[00:00:13] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Welcome to the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Sullentrop of Wichita State University Strategic communications. As always, thank you very much for listening. We appreciate your time. Our guest today is Wichita State women's basketball coach Terry Nooner. He joins us to wrap up summer workouts and set the stage for the 2026-27, which is coming quickly. Terry's roster consists of 12 newcomers, five freshmen and seven transfers. We'll talk about that. WSU also has two new assistant coaches, Melanie Baucom and Rachel Schwartz, with Brooke Costly remaining as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. The Shockers play Newman in an exhibition game on October 28th. They open the season at Kansas State on November 2nd.
Home opener is November 10th versus Missouri State. Terry, take us through the summer. What were the top goals?
[00:01:04] Speaker A: I think the biggest goals for the summer we had 12 new players. So obviously you want to establish a culture. You want to have a big time focus on your core values and our culture and the way that we do things, especially having five of the new people being freshmen, but just teaching them the way that we do things, our culture, how things are structured around here, what practices look like, what weights and conditioning look looks like. And then also try to start putting in our offensive principles.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Did you have any fun team building exercises? Did you find out who was the best ping pong player or anything entertaining like that?
[00:01:41] Speaker A: So we did. I mean, we had a bunch of like game nights and stuff out of my house. We also did a deal where we read the book One Word as a team.
And so everybody had to come up with their one word. And we did a quick exercise in my house where everybody had their words.
They had to present their words. So it was players and staff. And then each player had like a puzzle piece and they're. Until after they present their word, they got to decorate the words. And then we put it together as like one big puzzle which is in the locker room. And so each player has their individual word.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: I love book projects. Tell us a little bit more about the. About the book first.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Yeah, so it's just.
It just kind of talks you about, you know, it kind of narrows your focus for. It's a John Gordon book and he wrote the Energy Bust. But a big part of it, reading and trying to have like something that you can. A word that you can kind of focus on, that kind of. That you will lock in on throughout the school year. And then as a team, everybody kind of has a word. So they kind of talks about the reason why they picked your word. So the book says Once you read through it, they have a bunch of different exercises for you to kind of come with your word. But for most people, when you kind of go through the exercise, somehow words just kind of comes to you. So my word this year is believe, and it's basically based on scripture that came to me. If thou can believe, all things are possible for him who believes is one of my favorite scriptures.
And so everybody kind of talks about why they picked their word.
And so we have the big puzzle with everybody's word, and then they also have a laminated piece of the puzzle that they keep in their locker. So it's something like a daily reminder for them to kind of look at. And then as a teammate, you have, like, accountability partners also.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Who had the most interesting word choice? Anybody stand out for something that was a little off the beaten?
[00:03:35] Speaker A: I know. I'm trying to think. I know me and Kendall had the same word, which is believe, which was kind of.
It was kind of crazy and cool because nobody had the same things I'm trying to think.
Nobody I can think that had anything that stood out. But I thought it was just a cool exercise for everybody to kind of talk about, you know, their words. Like, you know, you have believe, you have faith, you had consistency, you had respect, responsibility. Like, it was a bunch of, like, different, like, words. Me and Kendall were the only ones who had, like, the same word.
Also for me, like, we have. So we have seven transfers, we have five freshmen.
And when we did the exercise, we did it in my house. And so I like the fact that, like, as each person was getting up and kind of talking about their word, like, my kids were there. So My daughter is 13, about to be 14.
My son is 11, about to be 12, and playing sports and stuff now. So they kind of got to see why people pick their words and kind of hear a bunch of, like, the stories that were connected to the word. So for me, that was a real cool part.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: So this sounds like a Finding your why exercise. I've heard some teams around Wichita State use it at different times.
Which of your players? And again, you said you had 12 newcomers. The whole roster is new. Who stepped up to be a leader over the summer?
[00:04:55] Speaker A: I would say, just off the top of my head, I would say Mariah Vincent did a great job of leadership, vocally and through her actions. Just, I think just from her coming from. She came from Missouri, which is my nemesis from when I was in college. But there's not a lot I say about people that went to Missouri a lot of times so you banned that
[00:05:17] Speaker B: shade of black and yellow or black and yellow.
I get it.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: Yeah. But I mean, she's just intense.
It's best when you want.
In ideal world, you hope that your best leaders is also, like, your top players. And so for her being one of our top kids, and she's one of our hardest worker. She's in the gym all the time. She's go, go 100% in every single drill.
