eagle88 Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 As Coach Mills embarks on his first season at Wichita State how will he fare? My prediction is they will be around a 500 team and the fans will not be happy. He would be wise to save a good chunk of his salary increase as he may not have long at WSU to get a winning team. I wish him well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Gregg Marshall set the bar so high, they were basically the Zags of the Midwest before his off court issues. The Shockers gave their last coach Brown three years to get it right and he won 59% of his games, so it is not like he was a horrible coach. They will most likely give Mills 3 years to win 20 plus and go to the tournament or lights out. I think Mills will have a hard time getting the big time high school players (4 stars) from Houston and Dallas to come to Wichita, Kansas. Of course that is where he made his money at ORU. Coach will have to rely a lot on the transfer portal to have success with the Shockers. Anyone following closely after Marshall's departure has an uphill climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nafstrops Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Interesting comment considering he already has commits from two 4 star guards including one from the Houston area. This year somewhere around .500 sounds about right. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 30 minutes ago, nafstrops said: Interesting comment considering he already has commits from two 4 star guards including one from the Houston area. This year somewhere around .500 sounds about right. Good call I was wrong. Mills still has a strong influence in Texas high school basketball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eaglefan 21 Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Recruiting was not usually in question for Mills. It was the X’s and O’s that gave us fits. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nafstrops Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 I have liked ORU from a distance for many years and read your board occasionally, for some time. It is obvious that you guys know your basketball. As was predicted on this board, the lack of information from the WSU program to the fans is aggravating. Hopefully the coaching won't be as bad as some of you think it will be! I completely understand the anger towards WSU from some of you. I still don't like Texas A&M for taking Turgeon from us. It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened, and I hope that is the case for ORU as well. Good luck to you! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted October 30, 2023 Author Share Posted October 30, 2023 1 minute ago, nafstrops said: I have liked ORU from a distance for many years and read your board occasionally, for some time. It is obvious that you guys know your basketball. As was predicted on this board, the lack of information from the WSU program to the fans is aggravating. Hopefully the coaching won't be as bad as some of you think it will be! I completely understand the anger towards WSU from some of you. I still don't like Texas A&M for taking Turgeon from us. It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened, and I hope that is the case for ORU as well. Good luck to you! I would say most of us are not angry. We appreciate what Mills did for our program but honestly Coach Springman is a great replacement and truth be known during the Mills era Springman was responsible for recruiting Max Abmas, Isaac McBride, Kareem Thompson amongst others. MsBride and Thompson stayed with Springman and I heard it personally from Springman and McBride that McBride did not ask for any NIL $. This really says a lot! When Springman was an assistant at Texas he recruited Kevin Durant. Springman's son is named Durant and KD calls him on his birthday every year. So most of us ORU fans still like Mills and wish him the best but like you stated most of us know our basketball and we call it like we see it. Unless Mills becomes better on X's and O's WSU will have very average seasons most likely unless of course he can recruit players where his coaching can be more hidden. I appreciate you commenting on our board! you are always welcome and it is nice to get an outside non biased opinion. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 17 minutes ago, nafstrops said: As was predicted on this board, the lack of information from the WSU program to the fans is aggravating. Hopefully the coaching won't be as bad as some of you think it will be! Mills is a great offensive mind but it will take a while to get it rolling. I could see him having Marshall like success in Wichita. He just needs to get players that will fit his system. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 I think coach Mills may be a little more successful at WSU than some may think. One key factor is although the AAC is still a good league, it is much more winnable with more winnable games now that Houston, Cincinnati and UCF have moved to the Big 12. