Who are the AfterShocks playing in Friday’s TBT game? Ex-Pats love being underdogs
The former Wichita State players on the AfterShocks have plenty of experience of finding motivation in being slighted and considered the underdog in the NCAA Tournament.
But in the realm of The Basketball Tournament, the AfterShocks are considered the heavy favorites with the deck stacked in their favor — a No. 2 overall seed, ESPN broadcasts scheduled for all of their games and an expected rowdy crowd at Koch Arena.
Much like the Shockers did all those years ago in March Madness, their opponent in their TBT opener at 8 p.m. Friday — the 15th-seeded Ex-Pats, a team of mostly former Patriot League standouts — is fully embracing the role of the underdog.
“I know (Wichita State) is used to being overlooked as a university and an athletic program, but we are too,” said Ex-Pats head coach Jack Leib on the Talkin’ Shocks podcast. “We got a 15 seed in the tournament. We’re not here for just one year. We’re not here for just one game. We certainly don’t believe we’re a 15 seed as far as talent-wise goes. We’re going to come out and compete and I think it’s going to be an entertaining game to say the least.”
In terms of the prestige level of where the players play professionally, the AfterShocks have the advantage. While the majority of the AfterShocks play in leagues considered to be among the best in the world, the Ex-Pats boast players who recently played in the top leagues in Argentina, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom.
But as Sideline Cancer proved to the WSU alumni team in 2019, overseas prestige does not always translate to success in the TBT.
That’s why AfterShocks coach Zach Bush had made sure to pound home the point throughout this week of preparation that the team will have to play well to beat the Ex-Pats. At this level, just showing up and expecting to win does not guarantee you anything.
“It’s not like we’re doing a college scouting report, but we do talk about (the Ex-Pats) and give them an idea of who does what,” Bush said. “A big piece of this is going to be about us, but we still feed the guys tidbits about whether a guy is a shooter, non-shooter, pick-and-pop guy. We’ll have them ready.”
For a team that is playing in the TBT for the first time, it’s difficult to project who will be the standout players for the Ex-Pats. But it’s a good guess that 6-foot-7 forward Zach Thomas, a 2018 Bucknell graduate who was the Patriot League Player of the Year as a senior, will play a large role.
The Ex-Pats also feature the Patriot League’s all-time career assists leader in Kahron Ross, a 2018 Lehigh graduate who averaged 17.1 points per game in Britain’s top league last season, and Iowa State transfer Prentiss Nixon, a 6-2 guard who lit up Finland’s second-tier league for 24.9 points per game last season.
“I know that there are guys that have had extreme levels of success in their professional careers, and to me, it was a no-brainer,” Leib told PatriotLeague.org about the team’s formation. “I thought, ‘Wow, there’s never been a team from the Patriot League and we have some unbelievable guys as far as talent goes.’ The opportunity to not only bring awareness to these guys and their professional careers and show the world what we can do from a basketball standpoint is something that I wanted to do.”
As just a second-year team, Bush is quick to remind that the AfterShocks are still learning when it comes to the TBT. As the week has progressed, Bush has seen the team grow closer together as the players have shared meals and done fun activities away from the basketball court such as Chicken N Pickle.
“I think doing stuff like that helps build the camaraderie on the court,” Bush said. “When you know somebody and you like them, then you’re going to want to help them as much as you can on the court. You’re more likely to go the extra mile to help them out.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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