But she's also just a. She's just a great connector. Like, she connects with every single person on the team. And she's. She has a unique way of being able to get on people and challenge people and. And push people without them taking it in a personal way. And I think that's just because of her being able to connect with people off the court. So Mariah Vincent, I would say, did a great job in leadership. I would also point to Jamari Milton, who was a freshman who, you know, surprising just with her work ethic and conditioning and just kind of like, leads by example. Go. Always do the right things, works hard, and she has the respect of her teammates from just from a talent standpoint and from her work, like, she's. There's a lot of days, like, it was stretches where we didn't know we were point guards are hurt, and she was the only one and didn't get a lot of subs. And so stuff like that. I think you can gain respect from your teammates just from your work ethic and not looking for easy ways out or trying to take the easier route. And so I would say her. And then Lex Leva, another freshman who's vocal and loud and a perfectionist in her own right and just always does the right things and always go be in the right spots and always is not afraid to, like, say the tough things. So I would say those three. Lily Ba, I would say, will be another one who transferred in.
That's a Kansas City area kid that just does our work every day. Positive attitude.
But I think as a group, we have, like, great. Just kind of, like team leadership. Like, they just do the right things. They have great team chemistry. They get along.
We don't have a lot of selfishness within the group. I think people kind of understand their strengths and weaknesses and, like, what they bring to the table. And there's nobody trying to step on each other's toes, which is something that was great from the summer.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Five freshmen is a lot in college basketball these days. Why did you go that route when building your roster?
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Honestly, I wasn't even.
I Mean, with our level, I think it's.
You have so many kids, like, in my. In my sport like that a lot of players, like, their dream is to play at the power forward level. And, you know, I understand it. I play there, you know, I play there, I coach there, and, you know, I get it.
And so for us, I don't think we necessarily take the approach of we just need this many high school, this many jucos, this many transfers. We just kind of look at the people individually and what their character traits are and what their basketball skills are and how can they fit into, you know, our chemistry, our values, and if they fit those things, that's just kind of like where we go with. So it wasn't a. We didn't really go out and plan that we would go have a bunch of freshmen. I think it's helped a lot because we have a lot of this past year, we have, you know, what, 11, 10 or 11 seniors.
But I think this year just with a lot more diversity, like, within the roster. I think just having those five freshmen just give you, like, that youthful, like, jubilance and, you know, everything for them, you know, these are the first times they're doing stuff and they're so happy to be here. And so I think it's good just to have, like, a great balance in. But for us, you have to be able to play. And we wanted to bring in people that could play and really wanted to be at Wichita State.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Two new assistant coaches. As I said earlier, Melanie Balcomb comes with a long resume. Head coach at Xavier, head coach at Vanderbilt. Won an NCAA title as an assistant coach under Don Staley at South Carolina. Describe her role on the staff.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: She's associate head coach. I really wanted to make sure that I had somebody that when we made some adjustments to the staff, wanted to have a.
Just a person with head coaching experience.
And I mean, Mellie Balcombe, you know, I coached at Alabama, so I was able to as assistant coach. So going against her during my times in the sec, I was always just like a fan of hers, of the way her teams play and how hard they played and unselfish and especially, you know, just offensively, you know, how good they always were. And, you know, as an assistant coach, Vanderbilt was my scout.
And so I really got to do just deep dives into how they played and the way they played. And so I was just like a fan from afar.
And once we made changes, I had a close mentor of mine who was in the business, who was close with her, who just gave me her information and asked if she would be interested in getting back in. And our first time we spoke, we were on the phone for, like, two and a half hours. And it was just basketball and adjustments and programs and, you know, what I was looking for, what things she brings to the table. And so I think just having somebody with so much experience as a head coach and as one at the levels that she's won at, I think those are, like, really the biggest keys. And so she will primarily be, you know, running our offense. But she's not an offensive coach, by no means. Like, she's a head coach who just runs the offense. And so just somebody who I can always bounce ideas off of. And she, you know, come by. She can tell, you know, she's been through all the things that I'm going through. And so, you know, just having a person as an heir who's kind of, you know, who's been in this chair and understands the pressures and all of the things that goes into being a head coach was a big reason why I brought her in.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: And I had her on the podcast a few weeks ago. Her description of the offense is interesting. She was influenced by Pete Carrill and Princeton, which I guess people would think of backdoor cuts and those kind of things. Maybe four or five out. But then she also coached at. She was an assistant at Providence. So I think she picked Rick Pitino's reign and used some of the things that he does.
