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Wichita State Basketball: Wichita State Shockers 2015-16 Season Preview

By John Parker

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Wichita State Shockers

2014-2015 Record: 30-5 (17-1, Missouri Valley)

Postseason: NCAA Tournament – Sweet 16

While many programs spend the offseason hoping for a big new development, the Wichita State Shockers spent it hoping for things to remain exactly the same. Following a Sweet 16 appearance that saw the Missouri Valley Conference squad knock off in-state foe and college basketball powerhouse Kansas, the stocks of Wichita State’s three most important pieces might never be higher.

Guards Fred Van Vleet and Ron Baker were both early entry candidates for the NBA Draft following another excellent season with the Shockers. While it’s likely that neither would’ve been a first rounder, both were well within the range that makes early entry an intriguing option. In the end, both opted to return to Wichita for one last run.

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In addition to the possibility of losing its two star underclassmen, head coach Gregg Marshall entered the offseason as a definite flight risk. Marshall was one of the hottest commodities on the coaching carousel in a year when multiple high-profile jobs opened up. After flirting with the idea of leaving, Marshall agreed to an extension that makes him one of the highest paid coaches in college basketball. With its three most important pieces returning, Wichita State enters the season ranked 10th in the AP Poll and 12th in the Coaches Poll, and finds itself poised for another season that figures to rank among the best in program history.

 Newcomers

F – Anton Grady (transfer from Cleveland State)

G – Conner Frankamp (transfer from Kansas)

F – Markis McDuffie (#130 247Sports Composite)

G – Landry Shamet (#174 247Sports Composite)

F – Eric Hamilton (#322 247Sports Composite)

G – Ty Taylor II (3-star 247 Composite)

Key Non-Conference Games

Nov. 17 vs Tulsa – Wichita State’s first test will come against a Tulsa team that returns its top 8 rotation players from a 23-win NIT participant. Tulsa is projected to finish 4th in the American Athletic Confrence preseason poll, and is predicted to find itself on the right side of the bubble come March. The game figures to feature one of the better backcourt matchups in the non-conference portion of the schedule.

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Preseason All-AAC guards James Woodard and Shaquille Harrison are the most difficult backcourt duo that Wichita State will have to deal with this season. Harrison, a 6-foot-4 senior point guard, routinely uses his size and athleticism to get to the hoop, while the 6-foot-3 shooting guard Woodard is a high-volume outside shooter that knocked down over 38% of his 3-pointers last year.

Aside from the intriguing backcourt matchup, an interesting aspect of this game is that it features two teams with legitimate NCAA Tournament At-Large bid aspirations and a lack of size in the front court. None of the 15 players in this contest who logged more than 10 minutes per game last season measures in taller than 6-foot 9, and Tulsa’s 6-foot-9 forward Brandon Swannegan weighs just 209 pounds. This game will be a great opportunity to see how both teams play against a potential tournament team without being forced to adjust for a team that has a size advantage.

Dec. 9 vs. UNLV – Normally, an 18-win Mountain West team that lost its two leading scorers to the NBA wouldn’t be considered a huge threat to a team looking to finish the year ranked in the Top 10, but the enigma that Dave Rice has built at UNLV is anything but normal.

The Rebels lose Milwaukee Bucks first round pick Rashad Vaughn and Philadelphia 76ers undrafted rookie signing Christian Wood, but add McDonald’s All-American Stephen Zimmerman, ESPN Top 30 recruit Derrick Jones, former St. John’s rim protector Chris Obekpa and ex-Mercer high flyer Ike Nwamu.

While UNLV isn’t considered a favorite to break into the NCAA Tournament field, Rice’s ability to land elite talent will make his team a dangerous foe for any opponent.

UNLV’s three ultra-talented big men could pose major problems for a Wichita State team that figures to start a lineup of players 6-foot-8 and shorter. Shocker centers Bush Wamukota and Rauno Nurger could see extended minutes in an attempt to offset the significant size mismatch.

Given the Rebels’ inconsistent performance compared to the talent on the roster, this could be a vital win for Wichita State to pick up. Just last year, a UNLV team that wound up 18-15 knocked off eventual 2-seed Arizona 71-67.

