A fifth Wichita State men’s basketball scholarship player is in the transfer portal
The NCAA transfer portal is well on its way to hitting record-setting numbers this offseason with more than 1,100 men’s players already entered before the month of April.
Just like teams from all across the country, Wichita State men’s basketball has had its fair share of transfers and its total grew on Thursday morning when redshirt freshman Josaphat Bilau announced his intentions to leave the program. The 6-foot-10 center from France is the fifth scholarship player from last season’s WSU team currently looking to transfer. It was reported first by Verbal Commits and confirmed by The Eagle.
WSU senior forward Trey Wade announced his plans to look for a new home earlier this week, while Bilau joins fellow bench players in junior center Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler, junior guard Trevin Wade and freshman forward Jaden Seymour in looking for a fresh start next season. WSU was expecting to be without Wade and fellow senior Alterique Gilbert, while Bilau, Poor Bear-Chandler, Trevin Wade and Seymour combined to play just under 10% of WSU’s minutes last season.
Bilau’s two-year run with the Shockers will be remembered more for what could have been rather than the 61 minutes he played in a WSU uniform spread across 12 games. Bilau averaged 0.7 points and 1.1 rebounds this past season.
Dating back to his redshirt year during the 2019-20 season, WSU coaches raved about Bilau’s versatility in a 6-10 frame. Bilau played more like a small forward than he did a center, as he could dribble and pass like a guard and even occasionally stroke in a three-pointer. His athleticism and length made him a terror in practices, as WSU was tempted to pull his redshirt late in the 2019-20 season because of how well he was performing in practices.
But injuries prevented Bilau from ever reaching his potential as a Shocker. An array of nagging injuries originally forced WSU to redshirt him his first season, then a knee injury that required surgery in 2020 ultimately derailed his first season playing for WSU. Bilau was in France when he underwent the surgery and with the coronavirus pandemic restricting travel, he was unable to return to WSU to properly rehabilitate the injury. Bilau never fully recovered and it affected his ability to consistently practice this past season.
Bilau received interest from Kansas, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Wake Forest and Pittsburgh coming out of SPIRE Academy in the summer of 2019. He ultimately picked WSU over Nevada, West Virginia, Wake Forest and Pittsburgh.
The departures of Bilau and Poor Bear-Chandler leave WSU without a backup center to Morris Udeze. That means the Shockers will be on the hunt this spring to fill out its desired three-center rotation with their now six available scholarships for their 2021 recruiting class. Colby Community College sophomore Matt McFarlane, a 6-foot-10 center, pledged to the Shockers on Thursday.
According to sources close to the program, Bilau is expected to be the final transfer from last season’s roster with Gilbert unlikely to return to the Shockers.
Despite losing nearly half of its roster from last season, WSU is still expected to return nearly 70% of its scoring. The Shockers figure to remain competitive in the American Athletic Conference with a core of sophomore guard Tyson Etienne, the AAC Co-Player of the Year, junior wing Dexter Dennis, Udeze, freshman wing Ricky Council IV, junior point guard Craig Porter and sophomore forward Clarence Jackson. WSU’s coaching staff is also excited about the potential of freshman guard Chaunce Jenkins.
This story was originally published April 1, 2021 at 12:43 PM.
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