Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Hello. Welcome to the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Sullentrop of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. Thank you very much for listening. Our guest today is Paul Mills, who's going to wrap up summer workouts with the Shockers. He is entering his third season as basketball coach at Wichita State. The Shockers played in the NIT last season, their first postseason birth since 2021. They went 19 and 15, a record highlighted by wins over Minnesota, Kansas State and went over Memphis and Coquerina. Paul Mills has 12 new Shockers. They join returners TJ Williams, Joy Igovoda and Henry Thangvall. So, Paul, let's take people through the summer schedule. How many weeks of practice do you get? How do you set up the workouts?
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Well, one, thanks for having me on. Two, I don't know if people, if you ever get a chance to come by Paul's office. This is Wichita State shrine in here from basketball to baseball. So this is my first time in here, so I'm enjoying this. The scenery is pretty good.
Summer is interesting.
When the guys get here, we get eight weeks with them. And so basically the way that the summer calendar works is pretty much in tune with the academic schedule.
You get a first semester of four weeks and then you get a second semester, in essence of four weeks. They go to school a little bit longer, usually go every day, usually for three or four hours in order to get the credits that are necessary than what we would be normal during a normal semester of 16 weeks. But we're pretty on par with that. So we get those eight weeks. We give them a couple of weeks to get acclimated. We only do individuals. We stay on tune. You end up with a lot of soft tissue issues. You get hamstrings and ankles. If you just, in my experience of just if you try to go into it day one, you're anxious to go into it day one, you want to get everything in. From a methodology standpoint, you kind of think through this, how do we teach? What are the things we need to cover? And I will tell you, with 12 new guys and only three returners, you're pretty simple.
And again, simple doesn't mean simplistic. Simple means these are the two or three things we're really going to emphasize, we're really going to cover. So that way, when we get into fall semester, which we are into now, we feel that, you know what, there's some basis that have been covered. And we feel like we're starting from a really good place because to be honest with you, not that the summer isn't important, but there's no scheduled team to play. You know, there isn't anything that everybody's kind of aiming for. It's really, how do we get acquainted with one another? How are we from a coaching standpoint? What do you understand the standards to be from where you came from, but you need to understand what they are here. And then it's a lot of acclimation into day to day activities. Who are my teammates?
We take them out to eat every Sunday evening, kind of book it into our four hours and really try to make sure that they get familiar with one another. Not only us as coaches on the floor, but also with their teammates.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: How much of what you do in practice is universal? Like, okay, Kenny and Giles did this at Greensboro or Brian Omanique did this at Fresno State. They know how to do these drills. They know the language. How much of it is unique to Paul Mills and Wichita State?
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot of it. Yeah. You know, I don't. This isn't the NBA. You know, I've always wondered the NBA, how a player could play on a Tuesday night, get traded to a team, and then be able to play on a Wednesday night with a different team. It's like you don't have any plays to learn. There's nothing. But there's a lot of similarities in how teams play in the NBA.
That's not the case when you're dealing with the 363 college teams. Everybody plays differently. And so I think from a terminology standpoint, I don't know if we use the same term. I'll give you an example. Like the very first day, I mean, practice number one, the very first thing we did was pick and roll defense. So we are walking through it. You show it to them on the film. You walk through it.
Will Berg, who's transferred from Purdue, is down there at the rim and he's yelling, low, low, low.
We tell our guys to yell rim, rim, rim.
And so that little bit of a nuance, man, I've been used to this for two years and I've used this terminology and it means the same thing. Low to us actually is an offensive call that we use for something else. And so I think all of that you're dealing with all of them who all come from different terminology, who they may have done pick and roll defense differently. You know, there's no one universal way. Whereas I would tell you in the NBA, you see drop coverage with their bigs, you really don't see anything else. And so people will change it up but from a fundamental standpoint and a base standpoint, that's what they do. So I think all of those little things, just trying to get everybody on the same page is quite a task, to be honest with you.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: So good that Wilburg was vocal and communicating. You just got to get him saying the right words.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know what?
