Wichita State’s Landry Shamet eases his way back into practice jersey and rehab drills

On Thursday, Landry Shamet looked like a Wichita State basketball player again.

He wore full practice gear — jersey and shorts — for the first time since late November, when a stress fracture and surgery on his left foot sidelined him. Shamet isn’t practicing, but he is doing enough non-contact drills and rehab work that he can dress for rehearsal like the rest of the team.

“My practice uniform was getting a little dusty,” he said. “It feels great.”

Thursday, he joined warmups before practice. He can shoot and run and do agility work under care of trainer Todd Fagan. His foot feels fine. His ankle, weakened by months of inactivity, needs strengthening.

Shamet’s decision is still a week or so away.

He can choose to play again this season, or he can elect to continue a slower rehab pace and apply for a medical hardship after the season. He played in three games before the injury, well within the NCAA’s 30-percent cutoff for games played. WSU must submit paperwork to the Missouri Valley Conference that shows an “incapacitating injury” for the season, so a return to full practices, even for a few weeks, would damage his case.

Coach Gregg Marshall and Shamet briefly discussed options last month when Shamet got out of his walking boot. They decided it didn’t make much sense to discuss options until mid-February. When Shamet does decide, factors such as playing time, his conditioning, other injuries on the team and number of remaining games will be considered.

Marshall compared the process to the Christmas tree lights that govern the staged start to a drag race. The discussion can wait until the green light is imminent. When the yellow staging light comes on, Shamet, his mother and the coaches will start talking about how his first run at a freshman season should end.

“The easy answer is “I want (Shamet) to have the best career that you can have,’” Marshall said he told Shamet. “We’ve got to be very, very smart and when we all sit down, we’ve got to talk about all the factors and then it will be a group decision.”

Chief among the factors will be the state of the Shockers.

Entering Saturday, they were on a 12-game win streak with a rotation of nine players averaging 14 or more minutes. At Shamet’s guard positions, starters Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet will play every important minute until the season ends. Sophomore Connor Frankamp plays 17.6 minutes a game, shoots 35 percent from three-point range and rarely turns the ball over. Wings Zach Brown and Markis McDuffie are capable scorers and dynamic defenders.

Are there minutes for Shamet, enough to justify skipping roughly half a season, and how does a change in the rotation affect team chemistry?

In November, Shamet was WSU’s best freshman and started against Emporia State when VanVleet rested his strained hamstring. On Saturday, ESPN’s Jay Bilas called WSU a title contender because of its defense and the lack of dominant teams across the nation.

Could Shamet help the Shockers get to Houston for the Final Four in a season in which the bracket appears open to many possibilities? While he can help in many ways, of particular interest might be defending a big guard who who might pose a size problem for Frankamp.

Marshall and Shamet don’t need to ponder those questions publicly now. They will wait until the circumstances are upon them.

“We kind of threw the time-table out of the way,” Shamet said. “It’s more about how do I feel. As of now there’s no ‘I’ll be good on this date.’ ”

Constructing a stronger team — Last summer, WSU softball coach Kristi Bredbenner mailed “The Hard Hat” by Jon Gordon to her players. This spring, they each carry a yellow plastic hard hat to signify the teamwork lessons from the book.

“It’s all about showing up to work every day and giving it your all, not only for yourself, but for your teammates,” outfielder Brittany Fortner said. “You might be in the game and feeling tired because you just played four games. You look over and see the hard hat and it reminds you to keep working hard and it reminds you of all the things it said in the book.”

Bredbenner said last season’s Shockers possessed the talent to win the Valley. It lacked chemistry and a 1-7 start to conference play doomed it to a fourth-place finish. An 18-5 closing run gave WSU a 34-23 record, 16-11 in the MVC.

That came after the 2014 Shockers rolled to their first Valley title and entered 2015 as the favorite.

“Things start in the locker room first and if we can mesh well in the locker room, we’re going to mesh well in the field,” she said.

Coaches award stickers for the hard hat for accomplishments such as a good at-bat, smart base-running or hustle in practice.

“Even just like being a good teammate,” Bredbenner said. “There are going be kids out there that don’t get to play in a game, but their energy or maybe coming off the bench and getting a bit hit… it makes them feel like they’re a part of the team and contributing.”

WSU is again picked first in the MVC and Fortner expects the team to handle those expectations better than a year ago.

“We let it get to us,” she said. “We want to think of it more as a motivator as opposed to being scared of it and being afraid to lose.”

The Shockers open the season Friday against Colorado State and No. 24 Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.

Baseball waiver denied — Shockers pitcher Chase Williams is a senior after the NCAA denied WSU’s appeal for a medical hardship, according to associate athletic director Korey Torgerson.

WSU, last spring, applied to get Williams another season of eligibility based on injuries he suffered while in junior college. With none of those attempts successful, Williams will use his final season of eligibility this spring. The denial means Williams loses the possible leverage of another season of college should he be drafted again in June.

San Diego drafted Williams in the 25th round last June. He enters the spring expected to pitch in WSU’s weekend rotation.

Worth noting — WSU’s men’s track and field team is No. 9 in the Track and Field News National Dual Rankings. The women are No. 11.… WSU’s women’s tennis team opens its home schedule at 11 a.m. Sunday against North Texas at Wichita Country Club.… WSU’s men’s basketball game against Illinois State on Feb. 27 at Koch Arena will be on ESPN or ESPN2 with the time TBA.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Landry Shamet eases his way back into practice jersey and rehab drills."