How do you describe the offense? What are fans gonna see when they come out?
[00:11:41] Speaker A: No, I would say exactly what she said. I mean, she's.
But I would even say with her, like, she has, like, those things that are base. But I think what I liked about her and what kind of meshes and fits into, you know, how I look at the game and how I coach. And the way I think of it is she can. I mean, she can coach any type of style. She can morph a system into. Like, she doesn't just have, like, a set system, and you go run the system no matter what the players are. Like, there's gonna be times where we gotta, you know, tweak how we would. You know, how we would play at our base. And so she has. Her mind just works that way. Like, she has a million different ideas of, you know, things that we can do and how we can.
And so. But I would say, yes, a bunch of, like, Princeton concepts with a, you know, with Patino style, you know, fast break and transition, because we still want to try to score and transition as much as we Can. But then if we don't get what we want in transition, then it's about, you know, getting the ball moving from side to side and having reads and not really having a million play calls, but teaching the kids, like, how to play basketball then.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Rachel Schwartz played at Missouri State from 2013-17 and has been an assistant coach in college basketball before coming to Wichita State.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: When I first talked to her, I think the biggest thing was just the type of energy that she had.
She works with post players, which that's harder to find these days, is people that can work with post players. Because it was one stretch where I thought I was gonna have to go back and be the post coach again based on the different people that I talked to for the position, but just wanted to be here. Was obsessed with Wichita and the staff and what we were building and the opportunity to come here.
Just her connections with, you know, internationally and she's recruited a lot there and a bunch of west coast connections that she has.
But then playing in Missouri State, she understands Wichita State, and she played in Missouri Valley, and she's played here in Koch Arena a bunch of different times.
And so when she was competing at Missouri State was during, you know, the highlight of when the Shockers were some of our best years of the women's program. So she's also seen it at its height. And so I think she'll be a huge asset, like just being able to connect with our young ladies and like I said, especially the post players, and she has them in her office all the time, so she has some motherly qualities about her, too. Her and Melanie.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: So you start the summer 12 new players. So a clean slate. Were there any surprises? What was the biggest, maybe pleasant development you encountered?
[00:14:15] Speaker A: I would say the biggest thing for me is how quickly they gelled as a group and kind of start to, you know, kind of fell into their roles. I think one of the challenges these days is to try to get, you know, players to, you know, and I get it, like, you work on your game and you want to get better at things that you're not good at.
But I think these. The players that we have now are really kind of locking into. They understand what they do best and trying to bring those unique talent, talents into, like, what we do as a group. And so my camaraderie as a group, I think, is excellent. The way they get along off the court is great.
We have a real unselfish group. But I would say the biggest thing is how quickly they were able to gel together.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: So you Talked a little bit about Mariah Vincent. She's a six foot guard, played at Missouri.
Describe her talents. What role is she gonna play on this team?
[00:15:09] Speaker A: She is a.
I mean she can just kind of. She does everything like it's gonna be games, you'll come out and watch us and she'll be playing a point guard and it'll be games you'll watch her. And she's playing center and post. And so just her, her versatility.
She can play outside, she can play inside, she can handle the ball, she can shoot, she can drive it.
She's a lockdown defender. She's, you know, strong, she's tough and just has like a different kind of edge and a different kind of chip on her shoulder. And she was a. She knew and we tease her about it now coming out of high school. We recruited her our first summer here and we really established a great relationship with her and her mom and her family. And so we thought we had her. We thought she, she was about to commit when was at my house for dinner and they just wanted to go home and kind of make sure everything was right and she would be able to get her car here. It was a bunch of stuff that. But we thought, we thought we had her. And then a couple days later, she wanted us all to get on FaceTime and Missouri had came in out of nowhere. But when we don't get the kids we want, we always make sure we handle things the right way. I think that's another part of recruiting like is, you know, you go get told no a bunch of different times and the way you handle that could affect things in the future. And so we kept things great with her. And we played against Missouri and Destin a couple years ago and we got to see her on the beach and you know, as a staff we were all so happy just to be able to see her because she got hurt that year, she hurt her knee that year so she couldn't play.