We actually changed it, you know, just knowing that he was going to be in that. And we changed the terminology because we knew that that was something you were already familiar with. Right. And so there's a little adaptability from a coach's standpoint into what players are used to in order to make the ease of the synergy a little easier. And so there is adaptation on our part. It's just not on the players part that we need to kind of emphasize.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: You're wearing your Nike gear. And I need. I'm trying to ask every coach about Nike Shockers went to Nike on July 1st. What's that mean for your basketball program?
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Well, one, it's a wonderful brand. You know, I think it's a dominant brand in the game of basketball specifically.
They do a great job from a grassroots or probably a little further ahead than a lot of your newer teams that have come on. There's newer programs, Puma, New Balance that are trying to be established. But Nike Adidas have kind of been around for a while. But Nike does a tremendous job with their gear.
The players that you probably grew up rooting for. I grew up rooting for Michael Jordan.
You know, they don't have Converse anymore when Magic and Larry Bird were wearing Converse. But I would tell you that the players today, from a LeBron standpoint, that from a Giannis standpoint, guys that people usually cheer for are probably wearing Nike brand. There's other brands that do a phenomenal job, but Nike kind of is a big deal in the basketball world, so it helps. I personally like the gear. I'm used to it from my time at Baylor and my time at Oral Robert. So I've kept a lot of Nike gear over the years, so it's good to be able to break it out.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: It has been fun to see Dominic Elsner and Lucy Parson rolling around the department with boxes of Nike gear. I think they're the most popular people around, no doubt.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: I saw during the Black and Yellow gala that there were trucker hats with shockers on the front that were Nike that the golf team wears. And I was like, where do you get those? And so I have been introduced to some new things that I'm trying to Find and get myself.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: You've got all the good stuff. You have two new assistant coaches. I've seen Josh Eilert out there banging around with the big guys. He's new. P.J. kuznard, of course, people are familiar with he's new. What have these two added to the staff?
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah, one, PJ is familiar with Wichita. You know, he did a phenomenal job as a high school coach and would go in there. Even during my time at Oral Roberts, I was able to sign some guys that PJ had coached and grew up in Houston myself. And so I watched PJ when he played at Yates and was very familiar. Followed his career when he came to Wichita State, but just kind of have watched him coach, you know, through the years. I just thought he did a phenomenal job from a development standpoint, like just getting his guys better. You really didn't see a lot of guys when they were at legacy transfer. So it was kind of an indication to me that, you know what, these kids are very comfortable. From a parental standpoint, they're comfortable from a player standpoint, they're comfortable the development that they're receiving. And at the same time they're playing a national schedule and playing high level competition. And PJ did a phenomenal job. And I've always thought that, man, if ever there was an opening on my staff that, you know, there's a short list of names that you keep of people who do really good work that you admire, but actually visited with PJ about this a year prior and the timing of it just wasn't good. Wasn't good for him, wasn't good for us. And so when this situation came about, when T.J. cleveland left to go to Texas A and M, it was just talking through the staff, it was like, we got one name for you and it was pj and it was already on my mind. But it helps the fact that one, he's familiar with shocker basketball, he understands the standards that are here, and he has a vested interest in seeing this place move forward and propel forward. And so that was kind of a no brainer for us. And he's done a phenomenal job. Josh.
