Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall prepares to evaluate Shockers in Canada

In 2011 in Brazil, Ede Egharevba scored 14 points to lead Wichita State to its first win in a five-game exhibition tour. Egharevba played in a rotation that included Adam Hasty and Ron Baker, none of whom played a game in that 2011-12 season for the Shockers.

On Saturday, Wichita State starts a four-game exhibition tour in Canada and coach Gregg Marshall will again experiment with lineups. He is looking for answers at almost every position after the departure of five seniors, including guards Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet, from last season’s NCAA Tournament participants. After almost two months of practice, he likes his team’s physical attributes and will judge the rest after watching the games.

“I would be most pleased with our athleticism and length (which is) improved from last year,” he said. “Hopefully that will equate to better defense and better rebounding. They are, in their own right … they’re talented, but they’re new. That’s why we elected to take this (tour) this year.”

The 2011-12 Shockers — without Egharevba and Hasty, both of whom quit the team before the season — won the Missouri Valley Conference and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The 2016-17 Shockers are also stocked with unfamiliar names for coaches to evaluate.

“Everyone is going to play,” Marshall said. “You’ll play the guys that you’re counting on the most to prepare them well for the season. There will probably be that game when we can play only the guys that are buried toward the end of the bench right now.”

The process of replacing VanVleet at point guard (as well as Baker, who also played point) hits a new gear against the University of Quebec at Montreal in the UQAM Sports Complex. Marshall is satisfied with the work of junior Conner Frankamp and newcomer Daishon Smith, a junior transfer, through the summer.

“(Daishon) has got some qualities that are very good, he’s very fast, very quick to the ball,” Marshall said. “He’s learned well —I’m not saying he 100 percent has the system down, but he’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do. Conner Frankamp has been very steady, taking care of the ball and, obviously, knocking down shots.”

Freshman Landry Shamet, who redshirted last season after having surgery on his left foot, is playing mostly at shooting guard. Freshman Austin Reaves is recovering from shoulder surgery and is held out of 5-on-5 action since returning to practice on July 23, Marshall said.

“We’re being very cautious with (Reaves), but he’s looked good,” Marshall said.

As of Monday, the Shockers had used eight of their 10 full-team practices allowed with exhibition tours.

“They get an opportunity to hear our terminology, run our system offensively, defensively,” he said. “Practices are probably worth just as much as the games you’ll play.”

▪  Marshall said WSU considered playing in Spain, Italy and the Caribbeans for the tour. For competitive and safety reasons, he is pleased to settle on Canada.

“There’s so much going on the world, you hopefully go somewhere where it’s safe, get some good games in and get back here,” he said. “We’ve been told the games that we’re playing have done very well, represented themselves very well, against other teams recently that have gone on tours.”

Many of those other tours also require organizers to import teams of questionable abilities. Marshall knows the three Canadian universities WSU will face are used to playing NCAA competition.

Carleton, Sunday’s opponent in Ottawa, has won six straight Canadian Interuniversity Sport titles. The Ravens will play seven NCAA Division I teams, including Seton Hall and Akron, in August. Last year, Carleton lost to Murray State 63-59, Baylor 80-78 and Texas Tech 67-60. It defeated Valparaiso 77-59 and Baylor 79-73.

McGill lost games to Valparaiso (80-60) and Texas Tech (54-46).

▪  Neither Reaves nor freshman guard C.J. Keyser will play in Canada.

Reaves had shoulder surgery in March to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. A stress injury in his right foot sidelined Keyser in June. He is not cleared to practice.

▪  Walk-on Kaelen Malone has joined the roster. Malone, a 6-foot sophomore, played in 24 games for McLellan (Texas) and averaged 3.2 points. He is from McKinney, Texas.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall prepares to evaluate Shockers in Canada."