But just make sure we kept a good, positive deal going on with her. And so when she decided to leave Missouri, she went in the portal and we were like the first people that they reached out to just because like her mom just remembered how we was in the process and the fact that we weren't bitter and she remembered us, how we reacted towards us when we seen her in Destin and we weren't even recruiting her. It was just, you know, when we recruit kids, we get close to them and you got a great relationship with people so naturally you're gonna be a little Sad when you lose kids you want. But so. But I think with the way we handled the situation when we didn't get her is why we have her now. But she can play every position on the floor and she's just gonna be a mismatch nightmare for other teams to be able to guard her.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: And you also mentioned freshman guard Mari Milton. She is from Fort Worth.
Why she adapted to college basketball so well.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: I just. I mean, she's. She just has a.
I mean, she has a maturity about her that you don't really see in freshman's.
Just kind of like an even keel nature. She never gets too high and too low. Like you can be watching her play. You can't tell she has 20 points or if she has zero. And so just has like a quiet demeanor about her. She has a quiet confidence that I don't think you can teach. I think it's something that she's just had from growing up and, you know, having good parents who kind of poured into her throughout her life. And she had to play with a, you know, a real great high school program and coach and coaching staff down at North Crowley.
But just her confidence and I mean her speed and she changes speeds and her athleticism and players just want to play for her and I think they kind of. They kind of get energy from her being even keel. I think it kind of helps us keep the team even. Kill.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: Okay, you've given people a picture into the back court. Tell us about the front court. How does that look?
[00:18:48] Speaker A: We look good. So we have like our three centers, Lily by, we have two lilies, Lily By, Liliana Harrison from Delaware State, and then Clara Kuwebali who came from Auburn. But I think what they provide for us is in our league and the way the game is now, you got to be able to have some versatility.
So between Clara and Lily, Bob, they're fives who can guard, fives who can plant in the paint. But if you leave them wide open, they can also knock down some wide open threes from time to time. And so for, you know, Cozumel really loves it just because it helps her offense a lot, but it kind of provides space.
But they're all. They all kind of play a little bit different. I would say Liliana Harrison is just a.
Just a.
Probably the best back to the basket scorer of the three. I would say Lily by is probably the better shooter and kind of the more versatile of the three. And then just with Clara cool Bali, just with our SEC experience and athleticism and running the floor and rebounding and transitioning and her physicality, just as you look at her like those are the kind of bodies that you're gonna need for the American Conference.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: What's the fall schedule look like? As the kids, we started classes this week at Wichita State. They're back on campus. When do you start getting back and you're already practicing?
[00:20:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we started yesterday. And so right now, as we kind of ease into it, we're going. Cause we're doing, we're in the 80s, eight hours a week part of the schedule for the first, I think we're eight hours a week until September 20th. And then that's when our 20 hours, like the normal kind of practice regimen starts. So we've broken it down where we go on the court three days a week, Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. And then they will be doing strength and condition with coach Jasmine four days out the week. So that'd be like tickets like Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday or something like that.
And so kind of combining court work with strength, conditioning, conditioning stuff on the court the week before, our 20 hours a week, we'll have like a five day early morning boot camp.
Just a bunch of defensive and toughness drills. Just kind of set the stage as we move into the season. We're also going to do a fall reading a book. It's called seven Commitments of a Great Team, which is another John Gordon book that we will start week three of our workouts. And so it's seven different commitments that we'll kind of break down and we'll meet each week to kind of talk about things. And each, each person on our staff will have different parts that they're gonna like, present and kind of lead like discussions and activities with the team on basketball.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Season pauses, but it doesn't ever really stop. The Shockers are they're in practices. They get started against Newman in an exhibition game on October 28th at Koch Arena. Season opens November 2nd at Kansas State and the home opener is November 10th versus Missouri State. Terry Nooner, thank you for your time.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Thanks for having me. Go Shocks.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Thank you for listening to the Roundhouse podcast courtesy of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more roundhouse
[email protected] she's just one of those players who could be a game changer, though with one swing of the bat, she can send it over the fence. We've seen her do it time and time again. Is she due the 585 slugging percentage.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Nine home runs on the season.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: We'll see what they decide.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Swinging away. And it Dr. To center. Are you kidding? Another walk off. It is ball game. Witchita State wins.
Two walk off home runs today.
Bailey laying in the first game and Lori Derico here.
And Witchita State has knocked off off Central Florida five to four.
