Grant Sherfield becomes fifth Shocker to make transfer decision since end of season
Wichita native Grant Sherfield, a freshman point guard, became the fifth Wichita State men’s basketball player on scholarship to announce transfer plans since the end of the season.
Sherfield joins sophomores Erik Stevenson and Jamarius Burton and freshmen Noah Fernandes and DeAntoni Gordon, as well as walk-on Tate Busse, who have decided to transfer from WSU since its 23-8 season was abruptly ended last week.
Sherfield, a 6-foot-2 point guard, averaged 8.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 25.1 minutes per game with 12 starts in his debut season for the Shockers. He is the third player who was averaging at least 24 minutes per game last season to transfer, joining Stevenson and Burton, and the fifth with starting experience from the last three seasons (Austin Reaves, Ricky Torres, Stevenson, Burton and Fernandes) to leave the program.
The five departures mark the largest turnover in coach Gregg Marshall’s 13 seasons at WSU, coming a season after the Shockers’ previous high when they saw four players from the roster make early departures.
The exciting young core — 10 of 13 scholarship players this season were freshmen or sophomores — that figured to make WSU an NCAA Tournament regular in the coming years has now crumbled. Talent still remains with Dexter Dennis, Tyson Etienne and Trey Wade returning, but the depth has taken a severe hit.
Etienne and Dennis are the only two guards remaining on the roster. Marshall and his coaching staff have five scholarships to fill in a spring in which in-person recruiting has been suspended until April 15.
Losing Sherfield also hurts considering he was a Wichita native and came to WSU as a unanimous four-star prospect, the fifth top-150 recruit signed by Marshall and the second-highest rated recruit to come to WSU under him. Sherfield was originally committed to UCLA in high school, but was released from his letter of intent following a coaching change and picked the Shockers over Minnesota for his final decision last spring.
Sherfield’s decision to leave comes three weeks after a rocky patch with WSU late in the regular season. Following a poor performance in a loss at Cincinnati, Sherfield’s only scoreless game of the season, Marshall issued essentially a one-game suspension by not playing him in the next game after the freshman did not meet Marshall’s standards with his body language.
“I want him to do some things a little different and he’s going to try to do that,” Marshall said after sitting Sherfield out. “We’re going to work with him. He’s a great kid. I love him in my program, but there’s got to be a couple things he’s got to adjust, tweak. It’s not going to be hard if he wants to do it and I think he does. So we’ll move on.”
Sherfield returned the next game and scored 14 points off the bench and played a key role in WSU’s historic 24-point comeback at SMU. The freshman said after the game that he was embracing the challenge from his coach.
“Coach Marshall is pushing me to be the best that I can be,” Sherfield said then. “I’m going to keep taking on that challenge and keep trying to get better every day.”
Sherfield’s freshman season was up and down, evident by his 35.3% field goal percentage, but he did have flashes of excellence for WSU. Like when he scored 14 points and took over down the stretch in a win over Oklahoma or the 14 points he chipped in against VCU, another win, and the 14 points and six assists he produced in WSU’s all-time comeback at SMU.
But the connection between the players and coaching staff began to fray following two losses that tempered a 15-1 start to the season. Marshall first hinted at discord on the team following a 65-54 loss to Houston at Koch Arena on January 18, the second straight loss for the Shockers following a 15-1 start.
“I don’t know what’s crept into the ointment, like a fly in the ointment,” Marshall said then. “All I can say is that I’ve told them, ‘You guys have got to get over your feelings. If you’re worried about you and you’re worried about how many points you’re scoring or how many shots you’re getting or how many minutes you’re getting, then that’s not healthy. And we’ve got a lot of guys doing that. I feel that and I know that.
“Until we work that out, we’re not going to be as good as we can be. But we’ve got more things going on behind the scenes that I’m not familiar with, and it’s spread. It’s like a crab grass in your beautiful lawn.”
Two weeks later when WSU lost three straight games, hitting rock bottom with a 76-43 loss at Houston on February 9, Marshall said he sensed a disconnect from the players. That spurred an impromptu practice the following day that turned into a two-hour therapy session for the team, as the players spilled their emotions and pent-up frustrations in front of the entire team.
“It’s just a matter of being a young team and having some thoughts of selfishness, honestly, that’s what it is,” Marshall said then. “The 16 young men in our program, you would be happy to have them in your home for a meal. They are fantastic young people, but like so many young people right now, they’re just conflicted in the ‘me, me, me’ thing opposed to ‘us.’”
In an exclusive interview with The Eagle, Stevenson said that the coaching staff also deserved a share of the blame for the disconnect between WSU players and coaches this past season.
“Coach (Marshall) kind of covered up a lot of stuff and kind of put it on the players having problems,” Stevenson said. “I’m not going to say it was only the players who had problems. Obviously we had an up-and-down year, but the coaching staff had a big part in that too.”
None of the other players who have decided to transfer have spoken publicly about the reasoning behind their decisions, although one of the players who is returning shared his thoughts on Friday following the exodus. WSU freshman Tyson Etienne posted on his Twitter that he was staying and supported Marshall in the process.
“Sad to see my brothers go,” Etienne wrote. “I will cherish the bond I created with them forever and I wish them all the best in their next chapter. As for me, I truly believe in coaches’ vision for this program and his vision for me. I will have his back and our programs’ back. And do whatever is needed for us to be successful in this upcoming season. I made a promise to him, to Shocker Nation, and to myself to win in black and yellow. I will be returning to the Roundhouse next season to play in front of the best fans in all of college basketball.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 2:55 PM.
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