When Quincy A.C. decided to move back to Dallas and make a change, there was trying to find somebody who really had experience again. Quincy A.C. was terrific. I've known Quincy for, I've known him, he's 33 now. I don't know if he'll feel comfortable me telling that age right now, but I've known him since he was 15. So he watching his development through the years and just very comfortable. He did a phenomenal job. And so just trying to find somebody who could fill Quincy's shoes, but at the same time, I was also trying to find somebody who had experience, wanted to find somebody who's seen some things, who've been around the block, who's been in different circumstances. We were the number one rebounding team in our league, and I wanted somebody who I knew could do a good job carrying that on. Quincy handled a big load of that for us and wanted to find somebody who could kind of move forward and carry on just understanding the significance of rebounding. You don't have to go much further than Bob Huggins and their ability to rebound. And so his 17 years with coach Huggins, who's a Hall of Fame coach and then also having head coach experience, and so he understands what it's like to sit where I sit, you know, to wear the same shoes that I've worn. And so he gets it. And so he's been tremendous. He's a Kansas native, which really helps, but really happy, excited to have Josh and his family here, Brandy and then their three children, to have all those guys here. And he's been invested in chomping at the bit since day one.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Josh, you mentioned from Kansas, played at Kansas State, was a GA there, I believe, with Bob Huggins, West Virginia for a long time. And then at Utah, you mentioned the rebounding. So the Shockers really played well over the last month of last season. That that's what got them into the nit. They ranked fourth in the American during conference games and defensive efficiency, first in rebounding percentages. You mentioned you've talked about maintaining that identity kind of first and foremost this summer. What's the practice drill that really says, this is what we're about? We're about defense here. What's your favorite one to really set that tone?
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a couple of them I've stole. We're all thieves. You know, I'm reminded of a pastor who told me one time that he was going to write a book, Sermons I Preach from other thieves.
You know, I think the same thing is true of plays, you know, plays that I stole from other thieves. Drills I stole. So we do the bubble drill, which, you know, Coach Sampson at Houston has kind of been a big proponent of. And if you ever come to one of our practice, there's a bubble that sits on and there's different arc shapes on the bubble, so you don't know which way the ball's going to ricochet And. And we've got a point system in order to understand how you get points. The ball can't go in. It's literally a sphere on top of the goal that can be penetrated via basketball. So I enjoy that one. That one. You have to kind of be mindful of what time of year you're doing it because it is a really physical drill. So it's not something you do, in my opinion, a day before a game and then all of a sudden you lose a player or two. Because there is a chance you're going to lose somebody after doing that drill, just given the nature and physicality of it. But that one helps. The biggest thing, I think, from a rebounding is the accountability. You know, I think that we could all come up with drills. It's not hard. A lot of people could probably go on YouTube and find something. YouTube has a huge library of things that. That people could do. And I'm sure a lot of coaches can find things on there that, you know, lend itself to being a better rebounding team from a drill perspective. But the bigger issue is accountability. And so that's actually the first numbers we show the players after every game. And this is how we hold you accountable from a defensive rebounding and an offensive rebounding. And then there's consequences if you meet your number or don't meet your number. And so there's praise if you meet it. There's consequences if you don't. So all of that to be said. Yeah, there are drills that do a great job, but it's. You are what you emphasize, and we've put a great deal of emphasis on it. And then we need to make sure we have the caliber of players, too. And it's kind of why we added some of the guys that we did. We just feel really good about what they can bring to us in order to secure the basketball from. From. I'm not going to get too wonky on you here with. With basketball, but, you know, every rebound is an offensive rebound. You know, it could continue your possession if you're on offense, or it could ignite and start your offense on the other end. And so you just really got to get guys in the habit of getting to the basketball, swarming to the basketball. And it's not that other people aren't.
Don't have the capability to prevent you. It's just how quickly or is that brain working in order to. You need to start before the other person does. And while being mindful about what's occurring on the perimeter. So all of that to say there's a great deal of emphasis on it and not only during the game, but also afterwards.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Which of the shockers has really helped you in emphasizing defense and rebounding?
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Yeah, Karam Boyd, you know, coming into it, is already defensive player of the year from his previous place. You know, when he was at East Tennessee State, he was a Southern Conference defensive player of the year.
That's kind of rare.
