‘Feel a type of way’: Etienne voted AAC Player of Year, WSU basketball picked fourth
Tyson Etienne no longer has to share.
After being named the Co-Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference last season with Houston’s Quentin Grimes, the Wichita State men’s basketball sophomore was voted the sole AAC Player of the Year by coaches in the preseason awards released on Wednesday morning.
Etienne, a 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 16.3 points and a school record 3.0 three-pointers per game, was one of just two unanimous selections to the first team all-conference team, along with SMU point guard Kendric Davis. Etienne is the first Shocker to be voted to the preseason first team since Landry Shamet before the 2017-18 season.
“I’m happy for Tyson,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said Wednesday at the virtual AAC media day. “He has put in the work all summer long. He’s worked on his game. He’s worked on his ball-handling, worked on his shooting and he’s gotten better in ball screens. He’s become a leader. He’s making guys around him better. I think he has a high ceiling and is one of those guys who can play basketball for a long time.”
Etienne said he was “shocked” and “grateful” for the preseason honor, but had more to say about Wichita State, the defending regular-season champions of the AAC with four of its top-five scorers back from last season’s NCAA Tournament team, being picked fourth in the preseason poll by coaches.
“Me winning the preseason Player of the Year is cool, but at the end of the day my team was still picked fourth after winning the conference last year,” Etienne said. “So I definitely feel a type of way about that. And I know the rest of my teammates and coaching staff feel a type of way about that. But it’s cool. They picked us seventh last year and we ultimately finished first, so we still have that chip on our shoulder.”
The Shockers will have to earn their respect once again, as they were voted behind Houston, Memphis and SMU and ahead of Central Florida, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Temple, South Florida, Tulane and East Carolina.
Before last season, the preseason coaches poll had done a fairly accurate job of projecting the Shockers. They were picked second and finished second in the 2017-18 season, picked eighth and finished sixth in the 2018-19 season and picked fourth and finished fourth in the 2019-20 season.
But for a team that returns veteran leadership in Etienne, Dexter Dennis and Morris Udeze and talented up-and-coming players like Ricky Council IV and Monzy Jackson, plus a recruiting class featuring ready-to-go additions like Joe Pleasant and Qua Grant, the WSU players were a little miffed by the fourth-place prognostication and lack of recognition on the all-conference picks outside of Etienne.
“I wouldn’t categorize it as being angry. I would use the word motivated,” Etienne said. “We can’t control what the committee selects, but that motivates us. Everything is about how you respond to certain situations and at the end of the day, it’s preseason. We haven’t rolled the basketball out and played our first official game yet. So we don’t really focus too much into it, but we definitely have that chip on our shoulder and it motivates us extra when we go into practice.”
Brown didn’t take the fourth-place prediction as a slight, but rather chose to focus on it as elevated expectations for a team that surprised outsiders last season.
Even though outside expectations aren’t as high as internal expectations, the Shockers will be playing from a different position this season when they play their lone exhibition game on Monday, November 1 against Missouri Southern State and open the regular season on Tuesday, November 9 against Jacksonville State at Koch Arena.
“The biggest thing for us is handling expectations,” Brown said. “Now we’re picked fourth and we have to go out and do the right things and compete in this league and try to win a championship.”
On the women’s side, Wichita State senior forward Asia Strong became the first Shocker to be voted to the AAC preseason all-conference first team. Strong earned second team all-conference honors last season after averaging 15.2 points and 6.6 rebounds.
The Shockers were voted to finish eighth in the 11-team league, which was projected to be won by South Florida.
AAC preseason men’s basketball poll
1. Houston, 98 (8)
2. Memphis, 92 (3)
3. SMU, 77
4. Wichita State, 76
5. Central Florida, 66
6. Cincinnati, 52
7. Tulsa, 43
8. Temple, 37
9. South Florida, 25
9. Tulane, 25
11. East Carolina, 14
AAC preseason men’s basketball awards
Player of the Year
Tyson Etienne, Wichita State sophomore guard
Rookie of the Year
Jalen Duren, Memphis freshman center
First team all-conference
Marcus Sasser, Houston sophomore guard
Jalen Duren, Memphis freshman center
Landers Nolley II, Memphis sophomore guard
Kendric Davis, SMU junior guard (unanimous)
Tyson Etienne, Wichita State sophomore guard (unanimous)
Second team all-conference
Brandon Mahan, UCF senior guard
Emoni Bates, Memphis freshman forward
Deandre Williams, Memphis junior forward
Jeremiah Davenport, Cincinnati sophomore guard
Jaylen Forbes, Tulane sophomore guard
AAC preseason women’s basketball poll
1. South Florida, 100 (10)
2. Central Florida, 91 (1)
3. Houston, 77
4. Tulane, 72
5. Temple, 69
6. Cincinnati, 44
7. East Carolina, 38
8. Wichita State, 36
9. Tulsa, 32
10. SMU, 26
11. Memphis, 20
AAC preseason women’s basketball awards
Player of the Year
Mia Davis, Temple forward
First team all-conference
Tay Sanders, UCF guard
Dulcy Fankam Mendijadeu, South Florida forward
Bethy Mununga, South Florida forward
Elena Tsineke, South Florida guard
Mia Davis, Temple forward (unanimous)
Asia Strong, Wichita State forward
Second team all-conference
Laila Blair, Houston guard
Sydni Harvey, South Florida guard
Elisa Pinzan, South Florida guard
Krystal Freeman, Tulane forward
Maya Mayberry, Tulsa guard
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 11:50 AM.
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