McDuffie fills his dance card for Shockers
Wichita State freshman Markis McDuffie is the team leader when it comes to the pregame dance portion of the competition. It is McDuffie’s role to enter the middle of the huddle to gyrate, twist and wave his arms while his teammates chant and sway around him.
“It’s just a little thing to get hyped,” he said. “I’m always the one dancing on the team. I’m not saying I’m a good dancer, I just like to. I just magically became the guy in the huddle.”
McDuffie is the natural choice, still enough of a kid to handle that task and remind the Shockers to have fun while playing.
“That’s who Markis is as a person,” sophomore Rashard Kelly said. “He fits it perfectly. If you walk in the locker room, he always the one playing the music, doing his dances.”
Hey, roommate — Arizona center Kaleb Tarczewski roomed with Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet last summer during the Team USA tryouts in Colorado Springs.
“I just remember being stuck in those little dorms for the USA thing, his legs handing halfway off the bed, trying to get some rest,” VanVleet said. “We bonded pretty well. We’ll remain friends, but when it’s time to play, it’s time to play.”
Tarczewski and WSU’s Ron Baker both made the team, which earned a bronze medal in the Pan Am Games in Canada.
“I know those two individuals are the ultimate competitors,” Tarczewski said.
Send me an Angel — Former Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez is playing in the South Regional after he helped lead Miami to a No. 3 seed. The Hurricanes, ranked No. 10 in the final regular-season Associated Press poll, play Buffalo on Thursday at 5:50 p.m.
Rodriguez played in the NCAA Tournament both years he was at K-State, in 2012 and in 2013, when the Wildcats won a Big 12 co-championship but were upset in their opening game by LaSalle in Kansas City, Mo.
Rodriguez decided to transfer shortly after the loss to LaSalle and had to sit out the 2013-14 season.
“I have a lot of good memories from K-State,” Rodriguez said. “But the relationships I’ve built at Miami ... it’s been far beyond just basketball.”
Rodriguez is the Hurricanes’ unquestioned leader, is second on the team in scoring at 11.7 points and leads the team in assists (4.4) and steals (1.5).
“I think Angel just has a lot of fun when he plays,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “And his teammates pick up on that. They catch onto that attitude and it’s contagious. It’s really been a great thing having him here.”
Westward no — Wichita State isn’t likely to compete with Arizona for many recruits, and not necessarily because the Wildcats are from a Power Five conference.
It’s because the Shockers have never signed a player from west of the Rockies in Gregg Marshall’s nine seasons. The only player on their roster from one of those states in that time was Graham Hatch, who was signed by former coach Mark Turgeon.
On the flip side, there are only three players on Arizona’s roster who aren’t from Pac-12 country, and all three have Kansas ties. Tarczewski is from Claremont, N.H., and picked the Wildcats over Kansas in a fierce recruiting battle. Junior guard Kadeem Allen was the NJCAA Player of the Year in 2014 at Hutchinson Community College and is from Wilmington, N.C..
Sophomore center Dusan Ristic played for WSU assistant coach Kyle Lindsted at Sunrise Christian Academy and is from Novi Sad, Serbia.
“I had absolutely no understanding of how to play defense when I came to America,” Ristic said. “(Lindsted) was the first coach to explain to me the differences between the European game and the American game. I owe him a lot ... he was the first coach who really got on me about defense and I’m grateful for it.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 9:28 PM with the headline "McDuffie fills his dance card for Shockers."