MVC notes: Wichita State women focus on rebounding as preseason favorite

ST. LOUIS — Wichita State’s women’s basketball team returns four starters, but lost leading rebounder Michelle Price.

There is no mystery on which skill coach Jody Adams is pushing hardest in practice. Every rebound is charted. So are box-outs. Players and teams win drills by earning points for those efforts, in addition to points or defensive stops.

“Our coaches always say every drill is a rebounding drill,” senior center Kelsey Jacobs said.

WSU, as it did last season, will rely on a team effort on the boards. Guard Alex Harden averaged 5.7 rebounds a game. Jacobs contributed 4.4 and guard Jamillah Bonner added 4.2. WSU’s guards are athletic enough to battle bigger players on even terms.

“You not only challenge your bigs, you challenge your guards,” Adams said. “With eight returners, our philosophy of defense is set. The rebounding emphasis has been taken to another level to fill that void.”

Price averaged 7.3 rebounds, fifth in the MVC. Jacobs wants to improve her rebounding numbers. Sophomore center Brittany Martin, a transfer from Northwest Florida State College, is WSU’s tallest player at 6-foot-2. While the Shockers aren’t big across the front line, Adams sees them as capable of making rebounding about boxing out, quickness and hustle instead of size.

WSU’s work against taller, quicker male practice players is good preparation for surviving in the lane without overpowering size.

“If we do the details right, we will be able to pick up for Michelle,” Adams said. “Kelsey and (forward Michaela Dapprich) are very aware of the challenges. With their size, they’re going to do it by detail.”

Jacobs started 32 games last season and 53 over her career. That experience helps her prepare for the season as WSU’s veteran in the front court.

“She’s our glue,” Adams said. “She’s a great voice for us defensively. She can communicate in the heat of a game or the heat of a practice to get everyone refocused on what’s going to happen.”

Cut it open — Wichita State’s preseason women’s Player of the Year did not make the trip. Harden was busy with a scalpel in one of her pre-med classes.

“She has lab today … and she has to dissect a shark,” Jacobs said. “She couldn’t miss it. This is a big part of their grade.”

Adams isn’t sure if Harden sliced up a shark or a pig. A shark, which makes a better story, is the version most repeated on media day.

“It was some large animal,” Adams said. “I know there’s a shark, and at some point, there’s a pig.”

Starting on top — WSU’s men are picked first for the fifth time since the first poll before the 1985-86 season.

The Shockers didn’t win the regular-season title as the favorite until last season. The Valley’s preseason favorite won the title 14 times in the past 29 seasons.

WSU’s women are the favorite for the first time. Their previous high was second in 2007, 2013 and 2014. Voters correctly picked 18 of the previous 31 champions.

“The target is on our back, and it’s a huge target,” Adams said. “It’s taken us a long time to garner any respect and for anybody to have any expectations for us. Now it’s here.”

Former MVC member Creighton was the favorite in both polls entering the 2012-13 season, as the Bluejays were in 2002-03. Southern Illinois started the 1992-93 season as the dual favorite.

He’s not here — Former Indiana State guard Jake Odum started as a freshman and became one of the MVC’s most recognizable players through four standout seasons.

The Sycamores are moving on and they will admit it’s an odd feeling without his funky passing style, reckless drives to the basket and chinstrap beard in the practice gym. With Odum in charge, the Sycamores advanced to the 2011 NCAA Tournament and played in the NIT the past two seasons.

“It’s going to be different because we don’t have that distributor; he’s done it so many years, so we’re missing that leadership role,” senior center Jake Kitchell said. “It’s time for other guys to step up.”

Indiana State coach Greg Lansing recruited Tre Bennett, from Lamar (Texas) State Community College, to run the point and he is trying to fast-track him to a ready state.

“Coach has been really hard on him in practice,” forward Khristian Smith said. “He knows he can be one of the better juco players to come out this year and make an impact right away. That’s what we need out of him.”

