Here’s what you can expect from WSU basketball recruiting in the fall signing period
Expect to hear a ton of recruiting news in college basketball on Wednesday, as prospects in the class of 2020 begin to sign national letters of intent when the one-week fall signing period begins.
One team you aren’t likely to hear any news from is Wichita State.
With center Jaime Echenique as the team’s lone senior this season, the Shockers only have one available scholarship to give in this year’s recruiting class. And on the eve of the fall signing period, coach Gregg Marshall said WSU is in no rush to fill it.
“We are not stressed about that,” Marshall said. “We are recruiting, but we’re not in any urgent state to replace.”
After two years of non-stop recruiting to sign large classes (WSU signed nine players in its 2018 class, then six for 2019), this summer has been quiet.
WSU has only offered a handful of prospects and not hosted one on an official visit in this recruiting cycle, which means WSU is almost assuredly going to wait until the April signing period to make its push. While the top prospects generally sign in the fall, Marshall and his staff have found recruiting gems in the spring recently in Dexter Dennis and Grant Sherfield.
But the more important question is what position should the Shockers add to their roster for next season?
If everyone returns, WSU will have six guards in Sherfield, Dennis, Erik Stevenson, Jamarius Burton, Noah Fernandes and Tyson Etienne for three spots. Then in the post, WSU is even more stocked with three power forwards in Trey Wade, DeAntoni Gordon and Josaphat Bilau and three centers in Asbjorn Midtgaard, Morris Udeze and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler.
With 10 of 13 scholarship players being either freshmen or sophomores, WSU won’t have to do much recruiting at all the next two seasons if it can keep its core together. Echenique is the lone senior this season, while Midtgaard and Wade would be the only two seniors next season.
But transfers are a normal part of college basketball and WSU has had at least one transfer in the offseason for the last five years. By waiting in recruiting until the spring, WSU buys itself more time to evaluate unsigned prospects and allows Marshall to have a better idea of what his roster will look like next season following end-of-season meetings.
Even Marshall said on Tuesday that the coaching staff doesn’t have any one position pegged as a must-get for the one spot.
“We really don’t know what we need to get at this point,” Marshall said. “We have a pretty good idea and we have our eye on a couple of guys.”
Two names to monitor as 2020 targets are Jyáre Davis, a 6-foot-7 high school wing who also holds offers from Florida, Virginia Tech, Miami, Providence and Temple, and 6-foot-7 high school wing Silas Mason, who holds offers from Florida, Texas, Kansas State, Houston, Georgetown and Oklahoma State. Both are three-star recruits.
WSU also made the top-10 for three-star prospect Akeem Odusipe, a 6-9 high school big man who also listed Virginia, Georgia, Texas A&M, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Seton Hall as finalists in September.
The only other offer WSU has made in the 2020 recruiting class is 6-10 high school center Javarzia Belton, who has been offered by Texas A&M, Wake Forest and UNLV.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 3:44 PM.
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