Wichita State coaches asking for, and seeing, more from guard Conner Frankamp

Wichita State is almost one month into the task of finding a point guard.

There is plenty of time and plenty of candidates for coaches to evaluate between now and the August exhibition trip to Canada. Junior Conner Frankamp and redshirt freshman Landry Shamet own some advantages with experience, although neither can be considered wealthy in playing time at the position.

For Frankamp, summer practices offer a chance for him to show more aggressiveness and create offense, a role he ceded to Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker last season. Shamet missed most of last season with a foot injury after a promising start.

“Conner is doing a much better job of, first of all, communicating and defending at that position,” WSU assistant coach Greg Heiar said on Tuesday’s Missouri Valley Conference coaches call. “He’s doing a better job of taking more chances and seeing the floor better and making others better.”

Frankamp played in 28 games last season after joining the Shockers in late December 2014 to practice after transferring from Kansas, and largely played shooting guard. His careful ball-handling — five turnovers in 479 minutes — satisfied coaches, while leaving a bit of an empty feeling. He bothered defenses with his shooting threat, but rarely attacked with drives to the basket.

“He’s more aggressive, but he’s still not turning the ball over, so that’s a great sign,” said Heiar, who subbed for a vacationing Gregg Marshall on the conference call. “We always say ‘More, Conner, more, we need more, we want more, you can do more.’ He’s trying to do more.”

Shamet played in three games before undergoing surgery to to repair a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal in his left foot. By the end of the season, he was allowed to do some drills.

“Landry Shamet gives us great size at the position; he can really defend the position,” Heiar said. “His ball-handling has improved tremendously. I think the sit-out year helped him a lot because he was able to do a lot of ball-handling while he recovered from his foot injury. Those two guys have really done a good job early of listening and buying in.”

Junior transfer Daishon Smith, senior J.R. Simon, who played in 25 games last season, and freshman Austin Reaves also play point. Reaves is sidelined from contact drills until late July or early August because of surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

“(Smith) is a game-changer with his speed and athleticism,” Heiar said. “He’s just got to continue to learn the system. (Simon) is doing a great job of leading and helping these younger guys.”

▪  The MVC is rarely spared from losing important players to transfer.

Earlier this week, senior-to-be Bola Olaniyan hit Southern Illinois with an early summer jolt. He asked to be released from his scholarship after starting 26 games and averaging 7.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. He would have been the top returning rebounder in the Valley.

He joins a recent list of prominent departures that includes Reggie Lynch (Illinois State to Minnesota), Rayvonte Rice (Drake to Illinois), Marcus Marshall (Missouri State to Nevada) and Jordan Caroline (Southern Illinois to Nevada). For some coaches, the end of the season means re-recruiting the roster and staying vigilant through the summer.

“When a kid has a little bit of adversity, he doesn’t want to fight through it and everybody starts chirping in his ear, saying ‘They’re doing you wrong,’ ” SIU coach Barry Hinson said. “We’re becoming a helicopter-parenting society and it’s driving me nuts. I think this all started gradually with social media. Everything was instant gratification.”

Valley coaches do benefit from transfers.

Evansville is counting on forward Ryan Taylor, who averaged 8.1 points at Ohio as a freshman, as a part of the rotation this season. Guard Clayton Custer transferred from Iowa State to Loyola and may break into the starting lineup. Guard Marques Townes is sitting out this season at Loyola after transferring from Fairleigh Dickinson, where he averaged 11.5 points and 3.9 rebounds as a freshman.

▪  Custer, an All-Class 6A pick at Blue Valley Northwest, could help the Ramblers by relieving senior Milton Doyle of some ball-handling duties. Custer played little during his freshman season at Iowa State and redshirted last season at Loyola.

“He’s a true point and he can really shoot it,” Ramblers coach Porter Moser said. “We’re counting on him a lot. He’s going to have to give us some of that veteran leadership. I love his leadership.”

Doyle, who earned MVC Newcomer and Freshman of the Year honors in 2014, is one of the Valley’s top returners. But injuries and inconsistent play slowed the trajectory of his career. Moser said Doyle is hitting the weight room this summer.

“We had a very honest conversation about his (junior) year,” Moser said. “He had to dedicate himself to the weight room. He really never made the jump, strength-wise and body-weight-wise, that he’s had to make since his freshman year. He’s pretty much the same weight. He’s doing so much better.”

▪  Wichita State has plenty of company from teams replacing major parts of its lineup. Evansville lost four of its top five scorers, most prominently All-MVC center Egidijus Mockevicius and All-MVC guard D.J. Balentine.

MVC Sixth-Man of the Year Mislav Brzoja decided to skip his final season to play professionally, leaving guard Jaylon Brown and forward Marty Simmons as the top returners.

Simmons is counting on Taylor and returner Boo Gibson, who sat out last season with a knee injury. He started 23 games in 2014-15 as a sophomore.

“(Taylor) can score the basketball in a lot of different ways,” Simmons said. “He has learned to move without the basketball and read defenses. He’s got good length at 6-foot-4, 6-4. I think he’s got a chance to be really good for us. Boo … he’s a great rebounder for a guard. He brings another dimension to our team and our ability to get out and defend.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Wichita State coaches asking for, and seeing, more from guard Conner Frankamp."