Wichita State – Accomplishing Goals

(St. Louis, MO) – Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall is a goal driven coach. He told me once, “our goal is to win championships.” Sunday he told media members his program is filled with quality players that want to work hard and accomplish team goals.

Sunday provided another accomplished goal. Just eight days ago the Shockers locked up their fourth straight regular season championship and Sunday they hauled in their second MVC Tournament title in Marshall’s ten years in Wichita.

This is a team and a program that loves a challenge, hates to lose and accomplishes goals. Rashard Kelly and Conner Frankamp believe the team’s mid-January loss to Illinois State has made them a better team and Marshall said Sunday’s win was a thorough victory.

 

 

There was hard work and there were some strategic changes. Marshall and his coaching staff decided that freshman Landry Shamet had to take over the ball-handling duties.

“But the turning point, I think, if you had to pick one thing, would have been giving Landry Shamet the ball and him running the point,” said Marshall. “He’s been really good. Conner’s (Frankamp) really come on, as you’ve written about. I think it’s pretty clear he’s playing with a different level of confidence and moxie and shooting the ball brilliantly.”

Marshall can come off as surly and we know that he is demanding and expects maximum effort from his players, but Frankamp says his coach drives his players to improve as athletes and people, and that his strategies are effective.

 

 

As the Shockers await their NCAA Tournament bracket assignment, many are pondering the potential of this edition of ‘play angry’. It’s quite possible this team is as good as any Marshall has coached. The winningest coach in Shocker history agrees.

“You know, again, we had an undefeated team, and we have a team that went to the Final Four. This team’s comparable. It really is,” said Marshall. “We’ve got so many weapons defensively. We play hard, try to play smart. My coaching staff does a great job. We’ve got some really, really bright minds breaking down the film and developing game plans. We’re very deep. We’re very deep, pretty big, athletic, skilled, and talented. It’s a good formula. And they’re fun to coach. They really are a lot of fun to coach. I enjoy coaching them. They’re great kids. They’re great young people. They represent us very, very well.”

Valley Hoops Insider is looking forward to the damage that is yet to be done by this Shocker team.

Do Good