot propped up and iced. Later, he coached from a wheelchair. My story is a breeze compared to that.
Texas, for reasons I’m not sure of, has never been a big recruiting ground for Wichita State baseball. Many other sports, especially men’s basketball, routinely recruit Texas. WSU’s latest baseball commitment is Preston Springer, a 1b-3b from Denton (Texas) and Odessa (Texas) Junior College. Springer spent the summer in El Dorado playing for the Broncos. Odessa coach Brian Blessie played and coached at Butler, so there is a connection to Kansas in Springer’s background. Read More »
Wichita State sophomore Aaron Ellis provided last season’s cliff-hanger. After an inconsistent regular season, he broke out with a 19-point, 9-rebound effort in the MVC Tournament. Shocker fans spent the off-season wondering ‘what’s next?’ for Ellis. Practice starts tonight, and Ellis, a 6-foot-9 forward, can start answering that question. Read More »
Wichita State volleyball junior Melissa Granville is one of the MVC’s best back-row defenders and a person respected by the coaching staff for her volleyball smarts. I don’t know if coaching is in her future, but she seems like a natural. She knows what is going on all over the court at all times, which is probably one of the reasons she is so valuable to coach Chris Lamb.I enjoy talking to her because she explains volleyball in ways I can understand, which isn’t always easy. Read More »