You know, when you see guys who are defensive player of the year, they're usually bigs and they're guys who are, you know, have a ton of block shots, they can alter shots or sometimes you'll see it from guards, you know, guards who have high steal rates and are really, you know, can really pester the ball 94ft and cause problems. So Karan at 6:40 foot 5 and his ability to not only rebound but his ability to stay at his size with his level of physicality is pretty impressive. So I would tell you from a guard perspective, Caron does. And then the, the bigs that we have, Wilburg, Emmanuel, Noah, they, they all have done a tremendous job. Noah is really good on offense. Of he, he can, he's a top of the square athlete. So he can go get basketballs that some players just do not have the ability to get. And then you also see it with Will and Emmanuel, they can go get what we would call city rebounds rather than suburban rebounds. Suburban rebounds are ones that are below the rim. City rebounds are the guys that are snatching them above. They both have that ability and they've done a phenomenal job at being able to secure a basketball via two hands, which is a pretty big emphasis when you're going through this process.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: So anecdotally it feels like I see more people in the gym shooting early in the morning. I felt like there have been pickup games when there have not been pickup games in the past. I know you've talked about this group's competitive spirit, love for basketball. Other people that I've talked to around the program echo that. What stood out about this group's enthusiasm for basketball this summer?
[00:17:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, going back to the first week here, you know, guys get in on a small Saturday, Sunday they get moved in, they're pretty busy during the course of the week and then Friday night rolls around and I can just tell you as a coach, you're like, oh man, when you don't know guys, you're like, what's going to happen here? Do they want to see all the things that Wichita has to offer? Are they low key guys and they're just going to stay in and they're going to watch movies. But this group, they had organized a pickup game. And at 7 o' clock I know Keandre Kendall, who's won a state championship.
I'll tell a quick story about. We call him Dre, Dre Kendall. When he was at Barton, he would come down. It's if people are familiar where Barton is in relationship to wichita, it's about 2 plus in order to get here. And he would come down and be here on Fridays and he would get here at 10, so he would leave somewhere around 7:30 at his place, get here at 10 and he would work out till 1.
Just wanted to be in the environment, wanted to be in Kokarina. And so he was doing that when his season was over and would take the time and you know, here we go another two and a half hours back in order to get back to where I need to be. So taking these five hour round trips. He organized the Friday night gym, from what I understand. And they played until well after 10pm Wilbur ended up spraining his ankle. I didn't even care.
It was, you know, you were really excited about the fact that you had players that don't necessarily just like basketball.
They love it. You know, they want to spend time doing it. Dre is one of those guys and the fact that he has the influence and the leadership ability to get an entire team to show up on a Friday night. And this is how we're going to spend our Friday night. I can tell you from a coach perspective, it was a pretty proud moment and one that instantly shared with our staff about their level of investment, and not only investment, but their willingness to engage with one another.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: The aftershocks, a big topic of conversation around here this summer. What was your view of those games and how that can help Wichita State basketball?
[00:19:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I was here for all of them except for the first one. And it was fun just to watch the crowd go, you know, each time out we were fortunate to be able to play those guys.
And you know, you just knew that, man, they had perimeter players, they had bigs that were, had the ability in order to impact the game. They had a number of guys who had versatility defensively. And so after playing those guys, it was our players versus theirs. As a coach, I wasn't allowed to be a part of it. So, you know, was mindful of it going on, but I was kind of curious about, I wonder how good they are. So when they go on to win the championship. That was A little refreshing just because I know how competitive our guys were against them. But at the same time it was, you know, I've been in the opponent's locker room when I was the head coach at Oral Roberts. So I've walked out into Koch arena and I've seen, you know, what this place looks like full and didn't matter who it was you were playing. It was fun to watch the support grow, you know, the more that the team won. And to be honest with you, I think that's kind of what is occurring in the Nil era.
These are players that, you know, I'm not telling you the guys that played at TBT were given a lot of money to come play, but, you know, they were given compensated in order to take, you know, two, three weeks in order to show up here and then to be able to ignite a community. I've always felt that during my time here, like we are sitting on gunpowder. Like if we can win, we can ignite this. You know, the city of Wichita loves basketball. They love the Shockers. And it was fun to see that via the TBT and to watch that being here Saturday at that 3 o' clock or Sunday at that 3 o' clock game, that was really fun. It was an enjoyable experience. And I'm really happy for all of those guys, from Zach to Garrett to, you know, J.R. you just watch all of those guys, how invested they were and then to see the players and then to see the crowd and you need all of that, right? You, you need to make sure from a coaching, from a playing and then the, the. The fans adding that ability, it's what makes this place as special as it is not only locally, but nationally.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: That was a lot, a lot of fun. No doubt. You will not see every arena with 9,000 plus on a, on a Sunday afternoon in August. Let's talk about the center position. You've mentioned Will Berg, Emmanuel Okorafor. They're the experienced big men. They seem to have different skills. Tell us how they complement each other.
