What redshirt freshman Rod Brown could be at Wichita State

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall and freshman Rod Brown have a routine after every American Athletic Conference game.

Sometime after each game, Marshall will turn to Brown with a question.

“You ready for that?” the coach will say.

“Yes sir,” Brown, a 19-year-old from Memphis, will reply.

Brown, who is redshirting this season, will watch another WSU game from the end of the bench on Thursday, as the No. 11 Shockers (23-5, 13-3 American) try to take care of business against Central Florida (17-11, 8-8) in order to set up a conference championship showdown with No. 10 Cincinnati at Koch Arena on Sunday.

“It’s hard just watching all the time, but my team is doing really well and I’m on the bench cheering them on every step of the way,” Brown said. “I know my time is coming. I’ve seen what the AAC is really all about this year.”

So what do the Shockers have in Brown, a three-star prospect coming out of Cordova High in Memphis?

“He’s very athletic,” Marshall said. “He can really run the court. He can also defend. Individually, he shoots it OK. He’s got to work on his handle. He’s got to work on being a tough-minded, physical kid.”

“He’s really, really strong,” WSU guard Landry Shamet said. “He’s almost like Rashard Kelly in the way he crashes the offensive glass. He can be a bull. He’s really feisty and a good competitor, someone you could see turning into a lockdown guy.”

At 6-foot-6, Brown is the prototypical small forward on a Marshall team. He arrived at WSU weighing 190 pounds. After working out with strength and conditioning coach Kerry Rosenboom, Brown reports he has gained 25 pounds.

Brown envisions himself playing the role of the other player on the team that shares his last name: senior Zach Brown.

“I like watching Zach a lot, he does a lot of good things for our team,” Rod Brown said. “He’s a very good defender, a very good rebounder. He plays like a dog. He’s really tough and I see myself playing that same position.”

For now, Rod Brown is developing through playing on WSU’s scout team. He also sometimes stays after practice to work out on the side with assistant coach Isaac Brown (also no relation), who recruited him to WSU.

He said the experience of trying to compete with WSU’s starting lineup was overwhelming.

“I had no confidence when I first got here,” Brown said. “They were kind of throwing me around. (Isaac Brown) always told me to keep my head up and helped fill me up with confidence and just play my game. Now it’s pretty fun to be able to compete against those guys at a high level. It’s a great experience for me as a redshirt freshman.”

Shamet said the biggest challenge during his redshirt season was feeling connected to the team’s play during games. The sophomore said that Brown has fit in nicely with WSU’s veteran group and teammates have noticed Brown staying engaged during games.

“I think we do a good job of making sure that he still feels involved with this team because he is part of this team,” Shamet said. “And then I think the other advantage is the amount you can learn by just watching and observing. It’s one thing to go through reps in practice, but a game is a whole different animal.”

That’s why Marshall is reserving judgment for what type of player Brown might become.

He’s already one of the most athletic and well-conditioned players on the team. His jump shot is a work-in-progress.

Brown has the potential to play major minutes for WSU as soon as next season, but the one unknown is how he will perform.

“The bright lights haven’t shown quite so intensely on him yet, so I don’t know how he’ll handle that,” Marshall said. “Playing in practice is one thing, playing in front of 10,500 every night is something different. I can bark at him for his mistakes in practices, but when the world sees them, it’s a little more glaring and might make a different impact on him.”

Brown is confident he is up to the challenge.

“This year has been a very good experience for me,” Brown said. “I’m just trying to be a sponge right now and soak up everything. I’m just ready to go out there and show what I can do.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2018 at 4:10 PM with the headline "What redshirt freshman Rod Brown could be at Wichita State."