The advantages Wichita State basketball could see this season going with big lineups
For the last four seasons, the Wichita State men’s basketball team has been relatively undersized at the power forward position.
From Trey Wade to Joe Pleasant to James Rojas, the Shockers have preferred to play 6-foot-6 forwards next to their centers.
That is poised to change this season with WSU featuring a trio of big men — 6-foot-10 junior Kenny Pohto, 6-foot-10 senior Jacob Germany and 6-foot-11 junior Quincy Ballard — and first-year coach Paul Mills seemingly set on playing two of them together at the same time.
“I really like playing next to (Pohto and Ballard),” said Germany, a graduate transfer who was the starting center at UTSA the past four years. “It’s going to be a pretty intriguing lineup when there’s two bigs out there at the same time like that.”
Playing two bigs together isn’t a foreign concept for the Shockers, as Gregg Marshall featured twin towers to great success in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons when Darral Willis and Shaquille Morris shared the floor often. WSU’s offense finished top-15 nationally in efficiency and top-35 in offensive rebounding both of those seasons.
Germany and Pohto both posted above-average offensive rebounding rates last season playing as their team’s featured center. Throw in bouncy forwards like Dalen Ridgnal and Isaac Abidde and there is a clear expectation for rebounding to be a team strength after WSU was just mediocre in that regard last season.
“I really don’t see how we won’t be a good rebounding team,” Germany said. “We have all of the pieces. And when we’re playing two bigs out there together, we should be bigger and taller than other people.”
WSU plays its lone exhibition game at 1 p.m. Sunday against Rogers State at Koch Arena. There will be no television or streaming broadcast, while the game will be carried on 103.7-FM radio.
It remains to be seen if Mills will roll out the two-big lineup from the start this season or if the Shockers will reserve it for the right matchups.
“(Two-big lineups) are a work in progress right now,” Mills said. “Some days you’re going, ‘Man, that really looks good.’ But some of it is going to depend on matchups defensively, so it’s probably contingent on the other team.”
After shooting 3-for-29 from beyond the arc last season, Pohto said he believes playing more minutes at power forward will unlock better efficiency for him on offense. He mentioned fatigue would sometimes set in from being solely responsible for setting so many ball screens in the half-court offense, something that can now be shared playing alongside another center.
Pohto expects to attempt more catch-and-shoot 3-pointers where his feet are already set upon the catch, instead of the pick-and-pop variety where he sets a screen and has to drift to the perimeter, shuffle his feet, then be ready to fire when the guard passes it back to him.
“It’s a lot of repetitions in workouts with footwork and making sure I’m not standing up too straight when I catch,” Pohto said. “It’s all one motion when I shoot it. But a lot of it is just mindset. A lot is about confidence. I fixed a few things with my shot, but it’s mostly about confidence with my 3-point shooting and it’s looking better now.”
All three of the centers offer their own unique twist: Pohto is the most versatile with an improved low-post game mixed with passing and ability to knock down long jumpers; Germany has the best back-to-basket game, but has worked hard this offseason with extending his range for pick-and-pops; while Ballard is a lob threat rolling to the basket with his explosion.
The two-big lineups also open up different options for the guards, who are already practicing the ways to exploit the advantage on the court.
“You can do more double screens where one big rolls and the other big pops,” WSU guard Colby Rogers said. “You have someone like Q with his verticality and his ability to play above the rim, that’s dangerous. And then Kenny and Jacob both can pop and play in space, do dribble hand-offs, pass and chase, do a lot of different stuff like that. I think it’s going to be hard for traditional bigs that are bigger than them to move with them and it’s going to be tough for smaller (power forwards) to guard them down in the post.”
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