Arizona was able to offset the loss by winning the PAC-12 in a year where the conference had three other at-large worthy teams.

In the Missouri Valley, Wichita State won’t have the same opportunities to earn back a top seed.

Dec. 12 vs. Utah – Wichita State’s toughest non-conference contest looks to be against the Utah Utes.

Utah enters the season ranked 16th in both the AP and Coaches polls, and returns all but two members of last year’s rotation.

Unfortunately for the Utes, one of those losses was two-time First Team All-Pac 12 performer, Bob Cousy Award winner and NBA Draft Pick Deleon Wright.

A season ago, Utah broke Wichita State’s nation-leading regular season win streak with a 69-67 overtime home win against the Shockers.  In 2015, Wichita State won’t have to deal with Wright and will be hosting the Utes, making it very likely that you’ll see a different outcome this winter.

One significant advantage for the Utes is big man Jakob Poeltl. Poeltl is a 7-footer from Austria who is currently seen as a Top 10 NBA Draft pick by DraftExpress.com.

Like UNLV’s frontcourt trio, Poeltl will present a significant matchup problem for an undersized Wichita State team.

Unlike any of the three big men on the Rebels, Poeltl has demonstrated the ability to regularly post double digit scoring totals against Division I competition.

In last year’s matchup, Poeltl posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. After a full season of experience in the PAC-12, it’s likely that he’ll be featured heavily against a Wichita State team without a true center in its starting lineup.

Key Players

Ron Baker – Baker, currently projected to go 44th in next year’s NBA draft by DraftExpress.com, has been one of the faces of Wichita State’s historic run since the beginning of the team’s Final Four run in his freshman season.

The 6-foot-4 guard led the Shockers in scoring as a junior, earned First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors, and finished second in Conference Player of the Year voting behind Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle.

Baker does a little bit of everything for the Shockers. In addition to his team-leading 14.7 points per game; his rebound, assist, steal and block totals finished among the top three on the team.

If none of Wichita State’s opponents emerge as legitimate contenders for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, Baker will be the frontrunner for the Missouri Valley Conference “Player of the Year” honors. The biggest thing standing in his way would be another year of splitting votes with teammate Fred VanVleet.

Fred VanVleet – Baker’s running mate through Wichita State’s program-changing run is floor general Fred VanVleet. Unlike Baker, VanVleet played a limited role as a freshman before bursting onto the scene during the Shockers’ undefeated season in 2014.

He joined Baker as a First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection and finished third in the conference’s Player of the Year voting. In his two years as the team’s starting point guard, VanVleet has led the conference in assists, helping him to become one of the bigger names in college basketball and an All-American candidate.

Anton Grady – Aside from Wichita State’s duo of NBA prospects, the player most important to the team’s success this season is likely to be graduate transfer Anton Grady. Grady played the last four seasons in the Horizon League with Cleveland State.

He missed most of his 2013 season due to and the NCAA granted him a fifth year of eligibility. Unfortunately for Cleveland State, Grady used that extra season to leave for greener pastures.

Grady earned First Team All-Horizon League honors last year after averaging career highs in points (14.3) and rebounds (7.9) per game. Wichita State will look for Grady to help lessen the blow of losing forwards Darius Carter and Tevin Glass to graduation.

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    • Season Outlook

    Gregg Marshall, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet have earned a trip to the Final Four, an NCAA Tournament 1-seed, and a Sweet 16 appearance on the heels of a victory over in-state powerhouse Kansas in their three seasons together. Needless to say, expectations are sky high for coach Marshall’s team in the final season with the wildly accomplished duo on the court.

    With the departure of Northern Iowa star Seth Tuttle, Wichita State looks to be head and shoulders above its conference foes heading into the season. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the Shockers go undefeated in conference play, though it’s more likely that the team will drop a game or two.

    While the graduations of Darius Carter, Tevin Glass, and Tekele Cotton may temper expectations,  Shocker fans should still expect their team to win 30 games and finish the season comfortably within the Top 25. As is normally the case with programs outside of the power conferences, Wichita State’s NCAA Tournament seeding will depend heavily on at least a few of the teams on its schedule outperforming expectations. However, the Shockers definitely have a team good enough to earn another single-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament.