In the era of the transfer portal, why Chaunce Jenkins stayed loyal to Wichita State
This college basketball offseason has seen a record number of men’s players enter the NCAA transfer portal, as more than 1,600 have found new homes or are currently looking for one.
With immediate eligibility now offered to first-time transfers, the portal has been flooded with bench players who are looking for more minutes.
In an age where most basketball players are looking for instant gratification, Wichita State freshman guard Chaunce Jenkins doesn’t mind waiting his turn.
After playing a total of 34 minutes in five games this past season for the Shockers, Jenkins could have looked elsewhere for playing time. Instead, Jenkins has put his trust in WSU head coach Isaac Brown, who as an assistant discovered the Newport News, Virginia native and offered him a scholarship when no other major program would.
“I’ve been through adversity my whole life, so one more year of adversity is really nothing to me,” Jenkins told The Eagle. “Every situation I’ve been in, I’ve been loyal and I’ve fought through the adversity and I’ve come out on top in the end. I believe this is going to be the same.”
When the words of Jenkins were relayed to his former high school coach, Lamont Strothers couldn’t help but to grin wide.
It wasn’t that long ago when Jenkins was the short, scrawny kid overlooked in the talent-rich Newport News area. Strothers, who made it to the NBA after playing in NCAA Division III, saw the same kind of underdog spirit in Jenkins that he had during his playing days. When Strothers took over the job at Menchville High, he promoted Jenkins to the starting lineup.
“People thought I was crazy, but I saw a kid with a lot of talent and the rest is history,” said Strothers, referring to Jenkins becoming an all-state player his senior year. “Chaunce was always a quick learner and he absorbed what I threw at him. I remember I got on him hard in one practice and he responded. There was no moping around, ‘Whatever.’ It was a ‘Yes, coach’ and he moved on. I saw the work ethic in him at an early age and I knew he was a kid who could get the job done.”
But sometimes when players believe they can get the job done and their minutes don’t align accordingly, they look to transfer. Jenkins said he never considered leaving WSU, mainly due to the close relationship he formed with Brown.
“I really like how much he believes in me,” Jenkins said. “He’s the one who recruited me here and I’ve talked to him a lot. I know he’s on me every day in practice and he nags me sometimes, but I know it’s because he sees the potential in me and he just wants what’s best for me.”
That type of mindset for a bench player is a growing rarity, as WSU well knows after four of its bench players — Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (Nebraska Omaha), Trevin Wade (Eastern Kentucky), Josaphat Bilau and Jaden Seymour (East Tennessee State) — departed the program after an AAC championship and NCAA Tournament season in search of more minutes and a better fit.
Strothers was proud of Jenkins’ decision.
“I tell my kids all the time, ‘You don’t want to be a jumper,’” Strothers said. “You have to be able to fight through adversity in your life because it doesn’t build character, it reveals it. If you always run away from adversity, then you’re never going to be able to learn how to problem solve and work your way through problems in life. Basketball is like the game of life, at some point it’s going to slap you in the face and you’ve got to understand how to fight through it because once you come out of that storm it’s always a brighter day on the other side.”
How Chaunce Jenkins improved in the weight room at WSU
The COVID 19-shortened season had both unique positive and negative things for Jenkins’ first season at the Division I level.
The biggest positive was that he came to WSU expecting to redshirt his first year on campus, so the limited experience he did get on the court was an added bonus since this past season did not count against any player’s eligibility. He will still be a true freshman for the 2021-22 season, except with the benefit of an entire season with the team.
“The biggest thing was that he was able to travel with the team, so he got to see what life on the road was like, see the scouting report and just be a sponge,” Brown said. “The best way to learn is actually going through those things on the road. And then having the opportunity to practice every day helped him grow as a player and understand what it takes to be a good player.”
The downside to entering college basketball during a pandemic was the delayed start to work with WSU strength and conditioning coach Kerry Rosenboom. Usually players have three months in the summer to work with Rosenboom, but last summer Jenkins’ time in the weight room was limited to weeks due to COVID-19 protocols.
Jenkins, a 6-foot-4 guard, arrived to WSU weighing 164 pounds and just left to return home with 11 pounds of muscle added from his work in the weight room during the season.
“Most freshmen who aren’t getting the minutes tend to lose focus in a lot of things,” Rosenboom said. “But with Chaunce, you would have thought he was playing 25 minutes a game with how hard he worked in here. He just had a great mentality when he came in the room.”
Helping matters was that Tyson Etienne, the team’s star, took a personal interest to mentoring Jenkins, a end-of-the-bench freshman, in all aspects last season.
“You would see him frequently with Tyson and I think everybody knows about Tyson’s incredible work ethic,” Rosenboom said. “Tyson was just a great influence on him and I know they talked frequently and Tyson was a really good motivator for Chaunce and role model for Chaunce to trust the process.”
Like most freshmen, Jenkins had to adjust his game to the physicality of the Division I level. Up against bigger, stronger, older guards every day in practice quickly showed Jenkins what he had to improve to hang at this level.
After a whole season in the weight room, Jenkins says he can tell a difference with his added bulk on both ends of the court.
“I feel like now when I’m on the move on my way to the paint, that bump doesn’t really get me off my line anymore,” Jenkins said. “I’m able to absorb that contact and finish at the rim easier. And then I can hold my own on defense a lot better now.”
Jenkins was already known around Newport News for his explosive dunks in high school. Brown believes Jenkins, whose goal is to begin next season weighing around 195 pounds, will be an even better athlete when he takes the floor for the Shockers next season.
“A lot of times you come to college and you’re just not used to how physical the game is in college,” Brown said. “Sometimes you get bumped and it will make you not want to go in there anymore. But Chaunce has changed his body and now he can take that contact and it’s given him more confidence attacking the basket and finishing plays at the rim.”
What is the scouting report for Chaunce Jenkins for the Shockers
What was Jenkins’ welcome to D1 moment?
How about having to guard the co-American Athletic Conference Player of the Year every day in practice for an entire year?
“I competed against Tyson every day in practice and that made me better,” Jenkins said. “You know guarding him, you’ve got to be on your p’s and q’s. He can shoot it from anywhere, so it makes you more alert. You’ve got to know your assignments and guarding a shooter like him, you’ve got to know how to close out, when to close out and how to play the screens.”
That attention to detail was the biggest learning curve for Jenkins, who had relied on his superior athleticism mostly in high school.
He didn’t have to be locked in every single play in high school because he was such a good athlete that he could erase a mistake easily. Caught ball-watching? No big deal when you’re 6-4 and can manage a late contest. Missed box out? No worries when you can jump higher than anyone else.
The last year has taught Jenkins he can no longer make up for those lapses. At this level, that’s a swished three-pointer and a put-back dunk when he makes those mistakes.
“The biggest thing for Chaunce was going up against the conference player of the year every day in practice,” Brown said. “That gave him a sense of how hard he has to play and how smart he has to play. You can’t take a second off. I think Chaunce has learned a lot from the last year.”
With his length and athleticism, Jenkins has the potential to be a tremendous defender capable of guarding anyone on the perimeter. But he’s still learning the intricacies of playing team defense at the Division I level.
One thing that has always come natural to him is scoring baskets. He’s a versatile scorer and with his explosion, Jenkins had a handful of highlight-reel plays in practice the past year.
“Offensively, I think I showed every day in practice that I belong at this level,” Jenkins said. “I think there were multiple practices where I stood out and showed I can compete at a high level.”
Armed with 10 more pounds of muscle to his frame, Jenkins has improved as an effective scorer around the basket. Defenders have problems keeping Jenkins out of the paint and when he’s not exploding over shot-blockers for dunks, he has displayed an impressive touch in the lane with an array of floaters and finger rolls.
But to fully tap into his potential as a scorer, Jenkins must improve his jump shot.
“I do feel like I can score on all three levels, but the main thing I need to do is sharpen up the consistency of my jump shot,” Jenkins said. “When I’m at (WSU), I’m on the (shooting) gun every day. I know that’s what is going to separate me when it’s all said and done is my work ethic.”
After only playing two minutes against Division I competition last season, Jenkins said the past year has prepared him to make an impact this upcoming season for the Shockers.
He has the offensive ability to be an on-ball or off-ball threat, while his defensive versatility allows him to be included in lineups where he can defend the point guard, shooting guard or small forward alongside guards like Craig Porter, Qua Grant, Etienne or wings like Dexter Dennis and Ricky Council IV.
“I just wanted to focus this last year on my body mostly, so that’s why I went really hard in the weight room,” Jenkins said. “I know I have to add a lot of weight to transition to the next level. And then in practice, I just wanted to compete and I thought I did that. I adjusted to the level of speed and the strength and now I’m ready to show I can compete every single day.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 6:05 AM.
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