JUCO recruits Shammah Scott signs with Wichita State basketball

The Wichita State men’s basketball team has found its backup point guard for the 2022-23 season in the current college national champions.

Shammah Scott, a key 6-foot-2 reserve last season at Northwest Florida State, officially enrolled at Wichita State for the fall semester to conclude his recruiting visit Wednesday and publicly announced his commitment Friday.

Scott’s signing officially concludes a busy 2022 recruiting period for WSU head coach Isaac Brown, who has added nine new scholarship players and four new walk-ons to the roster. All that was missing was a point guard to spell out senior star Craig Porter. The Shockers feel they’ve found a perfect fit in Scott, who comes to Wichita with three years of eligibility remaining.

“I have a good feeling for people and I realized that Isaac Brown was being honest with me and I can trust him,” Scott told The Eagle. “He loved how direct he was with me and how he told the truth, even if it was an answer I didn’t like. I really appreciated that because as I got older I realized that this is a business and coaches can sometimes tell you what you want to hear, but that’s not what’s really going on. He kept it real with me and I think he can help me grow and become the player that I want to be.”

It also helped that Scott was already well-versed in the Wichita state program long before he arrived on his official visit Tuesday.

That’s because he played last season at Northwest Florida State, which was coached by Greg Heiar, a former WSU assistant coach and now New Mexico State head coach, and former WSU player Carl Hall. The team also practiced at Koch Arena during the run up to the NJCAA national tournament in Hutchinson, which the Raiders ultimately won.

“Coach Heiar always told us stories throughout the season about Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker, Carl Hall and that Final Four run,” Scott said. “So he was definitely familiar with the show.”

In his freshman year of college basketball, Scott had to wait his turn behind a loaded backcourt for the northwestern state of Florida. which included a trio of guards in Deshawndre Washington (New Mexico State), Tre Clark (Duquesne) and Brennan Rigsby (Oregon). Scott averaged 6.8 points and 1.4 assists in less than 16 minutes per game, shooting 51.9% from the field and 47.5% on 59 3-pointers.

After being a star player for Shaker Heights during his senior year of high school in his hometown of Cleveland, Scott said the experience of becoming a role player on a winning team was beneficial.

“I had to sacrifice for the best of the team because we had a lot of really good sophomores and I think that helped me work on other parts of my game,” Scott said. “I really focused on defending as hard as I could. I loved doing all the little things and that’s what I can say about playing for Greg Heiar: It definitely pushed me to become a much harder worker.”

Scott was originally thought to be a recruit from the class of 2023, but he qualified for the class of 2022 this summer and turned heads with his play earlier this month at the JA48 Showcase in Las Vegas, which is a solo event. by invitation for juco players to gain exposure.

That’s where he was discovered by WSU assistant coach Butch Pierre, who offered him a scholarship after the first day. The next day, Scott was on the phone with Brown and the connection with WSU continued to grow from there.

He had the option of returning to the junior college level if he didn’t like his options, but Scott said WSU’s offer was too good to pass up. She said that she also received interest from North Texas, Akron, Kent State and Cleveland State, among others.

“I just wanted to find a good, winning program and find a program that had a family-friendly atmosphere and Wichita State definitely has that,” Scott said. “I know I can trust the staff and that’s always a good feeling.”

Although the timing of his visit did not allow him to attend an AfterShocks game at Koch Arena, Scott was impressed by the atmosphere at the show and in the community.

His visit to Doo-Dah Diner for breakfast on Wednesday was a particular highlight.

“I was very impressed with how the community feels like one big family,” Scott said. “I really liked going to the Doo-Dah Diner and everyone there was having a good time and they had Wichita State signs all over the walls. (Co-owner Timirie Shibley) sat down and talked with us and honestly, she seemed like just another mom away from home. I loved being out there.”

With summer school ending Friday and the players sent home for a two-week break, Scott won’t arrive in Wichita until the team reconvenes Aug. 16. Although Scott won’t have the benefit of practicing with his WSU teammates over the summer, he’ll still have almost three months before the start of the season to join the fold.

The Shockers had options as a backup point guard, but would have required a scoring point guard like Xavier Bell or Jaron Pierre Jr. to slide in to be the primary ball handler. Scott, a pure point guard, was exactly the type of player the WSU coaching staff had in mind for his 13th and final scholarship.

“I love getting my teammates involved, that’s honestly my favorite part of the game,” Scott said. “I feel like I can shoot, I love going out in transition, I can rebound and I found a great passion this last year in playing defense. I want to protect the best guard on the other team and pick them up all over the floor and just tire them out. But moving the ball and seeing my teammates win is what makes my day.”