‘Portal Paul’: Mills already eyes first transfer target in Wichita State recruiting
Wichita State men’s basketball coach Paul Mills will have a new nickname for the coming weeks.
Following a season-ending loss to Oklahoma State in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday, Mills was asked what the coming days and weeks will look like for him entering his third year at the helm of the program.
“My friends call me Portal Paul,” Mills said with a grin. “So that’s what I’ll do.”
The NCAA transfer portal doesn’t official open until Monday, March 24, but there will be plenty for Mills and his staff to do to build out their 2025-26 roster.
Because the team thought its season was over this past weekend, Mills has already completed exit interviews with the seven players from this season’s roster who have eligibility to return. Mills has spoken in the past about the importance of retention, which indicates he will likely try to keep together as many players as possible.
The two most important pieces who can return to the Shockers next season are their two double-double machines: starting center Quincy Ballard (10.0 points, 9.2 rebounds) and starting forward Corey Washington (13.7 points, 7.5 rebounds). Both players could potentially seek lucrative NIL deals in the open market, but the coaching staff and Wheat Shock Collective, run by general manager Emily Hiebert, have earned trust from each player.
Will that be enough to keep the power-conference programs at bay? The portal is technically open until April 22, but the Shockers will likely have an answer sooner rather than later once the portal opens.
The other potential returning players include junior Joy Ighovodja, junior walk-on Henry Thengvall, sophomore Zion Pipkin, redshirt sophomore Yanis Bamba and redshirt freshman T.J. Williams. Ighovodja has been a fringe contributor his first two years at WSU, while Pipkin was a highly-rated high school recruit who showed promise in limited minutes at the point guard position.
It’s unclear so early in the offseason how WSU plans to attack the new NCAA rule that increased scholarships to 15 total, as Thengvall and incoming recruit Pierre Couisnard are walk-on candidates but could receive scholarships under the expanded count.
WSU’s incoming recruiting class includes two other prep players in wing Tyrus Rathan-Mayes, who plays for former Shocker P.J. Couisnard in Houston, and center Noah Hill, who plays for former WSU assistant Kyle Lindsted at Sunrise Christian Academy, as well as junior college point guard Dre Kindell from Barton Community College. It’s possible Kindell could receive extra years of eligibility as a junior college player depending on legislation later this year.
As it stands, not counting Thengvall or Couisnard toward the scholarship count, WSU currently has six scholarships to offer in its 2025 recruiting class. With two-thirds of the scoring production graduating, Mills will likely need to make every scholarship count with an impact player.
Mills and his staff are already hard at work in the portal with players who received an exception to enter early, as South Dakota transfer Chase Forte told LeagueRDY that Wichita State is one of several programs who have contacted him already.
Forte, a 6-foot-4 guard, has one year of eligibility remaining after a breakout season at South Dakota, where he was named the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year and averaged 17.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 47% from the field, 32% on 3-pointers and 65% on free throws.
The list of potential Shocker targets is expected to grow rapidly once the transfer portal officially opens next Monday.
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