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Saal discusses the basketball portal season and retaining many of the WSU players from this past season
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00:00I didn't go in the portal, actually.
00:03The announcements are tough.
00:06Speaking of the portal, Wichita State Athletic Director Kevin Saul,
00:09we are able to connect now.
00:10Kevin, how are you from Cleveland?
00:13Hey, good morning, guys.
00:14How are you?
00:15We're good.
00:16We're good.
00:17We're talking portal, so your timing's great.
00:19The Shockers, before we get to bowling in a little bit,
00:21the Shockers have, well, they've made it an exciting start
00:26to the portal season, not by going to get any new players out of it,
00:30but by keeping a whole bunch of the ones they had.
00:33You guys have got to be pumped to the looking forward
00:37of what's beginning on the roster, at least next year.
00:41Yeah, we really are, and I appreciate the opportunity
00:45to be on the show this morning, guys.
00:47We've got about seven or eight guys now that have committed to come back
00:53and just really, really excited about that.
00:55Obviously, that started with Will, PJ, and Dylan making their announcements
01:02a little over a week ago, and that's been followed up by several guys.
01:09And so we're just really excited about it with Michael Gray coming back.
01:13And we've got a really, really good core, which I think is obviously good
01:17from a competitive standpoint, but even better from a culture standpoint.
01:20And I mentioned to Taylor Eldridge, actually, I did it on a podcast.
01:26I think Taylor picked it up for his article.
01:28I do encourage Shocker Nation to stop and smell the roses here for just a second
01:33because what's going on on our roster is completely and totally bucking the trend
01:39in college athletics right now, where student-athlete circles are encouraging them
01:45to go in the portal, see what they can get, see what's out there.
01:49Our guys are committing to not even entering the portal.
01:52And if you had a chance to read Taylor's article, there's just some fantastic quotes
01:57from our guys about how they feel about each other, this program, our coaches,
02:02how they feel about the Wichita community, the loyalty there.
02:06These are all the things that we've been struggling with in the portal era,
02:10particularly in the community of Wichita.
02:12And I feel like these players are really aligning with the desires of this community.
02:18So we're really excited about it.
02:19Yeah, Kevin, I mean, looking around all of college basketball, as you said,
02:23as we look towards next year, I have to imagine, you know, top 100, top 50 programs
02:28probably in the country that return whatever.
02:30Because as you're right, there's a ton of people in the portal.
02:32This is going to be probably a historic year in the portal.
02:35You've talked a lot about leading up, you know, throughout the regular season
02:38of, you know, trying to invest and get the community to invest into this program.
02:43Was this a possibility that you guys felt good in of saying,
02:47if we do this, we could probably retain a lot?
02:52Well, I guess I would rewind, you know, three years ago, guys,
02:57when I had a chance to interview Coach Mills and we started talking about players
03:01that they were able to keep at Oral Roberts on very little NIL dollars at that time,
03:08very little.
03:09You know, certainly the dot that you connect there is that the players are seeing value
03:14in something other than the dollar.
03:16And if we can figure out a way to replicate that while we're still building and growing
03:22our, you know, our NIL and our roster resources scenario,
03:29then we felt like we'd have a really good chance.
03:32And Coach Mills and I are aligned that we feel like those dollars
03:35need to be prioritized on retaining really good players.
03:39And certainly that was done this year.
03:42So, yeah, just really excited about it.
03:45I think this is a great group.
03:46I checked with our recruiting guys the other day,
03:50and I think there were 1,700 players in the portal.
03:53So, you guys may remember two years ago,
03:56we'd lost three on our roster from Mills' first year to his second,
04:00and the average team in our league lost eight.
04:02And I would imagine we'll be well below that average
04:05in terms of the three that entered the portal for us this year
04:09in comparison to our peers.
04:10So, again, these are data points,
04:12but they're starting to show a trend that I think we caught a glimpse of
04:17when we interviewed Coach Mills three years ago.
04:20Kevin Saul, which is the athletic director,
04:22joining us as we begin with some portal talk here.
04:27Shocker Bowling is into the final four.
04:30We'll talk to Kevin about that.
04:30He's from Cleveland right now.
04:32But I want to keep this conversation going
04:35because it's got people talking, Kevin.
04:37I wonder now, so you've retained the vast majority
04:41of the roster from a year ago that was retainable.
04:45So, we know because you've told us in the past
04:48that the resources were better,
04:50looked like they were going to be in a better position this offseason.
