Coach Nooner and his staff scout future Shockers basketball players on the road

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Wichita State University women’s basketball staff is on the road to scout potential recruits.

The coaches are traveling to four cities, headed through Chicago, Council Bluffs, Louisville, and Omaha.

Assistant coach Nick Bradford says the goal is to “find some of those diamonds in the rough and find some kids that are overlooked and got a chip on their shoulder and want to come to WSU.”

Head coach Terry Nooner says it’s also important to support the current recruits and be there for them in their games.

“It’s good to see our kids in our region compete against teams from all over the country because we feel like we have great players in our region, and they’re overlooked all the time,” said Nooner.

Each coach goes to a location where they can form the strongest athlete-coach bonds.

“There’s just going to be natural relationships that some coaches are going to build that’s closer with certain players than other players. Those coaches will go and see the kids that they’re a little bit closer to,” added Nooner.

The coaches say their relationships on the road are what have continuously drawn the players into WSU.

“It’s just a matter of doing what we can and trying to get more kids to come visit us. Because once they come out to WSU, they’re locked,” said Nooner.

“All of the kids we’ve had on campus, with the exception of a high school kid, we’ve signed,” added Bradford.

This trip is the third one Shocker women’s basketball has taken in the preseason. Coach Nooner says they already plan to go to New Orleans, Orlando, South Carolina and Pennsylvania later this summer.

Nooner says the recruiting success has been successful so far. They have landed five transfers and had good visits with high school students. He says the staff is working to build the program up for not just the upcoming season but for years to come.

“We’ve covered all of the bases. Transfer kids, juco kids, high school kids, shoot, darn middle school kids. We feel like if we can get a relationship with them early, we’ll have a good chance with them by the time that they’re really ready to make their decision.”