Open practice shows Wichita State basketball wants to play faster this season

A few hundred Wichita State fans who took Paul Mills up on his offer to watch an open practice on Tuesday were given a glimpse of a team clearly planning on playing faster this season.

Any notion that the practice would be a glorified walk-through was quickly dispelled in what became a fast-paced, intense 90-minute workout at Koch Arena.

Mills admitted the intensity and coaching will be ratcheted up come Monday when official team practices begin, but Tuesday still offered a unique opportunity for fans to see the Shockers practice with the curtains pulled back.

“It’s probably best to watch us now to hopefully see some growth over the course of the year,” Mills said. “Fans have questions about what certain (new) players look like and then they want to see if the returners got any better. With us not having a charity exhibition like a number of schools have, I didn’t want to wait until the (Oct. 27) Emporia State game for fans to get an opportunity to see us.”

WSU wasn’t as crisp as Mills would have liked on Tuesday, but the coach said he wasn’t surprised considering the team was coming off a three-day break from action on the court.

Having eight returners from last year’s roster who know the expectations from the coaching staff and adding five veteran players from the transfer portal has WSU further along in mid-September compared to Mills’ first year, but the learning curve is still real for the newcomers.

There were a handful of times on Tuesday when first-year players had to step out of drills because they didn’t completely understand the terminology. In a Mills practice, the train keeps moving with or without you. There is no time for hesitation.

“We try to keep it moving and then do a lot of our teaching in the film room the following day,” Mills said. “I’ve tried to explain drills and it takes five minutes and they’re going to screw it up anyway. So we take 10 seconds and tell them what they should do and we’ll correct it individually behind closed doors. It will probably be that way for the next month or so.

“But there’s a pace in which you have to play in order to be good and there’s an intensity you have to play with in order to be good, so we’re just trying to level up to that.”

After WSU played at an average pace last season, all signs point toward Mills installing a much faster tempo, like his later teams at Oral Roberts played at, for this upcoming season.

Rather than run through specific sets, Mills had players work out of a base offense and drilled them on making snappy decisions with the ball to create a natural flow. WSU also worked on a full-court, 1-on-1 drill with the ball-handler tasked to reach the other baseline in under eight seconds and the defender challenged to prevent them. The loser did a push-up.

“The intensity has honestly been there since Day 1 because nobody wants to lose,” WSU senior Harlond Beverly said. “The guys who were here last year know what losing in the last five minutes of a game feels like, so we’re doing our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again. And then you’ve got new guys coming in and the competition has made the team a lot stronger. Everybody is competing hard.”

WSU’s time on the court is about to increase, as official practices begin Monday with the ability to spend four hours per day together. Until then, the Shockers are only allowed four hours per week on the court.

While Tuesday’s practice was a 90-minute sneak peak, the majority of the team’s progress this offseason has been accomplished on the players’ own time.

“Coach Mills stresses it a lot to get in the gym alone and put in the time to better yourself,” WSU senior Xavier Bell said. “If you better yourself, then you’ll better the team. That’s made each day very competitive here.”

Eligibility for Croatian big man an ongoing process — There is still no update on the eligibility of Croatian big man Matej Bošnjak, but Mills said he “feels good” about the 6-foot-9 center’s chances of playing this season.

It’s a complicated case for the 22-year-old because he played years of professional basketball in Croatia, while also attending university there. WSU is not only working on the eligibility of Bošnjak, but also on potentially classifying him as a junior.

WSU hopes to gain clarity on the situation ahead of its Oct. 12 closed scrimmage against Oklahoma State, but there is no timetable given by the NCAA clearinghouse.

“It’s definitely ongoing,” Mills said. “But it’s in the NCAA’s hands now and we feel good about everything that’s been presented.”

For now, Bošnjak has been able to practice with the team since arriving in Wichita last month. On Tuesday, Mills said the big man was the best player for WSU in practice.

“He’s just a phenomenal young man who works his rear-end off,” Mills said. “Anytime you have a kid with character and work ethic, you know you’re dealing with the right kid. To be honest with you, he’s better than what I thought. He’s a good player. Extremely skilled. He’s really going to help us. You can tell, he’s a kid who wants to add value to a team and he is about the right things.”

Bošnjak said his professional experience against much older players has prepared him for the transition to high-level college basketball in America.

“Over the years, I’ve played against some really good competition, some Euro League guys, ex-NBA guys,” Bošnjak said. “That’s been a great help coming over here. Guys here are much more physically gifted, more athletic, but I think I can bring something to the table over here too.”

Injury update for the Shockers — Senior point guard Bijan Cortes was absent from practice on Tuesday, which Mills explained afterward was due to an illness.

WSU suffered another setback on Tuesday when senior forward Ronnie DeGray III injured his hamstring in an early drill. Mills described it as a “minor” injury following the practice.