Wichita State notes: Excuse me while I kiss this basketball hoop and my video goes viral

What else would it taste like?

Pumpkin spice? Dark chocolate? Applewood bacon?

Nope, C.J. Keyser confirms the orange hoop at Sunrise Christian Academy’s gym tastes like what you would expect.

“Basketballs,” he said.

This is a topic because a video of Keyser jumping and planting his lips on the hoop grew into an Internet sensation in the past 10 days. Keyser, a 6-foot-4 guard who gave Wichita State a non-binding commitment in September, performed for the video last spring. He put it on his Instagram account and few noticed.

This fall, he transferred to Brewster (N.H.) Academy. A friend told him about Brandon Dorf, a young fan — his Twitter account identifies him as a photographer for NJ Hoops — who fills his timeline with recruiting news and videos. Dorf sent the 11-second video out on Oct. 6 from his Twitter account (@brandondorf5).

“It went crazy,” Keyser said. “I didn’t expect it to do much, but it just got bigger and bigger and bigger. Crazy.”

ESPN.com wanted the video. So did CBSSports.com. They tweeted out a link to the video, as did Bleacher Report. USA Today and FoxSports.com used the video, as did sites such as LostLetterman.com, thescore.com and brobible.com.

Last spring, Keyser said Sunrise players were lifting with an emphasis on legs. He walked through the gym with Kyle Lindsted, then Sunrise’s coach and now a WSU assistant, when inspiration struck.

“We had taken a day off, so my legs were feeling really good,” Keyser said. “I told (Lindsted) that I feel real bouncy today and I feel like I could kiss the rim. He told me I might as well try it.”

Keyser sprinted from the side of the court and took off a few feet from the rim, leaned back, arms at his side, and kissed.

Under construction — A groin injury kept Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College guard Daishon Smith from practicing at full-speed for much of the fall.

The injury did not restrict his shooting practice and perhaps that injury will pay off in the long run. Smith, a 6-1 sophomore, gave WSU a non-binding commitment a week ago. He is an end-to-end blur who needs to improve his jump shot after making 20 of 79 three-pointers (25.3 percent) last season at Eastern Florida State College.

“All we’ve been doing with him the past 4-6 weeks is tons and tons of shooting,” Tallahassee coach Mark White said. “It’s definitely made a difference.”

Earlier this month, WSU coach Gregg Marshall watched Smith at a jamboree in Tallahassee. White said Smith came off a screen and made a three in the first game. Soon after, he made another long three-pointer.

“That definitely sold Coach Marshall right there,” White said.

Smith, White said, is such a good driver and finisher that he didn’t need to make jump shots for much of his career. Now that he is devoting time to that skill, his shooting range is improving. White said his players work on individual skills four or five days a week during the summer and take thousands of extra shots on their own time.

“He’s put in the work,” White said. “Now you’ve got to play the drive and the shot.”

White, in his first season at Tallahassee, runs a program similar to Marshall’s system. White emphasizes defense and has a knack for producing point guards. When Smith watched the Shockers practice, he called White and remarked on the similarities in drills and concepts. That should help Smith as he adds more point-guard duties to his toolbox.

“I’m a really, really defensive-oriented coach,” White said. “I’m a perimeter-oriented coach. I don’t worry about size. I believe in skills and we’ve had a lot of very good guards in the past.”

The first one — Wichita State golfer Grant Bennett won his first college tournament last week, shooting a career-best 206 at the Bill Ross Intercollegiate at Milburn Country Club in Overland Park.

Bennett, from Prosper, Texas, made that moment feel inevitable after winning Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year honors as a freshman and All-MVC honors as a sophomore. He totaled seven top-10 finishes in 2014-15, including third in the MVC championships and tying for seventh in the NCAA San Diego Regional.

He’s been close.

“You’ve got to avoid the bad stretches of holes, which I feel like I’ve done better at this year,” he said. “If you look at my freshman and sophomore (years), and even earlier this season, I’d have a bad three or four hole stretch, or even a bad nine, which would make it quite hard for me to win. Mentally, I’m trying to stay as positive as I can.”

Sometimes, over-swinging produced those high numbers and Bennett is working to control his power and sacrifice length for accuracy. At Milburn, he made par on 37 of the 54 holes and birdied 12.

“What we’ve worked on is hitting a lot of three-quarter, half shots,” he said. “It goes straight, but they don’t go quite as far. I just hit another club and make it go the right distance. When I get nervous, my tendency is to swing hard. So, whenever I’m nervous I just take one more club and hit it easy.”

The Shockers, who won the tournament by one shot over Air Force, end their fall schedule this week at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate in Las Cruces, N.M.

Shooting at his age — Steve Rainbolt’s quest to play 58 holes of golf to celebrate his upcoming 58th birthday started strong. Rainbolt, WSU’s track and field coach, played 57 holes last year. He ran 50 and 55 kilometers on the Cessna Stadium track to mark those birthdays.

On Wednesday, he shot a 79 at Willowbend Golf Club over his first 18 holes.

“I’m cruising,” he said. “I thought this was going to be a breeze.”

He followed that with a 97.

“I kind of fell apart,” he said. “After that good round, I started chunking on it my approach shots. I talked to (WSU golf coach) Grier Jones and he said it was totally understandable — I got tired.”

Rainbolt finished with a 286, one shot off last year’s score and two off his goal. He started at 7:35 a.m. and finished around 11 hours later, fueling up on water, almonds, beef jerky and a chicken breast.

Rainbolt uses his birthday marathons to raise money for his team. He is still taking donations — call (316) 978-3362 — and expects to match last year’s total of around $13,000.

Worth noting — WSU’s Tipoff Luncheon is Nov. 5 at Koch Arena. Marshall and women’s coach Jody Adams will speak. Tickets are $25 and can be ordered by calling (316) 978-3267. … The winter Shocker Fitness Turkey Trot session runs until Dec. 18. For information call (316) 978-5543.

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Wichita State notes: Excuse me while I kiss this basketball hoop and my video goes viral."