Wichita State basketball finishes 2022 recruiting class with juco national champion
The Wichita State men’s basketball team has found its backup point guard for the 2022-23 season on the reigning junior college national champions.
Shammah Scott, a 6-foot-2 key reserve this past season at Northwest Florida State, officially enrolled at Wichita State for the fall semester to conclude his recruiting visit Wednesday and publicly announced his commitment Friday.
The signing of Scott officially concludes a busy 2022 recruiting period for WSU head coach Isaac Brown, who has brought in nine new scholarship players and four new walk-ons to the roster. All that was missing was a point guard to spell star senior Craig Porter. The Shockers feel like they have found a perfect candidate in Scott, who comes to Wichita with three years of eligibility remaining.
“I have a good feel for people and I could just tell that Isaac Brown was being real with me and I can trust him,” Scott told The Eagle. “I loved how straight forward he was with me and how he told the truth, even if it was an answer I didn’t like. I really appreciated that because as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized this is a business and coaches can sometimes tell you whatever you want to hear, but that’s not what’s really going on. He kept it real with me and I think he can help me grow and become the player that I want to be.”
It also helped that Scott was already well-versed in the Wichita State program well before he arrived on his official visit on Tuesday.
That’s because he played this past season at Northwest Florida State, which was coached by Greg Heiar, a former WSU assistant coach and now New Mexico State head coach, and Carl Hall, a former WSU player. The team also practiced at Koch Arena during its run-up to the NJCAA national tournament in Hutchinson, which the Raiders eventually won.
“Coach Heiar was always telling us stories throughout the season about Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker and Carl Hall and that Final Four run,” Scott said. “So I was definitely familiar with the program.”
In his first year of college basketball, Scott had to wait his turn behind a loaded backcourt for Northwest Florida State that included a trio of guards in Deshawndre Washington (New Mexico State), Tre Clark (Duquesne) and Brennan Rigsby (Oregon). Scott averaged 6.8 points and 1.4 assists in less than 16 minutes per game, while shooting 51.9% from the field and 47.5% on 59 three-point attempts.
After being a star player for Shaker Heights during his senior year of high school back in his hometown of Cleveland, Scott said the experience of becoming a role player on a winning team was a beneficial one.
“I had to sacrifice for the better of the team because we had a lot of really good sophomores and I think that helped me work on other parts of my game,” Scott said. “I really focused on guarding as hard as I could. I loved doing all of the little things and that’s the thing I can say about playing for Greg Heiar is that he definitely pushed me to become a much harder worker.”
Scott was originally thought to be a class of 2023 recruit, but he was ruled a qualifier for the class of 2022 this summer and turned heads with his play earlier this month at the JA48 Showcase in Las Vegas, which is an invite-only event for juco players to gain exposure.
That’s where he was spotted by WSU assistant coach Butch Pierre, who offered him a scholarship after the first day. The next day, Scott was on the phone with Brown and the connection with WSU continued to grow from there.
He had the option of returning to the junior college level if he didn’t like his options, but Scott said the WSU offer was too good to pass up. He said he also received interest from North Texas, Akron, Kent State and Cleveland State, among others.
“I just wanted to find a good, winning program and find a program that has a family vibe and Wichita State definitely has that,” Scott said. “I know I can put my trust in the staff and that’s always a good feeling.”
Although the timing of his visit didn’t allow him to catch an AfterShocks game at Koch Arena, Scott was still impressed by the atmosphere around the program and around the community.
His visit to Doo-Dah Diner for Wednesday breakfast was a particular highlight.
“I was just very impressed how the community feels like one big family,” Scott said. “I really liked going to Doo-Dah Diner and everyone there was having a good time and they had Wichita State posters all over the walls. (Co-owner Timirie Shibley) sat down and talked with us and she just seemed like another mom away from home, honestly. I just loved it out there.”
With summer school wrapping up on Friday and players being sent home for a two-week break, Scott won’t arrive in Wichita until the team reconvenes on August 16. Although Scott won’t have the benefit of practicing with his WSU teammates during the summer, he still will have nearly three months before the start of the season to integrate himself into the fold.
The Shockers had options at backup point guard, but they would have required a scoring guard like Xavier Bell or Jaron Pierre Jr. to slide over to be the main ball handler. Scott, a pure point guard, was exactly the kind of player the WSU coaching staff had in mind for their 13th and final scholarship.
“I love to get my teammates involved, that’s honestly my favorite part of the game,” Scott said. “I feel like I can shoot it, I love to get out in transition, I can rebound and I found a great passion this last year in playing defense. I want to guard the other team’s best guard and pick them up full court and just tire them out. But moving the ball around and seeing my teammates win, that’s what makes my day.”
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