Coach Isaac Brown relishes fresh start with new cast of Shockers. Can he surprise again?
In just the second year of a 5-year contract, Isaac Brown has already reached a critical point in his tenure as the head coach of the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
It’s hard to believe the first-time head coach’s honeymoon period with the fan base is already over after leading the program to its first American Athletic Conference championship and a return to the NCAA Tournament just 19 months ago, but it appears the good will gained has evaporated as a result of missing the postseason entirely for the first time in more than a decade last season.
Brown and his coaching staff need proof the program is trending in the right direction. What does progress look like? Is it as simple as reaching a higher quality of play? A more cohesive offense and more consistent defense, regardless of the final win-loss record? Does it require a trip back to the postseason? The NIT? The NCAA?
The last two seasons Brown has tried to win with a roster that he largely did not hand select. That will change for the 2022-23 season, as he has wiped the slate clean and overhauled a roster that will be entirely his own with 12 newcomers.
With so many veterans the last two seasons, roles were already established and practice habits were already formed. Brown was managing more than he was teaching.
By wiping the slate clean, Brown has given himself a chance to start from scratch. For the first time in his short stint as a head coach, Brown is teaching more than he ever did with so many first-year players in his system. Those around him say the challenge has reinvigorated him.
And a fresh start comes with plenty of challenges.
WSU lost nearly all of its production from last season, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. Many of those departures left through the transfer portal, the most devastating one of them being Ricky Council IV, who those inside the program thought of as an AAC Player of the Year candidate if he wouldn’t have bolted for national title contender Arkansas.
The transfer portal has certainly taken more than it has given to WSU in recent years, a trend Brown was determined to reverse this offseason. He retooled almost exclusively with transfers, mostly targeting veterans who could help the Shockers immediately.
He’s counting on the scoring punch of Gus Okafor (Southeastern Louisiana), Colby Rogers (Siena) and Xavier Bell (Drexel) translating to a higher level of play in the AAC. He’s hoping a fresh start will unlock the potential in Jaron Pierre Jr. (Southern Miss), Quincy Ballard (Florida State) and James Rojas (Alabama).
Throw in a high-upside find through the juco ranks in Jaykwon Walton, a former top-100 high school recruit, and the WSU coaching staff believes the pieces are there for the Shockers to be competitive.
That belief mostly revolves around the play of senior point guard Craig Porter, who those in the program are convinced is destined to become one of the best players in the conference this season. If Porter is able to scrape his potential, the Shockers will have a chance.
WSU is optimistic about its ball-screen offense with Porter handling the ball and working with two centers who do distinctly different things on the court. Sophomore Kenny Pohto is back and ready to reprise his role as a pick-and-pop specialist, looking to shoot in the high 30s this season on his 3-point percentage. Ballard, a 7-foot transfer from Florida State, gives WSU something it’s never had in recent seasons: an above-the-rim lob threat in a mobile 7-foot frame. Pohto and Ballard have both been inflicting a ton of damage in the ball-screen offense, courtesy of Porter’s decision-making.
Brown and the Shockers were criticized heavily by the fan base last season for their lethargic offense. WSU fans don’t demand the most aesthetically-pleasing offense — the program is known for winning grind-it-out affairs with defense and rebounding — but they certainly would like to see more movement, more passing and more scoring from the Shockers this season.
Will Brown take advantage of wiping the slate clean by injecting new actions and new plays into WSU’s offense? A steady diet of ball screens is sure to remain with a point guard as skilled as Porter running the show, but the Shockers have a chance to display better cutting, better screening and better passing this season. That doesn’t guarantee more shots will fall, but improvement in those other areas would be a step in the right direction.
The team’s defense once again has the potential to be top-50 in the country. Porter can swallow up ball handlers at the point of attack, while coaches are optimistic about the length and athleticism on the wing with Rogers, Pierre, Bell, Jalen Ricks and Walton. Okafor (6-foot-6) is undersized for a power forward, but his non-stop motor and 7-foot-1 wingspan gives him a chance to hold his own. Pohto is one of the team’s most fundamentally-sound defenders, while Ballard has the ability to affect every shot in the paint when he’s around the rim.
Most national projections have the Shockers pegged as a middling AAC team not likely to finish in the top-half of the 11-team conference. The coaches around the league followed suit by almost unanimously picking WSU as a bottom-four team in the AAC.
If you play out the upcoming season for Wichita State 100 times, an up-and-down season with a mediocre record — much like last season, just without the lofty expectations — is probably the most likely scenario. For as much potential as WSU believes it has, asking so many newcomers to come together to excel in the AAC is too much to ask for in the AAC.
But just because that’s the most likely outcome doesn’t mean that’s how reality will play out. You only need to go back to the 2020-21 season with Brown for an example of how he previously bucked low expectations.
Yes, it’s near impossible to image the Shockers topping Houston, which some say is the best team in the country. But it’s not an unreasonable stretch to think WSU can compete with Memphis, Cincinnati, SMU and Tulane for a top-four spot in the conference this season and return to the bubble mix for the NCAA Tournament.
Brown has already proven capable of shocking outsiders once before. Can he do it once again?
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