Wichita State starts American-style recruiting with busy April

Eric Bossi’s job requires him to track the top high school basketball prospects, the ones ranked in the top 100 of the Rivals.com lists and who are recruited by the top schools in the top conferences.

So while it’s early to judge how Wichita State’s recruiting is changed by membership in the American Athletic Conference, Bossi noticed one difference during the April evaluation period. That represented WSU’s first big swing backed by the new brand and it appears coaches did not get cheated.

“I saw (WSU coach) Gregg Marshall and WSU (assistants) everywhere I went,” said Bossi, national analyst for the recruiting website. “He was in the main gyms with the big-name teams.”

Wichita State coaches were predictably busy during the final weeks of April, when coaches were allowed to watch games at tournaments in places such as Hampton (Va.), Dallas, New York and Indianapolis. More than 20 members of the class of 2018 reported scholarship offers on their Twitter feeds. The Shockers are scheduled to have six scholarships open after the 2017-18 season, so the work this spring and summer will set the program’s direction for years.

“In the past, I looked at Wichita State’s recruiting as a little more reliant on junior colleges or under-the-radar guys,” said Corey Evans, a national analyst for Rivals.com. “They cast a wide net these past two weeks.”

The offers range from Rivals No. 49 Nassir Little, a forward from Orlando, to unranked prospects such as Tyrese Samuel, a Riverdale Baptist (Md.) center and center Reggie Chaney of Findlay Prep (Nev.). The addition of assistant coach Donnie Jones, former head coach at Central Florida, is seen with offers to several Florida athletes.

WSU jumped into the Memphis area, home of the AAC-rival Tigers, with offers to guards Tyler Harris (No. 84) and T.J. Moss (No. 86) and unranked forward Rodgerick Brown.

Most schools are busy at this time of year making offers. It is still early in the recruiting process with coaches and athletes in a get-to-know-you phase in many cases. And there are some players — such as Houston guard Miller Kopp and guard Erik Stevenson of Timberline High in Lacey, Wash. — WSU started recruiting as a Missouri Valley Conference member.

“I don’t know too much about Wichita State,” Samuel said. “I’m learning about schools. I first knew about them that year they went 30-0 or whatever. That was pretty crazy.”

More information on the American’s influence on WSU’s recruiting will come in July after three more evaluation periods. Most players get serious about narrowing their lists and scheduling visits in July and August before the November signing period.

“It’s a learning process,” said Amanze Ngumenzi, a forward from Savannah, Ga. “They offered me over the (previous) weekend. I want to see what the coaches are like. I’m looking for a family-like relationship.”

The consensus is that WSU recruiting doesn’t need a huge boost. The Shockers, with six straight NCAA Tournaments on their resume, are talented enough to compete in the American.

American membership may open new geographic areas and increase WSU’s ambition.

Players such as Fred VanVleet (No. 138 at Rivals.com), Markis McDuffie (No. 145) and Landry Shamet (No. 88) were widely recruited and chose WSU.

“They’re recruiting 10 Markis McDuffies now,” Evans said.

That level of talent will match WSU with other top American programs. Connecticut and Memphis can muster the reach to go into the top 50. Cincinnati and SMU are also chasing high-level recruits.

“The top half of the (American) compares to the ACC, the Big 12,” Evans said. “The bottom of the conference is as good as what WSU just left.”

Evans sees players such as Brown and Alabama big man Josh Roberts as typical Shocker recruits.

“They’re still going to be pretty attentive to the hard-playing big men,” Evans said. “Josh is pretty similar to a (current Shocker) Rashard Kelly. They’ve remained true to their recruiting pitch of finding blue-collar guys.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Wichita State starts American-style recruiting with busy April."