[00:22:25] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, we have the ability to kind of be able to play both. I will tell you that Will can step out and can be on the perimeter, does a good job with dhos, just being able to handle the basketball up top and go into dribble handoffs and then has the physicality in order to just. He's capable as a passer, which was one of the things that was really intriguing when you watch him coming out of Purdue. Some of the decisions that he made. And then he also has stretchability I mean he shot four threes during our time during the summer when we went up and down and he's four for four. I think this may, this is going to break the streak because once you start talking about a streak they eventually start missing shots. But he's plenty capable in order to step out and do that. And so Emmanuel's kind of your rugged, big, better physically and what I mean by that, faster, you know, like he can get up and down the court with a great deal of speed. Giving a guy his size. Every Friday we run six minute miles and that's not an easy thing to do for guys that size. I think will the very first time he ran was at the 554, 556 mark and it was wow. You know, here you have a seven foot two guy. Being able to have that level of mobility and speed is pretty impressive. But then you go to Emmanuel and Emanuel's in the five and a half range and it's pretty impressive with just how well they move. They've gotten better and better at their mile times over the course of the year and it's kind of an indicator of the shape that's needed and necessary. But I would tell you that Emmanuel's lateral is also really special and then he's got physicality, finish around the rim. Was really impressed with how he handled things at Seton hall out of pick and roll and we feel that there's going to be some synergy of what he did previously because he's been taught well in order to come in and be able to add that pretty quickly to us.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: And you mentioned Noah Hill who I really enjoyed, really enjoyed talking with him. He's got a big personality and that I've enjoyed watching him freshman Sunrise Christian Academy. But boy, I would see him against those two older, bigger, more experienced guys and he would bang with them and was not backing down.
Tell the fans a little bit about Noah.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what you love about Noah is he has zero back down to him. He just doesn't have the library of knowledge right now in order to kind of understand everything that's going on on the court. And that happens. He hasn't been playing is solely basketball for longer than a two year period. But he has the intangibles, you know, he does not back down.
Quincy AC we went and watched him and I remember the first time we were watching him at sunrise and I was sitting there with Quincy. I said, you know who he reminds me of? And he said, who? And I said, you like Quincy When I first saw him when he was young, was just really raw, but he only knew one thing, and that was how do I rip the hinges off this backboard every time I dunk the ball? That is Noah Hill. He's got the same mentality. He's approached this really well, been really impressed with who he is. I'm just from a character perspective, you have to measure up. If you have bad character kids, when things get hard, they're going to quit on you. That's just because they just don't have the fortitude. He has had wonderful support, has wonderful parents, and more importantly, though, he has brought lessons from home and the lessons he's learned at sunrise. And he's got zero quit in him. And it's hard a lot of times for freshmen, and you always wonder about their resiliency, like, do they have the ability to bounce back after a bad day or a bad segment? And he's shown nothing but upwards in regards to how he's handled things. And he's been on the up and up and just had a great attitude and really, really excited about Noah Hill and what he's going to be as a player and what he can add this year.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: So we talked about defensive and defense and rebounding. That's what coaches like to talk about. Now we'll talk about the fun stuff. You've talked a lot about being a better shooting team, a better scoring team. Take us through some of the shockers who are going to help you in that regard.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, going back and looking at the leagues of Florida two years ago, who won the conference, they were number one defensively and they were the number one shooting team. And then last year, Memphis was the number one team defensively, but they were the number two shooting team. We knew we had to address what we were doing, you know, from a perimeter standpoint, I kind of thought, you know, the first two years I thought we would be. Be better from a shooting perspective than what the numbers actually indicated. And so we'll see. But I do feel that getting three guys on our team and Kenyon Giles, Michael Gray, Brian, who comes to us from Fresno State, you know, Brian is a freshman, shot. All of those guys were north of 40%. They all shot better than 40%. As, you know, Brian as a freshman, and then the other two having a lot more experience.