Bennett is described as a pass-first point guard with good quickness. He averaged 20.6 points and earned NJCAA All-American honors as a sophomore.

“He’s taken the brunt of a lot of my wrath right now,” Lansing said. “Some days he looks really good. Other days I wish the old learning curve was a little quicker.”

Playing with pain — Loyola sophomore guard Milton Doyle tore the labrum in his right (shooting) shoulder earlier this fall. He will play, if he can function. If not, he will undergo surgery and sit out the season.

Doyle, the MVC’s Freshman and Newcomer of the Year, is rehabbing to strengthen the shoulder and has practiced twice.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” coach Porter Moser said. “The kid doesn’t even want to talk about sitting out. He’s really feeling stronger. The two practices that he played in, he uplifted our practices ten-fold.”

Doyle averaged 14.9 points and 3.6 rebounds for the Ramblers last season.

With or without Doyle, Moser needed more depth and he went to a familiar place. He signed Coffeyville Community College forward Montel James and guard Earl Peterson. Moser grabbed Boo Richardson and Anthony Slack from Coffeyville when he coached at Illinois State and that duo help rebuild the Redbirds.

“(James) is a hard matchup guy, because he can step out on the perimeter and sweep and drive,” Moser said. “I think Montel can score in the Valley. Earl Peterson is a versatile guard. He’s athletic. His role might even be bigger if Milton’s out.”

Moser brought in six scholarship newcomers and said five of them are in the top eight of his rotation.

Fracture sidelines Braves newcomer — Just when Bradley’s men’s team moved to the right side of the injury list, guard Tramique Sutherland fractured the middle finger on his left hand Thursday in a scrimmage.

Sutherland, a junior transfer from Hill (Texas) College, is expected to miss 5-6 weeks. He earned honorable mention All-NJCAA honors after averaging 19.3 points and 8.2 assists at Hill. He is expected to start at point guard, replacing Walt Lemon Jr., a second-team All-MVC pick in 2013 and 2014.

“The good thing is the break is on the ring finger of his left hand,” coach Geno Ford said. “It’s not the most necessary finger to basketball performance, but you can’t play when you’re in a cast.”

Sutherland, who is right-handed, could miss six or more games. Bradley opens the season on Nov. 14 against Texas-Arlington and Ford said the best-case scenario is for a return in late November for a tournament in Texas. Junior Ka’Darryl Bell is his most experienced returner in the backcourt. Juniors Anthony Fields and Warren Jones are also on call.

“We’re going to need to find some answers at that spot,” Ford said.

Sutherland fractured the finger when he landed after a shooting on a fast break. Ford described it as a gruesome injury, fractured at the third joint and driving his finger back into his hand.

“It looked like a claw,” Ford said.

Four big men who missed parts of summer and fall practices all practiced last week for the first time together — sophomore Xzavier Taylor (stress fracture), junior Mike Shaw (knee), junior Jermaine Morgan (broken rib) and freshman Josh Cunningham (knee).

Worth noting — Drake conducted its first workout in the Shivers Basketball Practice Facility on Sept. 25. The building, connected to the Knapp Center, cost $8 million and features gyms for the two programs, locker rooms, lounges and film rooms. … The UNI women, picked second, are the only team to return five starters. Drake senior guard Kyndal Clark is the defending women’s Player of the Year after averaging 19.6 points and making an MVC-record 116 three-pointers … On the men’s side, Evansville and UNI return all five starters. There are 36 of 50 starters back for men’s teams … SIU coach Barry Hinson did not attend media day. He was in Springfield, Mo., at the funeral for Bill O’Neill, a coach and administrator at Missouri State for almost 40 years. Hinson coached at MSU from 1998-2008. … The women will hold their conference tournament in St. Charles, Mo., for a final season before moving to the IWireless Center in Moline, Ill., for the 2016 tournament to start a three-year contract with an option for two more.

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 3:58 PM with the headline "MVC notes: Wichita State women focus on rebounding as preseason favorite."