Paul Suellentrop breaks down the Shocker men’s basketball team

The conversation around Koch Arena, often repeated, when chatting with a coach, administrator or regular observer, goes like this:

“Fred and Ron are great, Wamukota is improved and you should see these freshmen.”

“Rashard Kelly can make jump shots.”

“Grady is just what this team needs. Evan Wessel is shooting like every day is playing Kansas.”

“This could be the deepest team since the 1980s.”

Pause. Smile.

“Oh, yeah. And there’s Conner Frankamp.”

Pause. Smile.

“Conner Frankamp. Yes. Almost forgot. He might be MVC Newcomer of the Year.”

So, yes, people are excited about this Wichita State basketball team, which seems silly, because people are always excited. This feels different, even in the context of the previous five seasons. The fact that Frankamp, who becomes eligible on Dec. 12, is viewed as a bonus midseason acquisition illustrates the situation.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons, that’s the best way to sum it up,” senior Fred VanVleet said. “We’ve got a lot of talent, probably the most that we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

This is a roster with 18 athletes, 17 of whom are eligible to play, although expect a redshirt or two. Unlike in past seasons, the redshirt won’t be an iffy player with physical or skills deficiencies in need of development. A 2015-16 redshirt can play. So can everybody else on the roster.

Enough about who may not play this season.

The excitement of this roster is based on those who will, because it’s a collection of talent that stretches deep into the bench and offers coach Gregg Marshall many ways to play. It offers insurance against injury or slumps. It makes for competitive practices and allows Marshall to use playing time as a hammer. WSU earned near-unanimous support as the Missouri Valley Conference favorite based on four seasons of similar results.

The Shockers are two-time defending MVC champions, winners of three of the past four, and are 35-1 in MVC games the past two seasons. With Baker and VanVleet back for their senior seasons, the Shockers are in the top 15 of most polls (No. 12 in the USA Today coaches poll) and regarded as a team that should play deep into March.

Maybe even April, as in the 2016 Final Four at Houston’s NRG Stadium.

A team with All-American guards and seven of its top nine scorers back from 2014-15 can’t hide from big goals. The Shockers established their national bona fides with a trip to the 2013 Final Four, a No. 1 seed in 2014 and last season’s Sweet 16.

“It’s an interesting phenomenon, the way our program has grown the last couple of years, and just being in the middle of it has been a lot of fun,” Marshall said at MVC media day. “There’s been a lot of stress, but I think the guys have handled it very well. They have remained humble and hungry, they continue to play angry, the expectations continue to grow every year and we’ve found a way to satisfy the people that support us and have those expectations.”

Most of those expectations start with Baker and VanVleet, the most decorated backcourt in Shocker history. They played supporting, but significant, roles in the 2013 Final Four as freshmen. As sophomores and juniors, they directed one of the nation’s most productive offenses and toughest defenses. In both seasons, WSU ranked in the top 16 of Ken Pomeroy’s advanced statistics for offensive and defensive efficiency.

“It’s a blessing to have them in your program,” Marshall said. “I try to enjoy it, I’m trying to relish it, I’m trying to take a mental picture.”

How the rotation forms around those two will determine the course of the season and Marshall may spend months assembling. WSU plays eight regular-season games before Frankamp debuts against Utah to provide a jolt of scoring and depth. By that time, players such as sophomore Zach Brown and freshmen Landry Shamet and Markis McDuffie will likely start to make their case for playing time at shooting guard or small forward.

“Maybe Landry Shamet and Tyrone Taylor, those guys have said, ‘You’ve got to play me. Look at what I’m doing,’ ” Marshall said. “Is he going to play in front of Fred or Ron if they’re healthy? Probably not. Maybe Ron can play some (small forward). We’ve just got to find the combinations that are going to give us the best chance of success. Conner’s going to be in those some of those combinations.”

Oh, the combinations.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that are putting in a lot of time and effort into our system to work out at different positions,” Baker said. “Coach stresses that if you know more than one position, you’re going to have a great chance of playing time. With the variety of teams we play this year, I think it’s huge that we’re a deep team and we can play these flexible lineups.”

The key piece seems to be senior Bush Wamukota or sophomore Shaq Morris grabbing the center spot, alone or in tandem. Their skills complement each other — Wamukota the steady defender, Morris an athlete with big-play potential on offense and intimidating shot-blocking. If they can give Marshall what he wants in the post, senior Anton Grady can play power forward, which seems to offer WSU its highest-level lineup.

Grady, however, can play center alongside Kelly or Evan Wessel in the frontcourt. Kelly, who started four games as a freshman, is a better version of that aggressive rebounder, 10 pounds lighter, down to around 225 pounds.

“He changed his body,” VanVleet said. “He doesn’t look so heavy. He’s quicker. He’s jumping better. That’s usual for a freshman going into their sophomore year. We expected to see that.”

Marshall called him WSU’s most improved player over the summer. While he knows shooting won’t be his first job, he expects to show improved range out to the three-point arc. Kelly said he took 500 shots a day throughout the summer.

“That was my number; I didn’t leave anything short of that,” he said. “If I’m open, I feel comfortable taking it. Last year, the defense really didn’t have to worry about my offense.”

Freshman Eric Hamilton is an intriguing blend of athletic ability and shooting ability at power forward. Sophomore Rauno Nurger is a skilled player who is determined to improve his defense and rebounding.

Wessel will play more on the perimeter this season after starting at power forward as a junior. WSU can count on his low-mistake, high-hustle ways and his improved three-point accuracy late last season — 15 of 35 in his final nine games — produced growing confidence.

Marshall can also turn to Brown, who played well in last season’s NCAA Tournament, and McDuffie on the wing. While Baker will likely remain the choice to relieve VanVleet at point, Shamet is training at both guard spots. Taylor, also a freshman, can help at point guard.

Envision the possibilities of surrounding Grady with shooters such as Baker, Frankamp and Brown or Wessel with VanVleet running the ball-screen offense. Envision a quick, physical perimeter defense with Wessel, Brown, Baker and VanVleet bullying ballhandlers.

WSU might not possess an individual defender on the level of two-time MVC Defensive Player of the Year Tekele Cotton, but the standards remain high. Brown gets first shot at filling Cotton’s role. Marshall reminds everyone that Baker and VanVleet are also high-level defenders.

“We’re still going to play defense as a unit,” Baker said. “Without Tekele out there, our steal numbers might go down, but I think we’ll be pretty efficient. Tekele was real good at being in those passing lanes and trying to trick offensive players into throwing into passing lanes.”

Or, think big with Wamukota and Grady in the lane and lengthy, agile wing defenders McDuffie and Brown constricting passing lanes and bothering shooters.

“Coaches definitely have some options,” VanVleet said.

As last season showed, options don’t stop growing in November. Brown and Wamukota both went through periods of invisibility before blossoming late in the season.

In four months, much can change when so many talents are dividing 200 minutes of playing time. Options, choices, decisions, many to be made. Most of them look good and seem to lead to Texas.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 9:34 AM with the headline "Paul Suellentrop breaks down the Shocker men’s basketball team."