So I think that helps. And then I think guys get better. You know, guys have improved. Guys get better during the course of the summer.
But we need to address some shooting. What happens is, is if you don't have shooting, those lanes get really tight, people start to plug and they're in gaps a lot heavier in order to stop penetration. Then the other thing it does, it just doesn't allow you to throw the ball into the post because the floor is shrunk so so much that it's hard to enter the ball in. It's hard to get it to the rim. We were still number one in the country at getting shots at the rim, 35%. So I felt like we played with a lot of force. That's going to allow you to get to the free throw line. And so a layup is your best shot. Free throws are your second best shot. But then you have to be able to make open shots. And I do feel like we've been able to do that. I think that it's going to make defenses be a little bit more extended, which is allow us to going to give us opportunities. Throw the ball in the post because we do feel like we have capable guys and then at the same time give guys driving angles. Because we do think that we have some guys who have downhill ability. And I would tell you that we have some guys that I just named Kenyon specifically who have both. They have the ability to play downhill as well as make open shots not only off the catch but off the bounce.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: You mentioned Brian Amouni.
I hope I'm pronouncing that right.
He scored 11 or more points in nine of his final 14 games last season at Fresno State.
What was the improvement connected to and how did his summer go?
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Yeah, when you. Brian got more of an opportunity. He was a freshman going in his high school coach Ray Barfield ended up being an assistant at Fresno State and just really spoke about his work ethic, his commitment to getting better as a player and spending the time necessary in order to get better as a player. And he just said from the time we started in September to once you got to January, Brian had turned himself into a better player. They had some issues that came up that allowed for Brian to get into the starting lineup and begin to play. And then I just thought he played with confidence. And you hear this a lot from a lot of coaches, especially when you're dealing with with Gen Z is if you'll just give him confidence. If you'll just give him confidence. And I don't have any magic power in order to make that happen. A lot of it's going to be decided on what you're telling yourself, number one. And then number two, the work that you're putting in and he's approached this with the right mentality. And then at the same time, he puts in the work. But he, at his size at, you know, legit 6 foot 5, has the ability to shoot. And he's been able to do something off of the bounce, too. We're a little surprised by that. Just didn't see that necessarily in the film at Fresno State, so. And then as you mentioned earlier about coming in the gym, I mean, he's been faithful and in spending the time necessary in order to allow himself to get shots. And when you're down there and you're watching open gym, he's.
There's a comfortability with him of just being out there offensive.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: Yeah, he's one of the guys on this team. When he shoots it, I believe it. But Kenyon in that group and Michael Gray, I think there's some guys that you really like seeing shoot the ball. You mentioned Caron Boyd, really good defensive player. He can play on the wing, he can run the offense some. For you, describe his role on the team and how it evolved over the summer.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: I mean, we have two seniors that we know in Karam Boyd and Kenyon Giles. And I just think there's a leadership that comes with it. You know, he started out at a Division 2 school and then turned himself into a heck of a player at East Tennessee State. And then I just. You've always seen him kind of level up because of the work, but he's a terrific leader. You know, I go back to leadership is influence, and you have bad leaders, people who influence negatively, and then you have people who influence positively. He steps on the court and he understands. Understands like I'm here to influence this positively. And we talked to him about being more of a facilitator because we did recognize his ability to pass during the course of the year. So we've really worked on his ability to facilitate from the one spot. So can kind of give us some leeway to play some other guys off the ball so they don't feel a lot of the heat with constantly handling it. Specifically Michael and Kenyon Giles, and both of those guys can. Can. Can play the point too. All of that to say he stepped into a new role and he's embraced it wholeheartedly while not.
