Transfers spark Shockers

WICHITA, Kan. – Karon Bradley walked away from a Marquette team that took him to the Final Four as a freshman. Kyle Wilson left Illinois two seasons before the Illini reached the national title game.

Phillip Thomasson thought about quitting basketball after two frustrating seasons at Colorado State. Ryan Martin spent two years at the junior college level, determined to show up the Division I recruiters who snubbed him out of high school.

All four wound up at Wichita State. Without any of them, the Shockers might not be 9-0 – tied for the best start in school history – and ranked No. 8.

“When we started this program, we felt like we had to get transfers to be successful,” said coach Mark Turgeon, whose team meets New Mexico today in the Las Vegas Holiday Classic. “We’ve obviously been fortunate with the ones we’ve brought in.”

Wilson, a senior forward, is Wichita State’s leading scorer at 13 points per game. Martin, another senior forward, averages 10.3 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds.

Bradley, a senior guard who started 13 games last year, has moved into a reserve role – where he averages 20.8 minutes and 9.7 points and gives the Shockers a shot of speed and defense.

“I already knew what I was capable of doing, coming here,” said Bradley, who was recruited by Turgeon in high school. “I knew what Coach wanted me to do, which is come in with my energy off the bench.”

Thomasson, who struggled as a small forward at Colorado State, has found his niche inside. The junior averages 8.3 points and 5.6 rebounds and leads the Missouri Valley Conference in field-goal accuracy at 70 percent.

“Here, I fit in the system, and they’ve called upon me to score some points and get some big minutes,” said Thomasson, who has one start this year. “I feel like that’s what I should have been doing the first two years of school. … I’m glad that happened, though, because I’m here. It all worked out.”

Wilson wanted the prestige of playing in the Big Ten, but his freshman season was overshadowed by personal issues he won’t discuss beyond saying, “Some other stuff happened.

“I was beat up. I was mentally worn down, physically worn down.” I just needed a whole new environment, I think, just a whole new start. You don’t get many chances to start over in life, and I was just lucky that it worked out so well.”