Wichita State's practice habits change in February as coaches prepare for tournaments in March

It is not unusual for Ron Baker, Fred VanVleet and other Wichita State veterans to take a seat and watch practice. While they don’t particularly enjoy sitting, it is February and preserving their legs for March is more important than another drill.

“I have to try to keep them out of drills,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “They’d be in every drill every day. Let somebody else have a shot.”

This is the time when the Shockers cut back on practices and do more film work and individual drills. With a busy week, WSU took Tuesday off after Monday's game and practiced about 90 minutes on Wednesday before Thursday’s game. The routine is similar around the Missouri Valley Conference. WSU (20-7, 13-2 MVC) plays at Indiana State (13-14, 7-8) on Sunday as the Shockers close in on their third consecutive MVC title.

The Shockers looked rejuvenated in big wins over New Mexico State and Missouri State after a loss to Northern Iowa. Indiana State is on a four-game losing streak.

“We’ve tried resting them more, we’ve tried switching some things up in practice, doing things away from here as a team to try and get us back to what we need,” Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said.

WSU is insulated from some of the fatigue issues because of its depth. Baker (31.4 minutes a game) is the only Shocker above 30 minutes and eight others play more than 15 minutes. In conference play, no Shocker ranks among the 10 busiest players.

Baker and Fred VanVleet, who both average under 30 minutes in MVC games, spent part of the summer in Pan Am Games tryouts. Baker made the team and played in five games in July in Canada. Neither points to the busy summer as particularly taxing on their legs.

“I had most of August to rest from that and (Marshall) did a good job of letting me relax,” Baker said. “This stretch in February is when I start getting kind of fatigued. What I do like is after Arch Madness we get plenty of time to rest before the NCAA Tournament and we definitely take advantage of that.”

VanVleet sat out most practices in November and missed four games with a strained left hamstring. When he tires, he traces it back to that time and conditioning that he missed.

“I got too much rest,” he said. “My body wears down and my hamstring fatigues a lot faster than it should if it wasn’t hurt.”

While Baker and VanVleet are dealing with years of wear, Bradley coach Brian Wardle is trying to nurse 10 freshmen through their first season.

“You’ve got to have a relationship with your players, talk to them one-on-one, get them to open up,” Wardle said. “I’m very cautious, talking to trainers, your doctors. We’ve got a lot of freshmen who have played a ton of minutes.”

Wardle cuts back on scrimmages and contact drills, which he views as the most tiring work, as early as late January.

“What wears kids out … is the contact,” he said. “The hitting, the scrimmaging, the rebounding drills. Even though we’re a young team and we need as many reps as we can, I still think that if I practice too long or scrimmage too long or rep, rep, rep, I’m really not giving us a chance to compete at a high level. We’ll be too physically worn down.”

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Wichita State's practice habits change in February as coaches prepare for tournaments in March."