Not losing the fact that, you know, my expertise is on the defensive end. And he's been able to add and expand components of his games offensively, but still be a force defensively in order to really impact the game.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: You mentioned the scrimmage with the. After one of the highlights that I enjoyed. TJ Williams, redshirt freshman for the Shockers from Heights High, drove to the basket, scored over through against Rashard Kelly and to me that was a. That was kind of a significant milestone in a pickup game. Tell us about TJ's summer and how he's going to help this team.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: TJ's great. You know, I think people who've watched his career from Wichita and know about the things that he does did at Wichita Heights in order to, you know, not only be the player of the year in the state of Kansas, but just the victories that he was able to accumulate during his time there. Some pretty significant ones.
It's fun to watch him because I think that when you're a freshman, you just, you do not know what's happening. Like it's just happening so fast. There's bigger. You're no longer the best player on the team, but you know, you have some level of capability. And you watched him do that like it's hard, it really is to not get down mentally. And I just thought that we called him the. I Forget it was Seal Team 6, that we had a 6am group every morning that would come in and lift. That was kind of. TJ kind of orchestrated a lot of that. And you know, during the course of the six season, I'm not playing, I'm red shirting, but I'm still engaged. I'm still making sure that I'm doing the things necessary in order to wake up and invest in me in order to be able to contribute down the road. So I'm really happy for him. I thought he was terrific in that pickup game, you know, against the, the TBT team. But I also know how invested he is just given the fact that he's from here and has seen the Shockers up close. And I think he, I think last year really helped him, but I also think that he's ready for a breakout year from a freshman. Just an impact on our league.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: TJ won one 6A title at Heights and I believe they finished second two other years. At least one other year. They were always, always up there in Class 6. A biggest surprise of the summer.
[00:34:44] Speaker B: I didn't know that Emmanuel is better than I thought.
You know, I had big expectations, so I don't want to downplay that. You know, I didn't think that the kid was good, but Emmanuel Corafor is better than I actually thought he was. And that's a consensus amongst our staff. Like, I didn't know that he was that mobile. He's more mobile than I gave him credit for. And that's what you have to do. You have to see these guys up close. And then I think there was more solidification about everything else. Like, I knew Kenyon Giles could score.
He can score. You know, I knew Caron Boyd could defend. He can. He can defend.
I knew that Wilburg had a level of rebounding. I knew Dylan Batee was fast. I knew TJ had made strides. So there was a lot of solidification. I think as a coach, you kind of think through, you're not going to be perfect, but at the same time, this isn't baseball. To where we count success. You get it right three out of 10 times, but you kind of think through some of the misses. And we've evaluated the misses, but we've done pretty well on. On the guys that have come in. And so you're. When. When you watch it, you sometimes are like, all right, did we miss on somebody? And I would. And I'm not just saying this because I'm on a podcast now and this is public, but I wouldn't. Previous years say, oh, there may be a guy or two that, you know, I don't know if he's ready just yet. I honestly, I mean, we brought in 12 new guys.
I'm not telling you that everybody's ready for an American Conference game right now, but in regards to our expectations, I think everybody's been on point, but Emmanuel Corafori is better than what I anticipated.
[00:36:29] Speaker A: You may have just answered this. June 1, August 1, who made the most progress over the summer?
[00:36:35] Speaker B: I thought Joy did a really good job. You know, I think Joy is blessed with a physique and has the ability to impact a game on both ends of the court, but he needed to become a more consistent shooter. Joy is not going to go by anybody. It isn't as if his handles are also tight enough to where he's going to wiggle by somebody. So it isn't like, you know what, his speed is unbelievable. And at the same time, he. He has really tight handles, so he can get increases that other people can't. So he needed to become a more consistent shooter. And to his credit, he's done that. He's put in the time, and he's been. He's a great rebounder. He is a solid defender. He. We can all grow in that particular place, but he's been a really consistent shooter for us over the summer and really impressed because I know the time that he's put in in order to make that happen, we'll wrap it up.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: With a movie question. I think people are well aware you love Hoosiers.