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 I don’t blame Mills for moving to Wichita. He was presented with a substantial pay raise and opportunity to coach a team that is the big dog in the city. The Shockers have a rabid fan base that wants to win. Mills has to get players that fit his style and that might take another season or so. The fact that WSU does not have a true point guard could be an issue this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 The big question is....will Coach Mills show up for his radio show every week instead of sending an assistant or just blowing it off like he did at ORU???.....communication skills not his strength along with game day coaching.....other than that TheEagleman wishes the man well in his 14-17 inaugural season at WSU..... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenEagleFan Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 3 hours ago, eagle88 said: Coach Springman is a great replacement and truth be known during the Mills era Springman was responsible for recruiting Max Abmas, Isaac McBride, Kareem Thompson amongst others. While I love Coach Springmann, it was coach Bozeman who recruited Thompson from junior college. And it was Mills who sealed the deal with McBride as Bozeman recruited him the summer before he signed with KU/Vanderbilt. The Sweet 16 team and the 30-win 2023 team were all a pretty balanced mix of recruits from each coach on staff, including Mills. Don’t fool yourself… for every Max Abmas that Springmann recruited you can point to a Nate Clover that didn’t pan out. The key is having more Max’s than Nate’s! I don’t think anyone can blame Coach Mills for taking over a program like Wichita State. The only time it will be awkward is when ORU and Wichita battle it out for the same recruits. With the state of the American Athletic Conference, it is trending more into a 1-bid league than it is a 3-bid league…. Meaning it’s likely going to be the same pool that both teams are swimming in looking for recruits. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 The Shockers won their opening exhibition game versus Rogers State (Nate Clover's new team). Nate led Rogers with 9 points but his team only put up 53 for the night. Wichita State looks to have a solid front line with two guys posting double doubles. His new team kind of reminds me of his early teams at ORU: solid post play (Owens, White, and E-man) but the backcourt was up and down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titansforever Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 20 hours ago, Keenan Henderson said: The Shockers won their opening exhibition game versus Rogers State (Nate Clover's new team). Nate led Rogers with 9 points but his team only put up 53 for the night. Wichita State looks to have a solid front line with two guys posting double doubles. His new team kind of reminds me of his early teams at ORU: solid post play (Owens, White, and E-man) but the backcourt was up and down. Here's an article about the game: https://thesunflower.com/77230/sports/wichita-state-mens-basketball-takes-down-rogers-state-in-preseason-game/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 On 10/30/2023 at 1:27 PM, Keenan Henderson said: His new team kind of reminds me of his early teams at ORU: solid post play (Owens, White, and E-man) but the backcourt was up and down. I know a guy that's affiliated with Rogers State who described this WSU roster in exactly the same way after the game: "They (the Shockers) are like his (Mills) first team at ORU. They're not very good." RSU was only down by 4 points at the half before playing their subs most of the second half (as they had planned going in). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 TheEagleman may have to adjust that record from 14-17 to about 11-20.....could be a long season for the former ORU Coach....what's his name again? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted November 2, 2023 Author Share Posted November 2, 2023 On 10/30/2023 at 12:23 PM, ORUTerry said: I don’t blame Mills for moving to Wichita. He was presented with a substantial pay raise and opportunity to coach a team that is the big dog in the city. The Shockers have a rabid fan base that wants to win. Mills has to get players that fit his style and that might take another season or so. The fact that WSU does not have a true point guard could be an issue this year. No one can blame Mills for leaving ORU and getting a lot more $. I believe his success at Wichita will be largely dependent on getting dynamic recruiters like Springman and Coach Solo. He will need prolific scorers as defense will not be emphasized most likely. Bank some serious $ Coach Mills so if the fan base and administration runs you off a good assistant coaching job in a power conference will pay well but most likely not nearly what you are making now. To any Wichita State fans give Mills some time as he is a smart guy and will eventually get you a good team. I'm not convinced you guys have the patience we have at ORU. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUSwagger Posted November 3, 2023 Share Posted November 3, 2023 On 11/1/2023 at 3:58 PM, theeagleman5 said: TheEagleman may have to adjust that record from 14-17 to about 11-20.....could be a long season for the former ORU Coach....what's his name again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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