Wichita State basketball coach Paul Mills ‘still talking through’ a redshirt decision
Every eligible player on the roster except one entered the game for the Wichita State men’s basketball team in a runaway 95-65 win over Friends at Koch Arena on Sunday.
That’s because the Shockers wanted to preserve the eligibility of true freshman Yanis Bamba, a 6-foot-5 guard from Montreal, Canada. A possible redshirt plan is underway.
“We’re still talking through everything with Yanis and his family and the people in his circle,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “But right now it isn’t a need and we don’t want to burn a year for a guy to get 10 minutes. So it’s something that we’re talking through.”
A redshirt season seemed inevitable when Bamba required surgery on his left foot following the team’s exhibition tour in Greece in August. According to Mills, he only participated in five of the 30 preseason practices, which set the true freshman back in his progress.
Bamba originally signed his letter of intent to play for Valparaiso, but followed former Valparaiso assistant coach Luke Gore to Wichita to join the Shockers. Gore was hired by Mills as the program’s director of operations, but left in July to become an assistant coach at Princeton.
He played the final two minutes of WSU’s exhibition game against Rogers State on Oct. 29, but has yet to play in a regular-season game for the Shockers.
With Bamba sitting out, Jalen Ricks off the team and Bijan Cortes (academic) and Ronnie DeGray III (two-time transfer) sidelined by NCAA waiver issues, Mills has just nine scholarship players available during the first semester of the season.
Redshirt decisions are never final and Bamba could be used at any point this season, an option Mills said he was keeping on the table.
“We’re not going to rush him into anything,” Mills said. “If we think he can contribute, we’ll play him. If it’s a situation where he would only see minimal minutes, we’re not going to burn his entire year.”
DeGray is still awaiting an initial decision from the NCAA on his waiver to play immediately following his second undergraduate transfer from Missouri to WSU this offseason. A scarce number of second-time transfer waivers have been granted by the NCAA, however.
The program is more optimistic about the return of Cortes, who was deemed academically ineligible for the fall semester. With improved grades, he could play in the second semester of the season, which would give the Shockers 10 scholarship players for the final three months of the season.