What's your. Actually, though, it's not your favorite sports movie. What is your favorite sports movie?
[00:37:34] Speaker B: I love the movie Hoop Dreams. When that documentary came out with, you know, Arthur Agee, William Gates, I was kind of, I remember going to the theater with now my wife. We were dating at the time and just being captivated by one watching young kids come up and then just improving and getting better and seeing the opportunities, but very mindful about sometimes the exploitation that occurs and all these different people and then how you can watch it go sideways, you know, what the anticipation or what the expectations are with a guy like William Gates. And then you watch guys who parlay it into something that's different, as we saw with Arthur Agee. And so it's just one of those things that people try to predict on 15 and 16 year olds that is really difficult to do. But it's all the adults in the room that are navigating this world for these kids and you have to be cognizant of it. And so I don't know when I first saw the movie, I wasn't that movie. I wasn't as aware of how significant the adults in the room are about carving out these paths for kids and really protecting them. You know, I told our players this yesterday. Your prefrontal cortex doesn't stop developing until after the age of 25. So these kids see something and they're impulsive, right? Oh, that's terrific. How much money do I have? Can I buy it? And they're not thinking about retirement.
And you realize a movie like that really, really brings it out. And for me, it is the level of support that surround a kid is not only instrumental, it's monumental. And it's one of those movies that bring it out and do a terrific job of bringing it out and how those guys go on in their individual career paths. I know, you know, I believe William Gates is a pastor right now. I know our Agee does some things as well in order to talk about the movie and the level of influence. But people need to be mindful of the fact that this is going on all across America. And I thought a movie like that brought it out and one it inspired me to be one of those adults in the room that, you know what, not only do you need to be monumental, that people can trust you, but at the end you need to provide some level of direction to set these kids on a path for success.
Because a lot of them come from really difficult situations. And you know, I've said this before, as much as I wish my gift was playing, I realized my gift is helping. And a movie like that just really helped me dive into my calling of really wanting to help young kids.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: The brain development thing explains a lot, a lot about my own life, as I'm sure my mom would tell you. Hoop Dreams. Excellent, excellent documentary. I would really, really recommend it. What's your go to movie snack, man?
[00:40:31] Speaker B: Good question. I'm pretty typical. I do consider myself a popcorn aficionado.
I have different kinds of seasonings for popcorn all through my cupboard that you could. I got different types of butter. There are. Right now I'm on to the sea salt that's skinny Pop makes. I think they do. But if you come to my house, there are bags of popcorn sitting around. I'm told it's a healthy snack.
After I get done eating it, I don't necessarily feel healthy. So I. I don't know that if that's true or not, but I will tell you that I'm. I'm pretty typical, but I am a bit of a popcorn snob. I can tell you if it's bad or if it's good. The best kind of popcorn, though, is the ones that they leave out, right?
All the concessions and they throw it in those big bags and they just let it sit overnight. That kind of stale popcorn that they let sit overnight, I actually find very favorable.
[00:41:34] Speaker A: Okay, let's. A little bit. Do you put. I've got to put Junior Mints in my popcorn.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: Really? No, I haven't gone that route.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: You need to try that. Yeah. Nothing better than melted chocolate hot popcorn.
[00:41:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't like the caramel popcorn or all that other stuff. I just like straight popcorn. And then I'll add my seasoning and my butter based on what my mood is for that particular evening. But I usually don't go.
There's five nights a week where I'm eating popcorn.
[00:42:03] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. Well, next, give the Junior Mints a try.
[00:42:07] Speaker B: That's a good idea.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: Paul Mills. He is entering his third season as coach at Wichita State. Paul, thank you very much for your time.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the Roundhouse podcast courtesy of Wichita State University Strategic Communications.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: You can find more roundhouse content at goshockers. Com.
[00:42:43] Speaker B: Hawkins going to go to work on.
[00:42:45] Speaker A: Washington and it was shoved out of.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: There by Dijon Cortez.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Lob to Beverly seven point lead at the under eight.
[00:42:54] Speaker B: Timeout here at Charles Coparina.