04:53So, now that the retention piece has sort of been taken care of,
04:57where does what's left, I guess, stack up to go out into the portal
05:02versus maybe where it's been in the past, if that makes any sense?
05:05Where do you stack up now with what's remaining after the retention
05:09into the portal for any potential new players?
05:12Yeah, I would say we still have a significant portion
05:15of what we've allocated for next year to go into the portal
05:18and get some great players.
05:20We have not tapped the well on retention.
05:23And certainly, Coach Mills and the staff understand
05:25that acquisition is very important as well.
05:29It may be a second, but it's a very close second to retention.
05:34So, they do a good job of budgeting out those available funds.
05:40And certainly, even with only three departing,
05:44and then you've got the two that exhausted eligibility
05:46in KG and KB, even a month or two ago,
05:51you knew you're going to have to save some back
05:52for recruiting out of the portal.
05:55And they've done that, and just, you know,
05:59we'll be hosting visits in the next couple, three weeks
06:04and have been really aggressive.
06:07A lot of these initial discussions happen over Zoom
06:09with players in the portal, and so I know our coaches
06:12and staff have been almost 24-7 here the last couple of days
06:18navigating those conversations, scheduling visits,
06:20and doing all those things.
06:21Yeah, they call them Portal Paul for a reason.
06:25As they have this, this is something that we've brought up,
06:27is that, you know, for example, you can say, you know,
06:30KU right now is kind of blank slate,
06:32trying to see where they want to go next year.
06:34What kind of advantage is that as you go into the portal
06:37and say, we bring back these guys that all started games last year,
06:41and you kind of have puzzle pieces already in place,
06:43you can already kind of see what it'll look like next year.
06:46Yeah, I think that's a great point, TJ.
06:49You know, you're not necessarily selling the vision for the team
06:53you're trying to create.
06:54You're selling the prior performance predicts future behavior
06:59on the players that you're able to retain,
07:02and then you can certainly talk about it with a little bit more
07:06definitive thought process.
07:08You can talk about the style of play that you're going to have
07:10because you have a majority of your roster already locked up.
07:13And so you can give likely more definitive
07:18and more descriptive answers to players that you're recruiting now
07:22in terms of how they're going to be used,
07:23how they'll fit into the system,
07:25potentially the minutes that they can compete for,
07:29all those things, which I just think goes into feeding
07:32the whole reason why we've been successful here
07:35is because our coaches have genuine, authentic relationships with players.
07:40They're very truthful and honest and upfront with them,
07:43and that allows us to do all of those things
07:45because we do have so many pieces that are in place.
07:49Kevin, Saul, joining us, Wichita State Athletic Director.
07:52So what are you hearing?
07:54What are fans telling you?
07:55Are you, you know, word on the street?
07:57Are people buzzing the way that we'd hope they might be?
08:01We could kind of sense it toward the end of the year.
08:03I assume that momentum is carried among the fan base
08:06into now this early portion of the portal season
08:08with everything that's happened.
08:10You know, the number of texts that I've gotten, guys,
08:13and we're incredibly blessed.
08:15We're excited and just, again,
08:20just really excited about what's to come
08:22because the number of texts that I've gotten
08:24from season ticket holders
08:25and new season ticket holders and fans
08:29and all those folks that are excited about next year,
08:32it's been really cool to see.
08:34So you mentioned it.
08:36We had four consecutive largest crowds of the year
08:38to finish up the home slate this past season.
08:42That momentum continues.
08:43You guys know we made a decision in early February
08:46to launch renewals on March 24th,
08:49which happened to be, you know,
08:51in the middle of the NIT run.
08:53Certainly would have liked to finish that last game
08:55against Tulsa because that would have given us
08:57an additional nine days where renewals were open
08:59and our team was still playing,
09:00which is great momentum,
09:02but that was not to be.
09:04Regardless, though,
09:05the response has been great, guys.
09:07I haven't checked with our ticket office folks
09:10in the last couple of days,
09:11but as of early this week,
09:13I think we had 40 or 50 tickets,
09:16lower bowl tickets that were picked up
09:17in addition to existing accounts.
09:20So as we're renewing these existing accounts,
09:23folks have the opportunity
09:25to grab extra tickets if they want.
09:26And I think our number is approaching 50
09:29in terms of new tickets
09:31that have been acquired by existing accounts.
09:34And so that's certainly positive.
09:35Our community ticket initiative was positive
09:38for those GA tickets in the upper deck.
09:41We had a redemption rate of right around 90% on those.
09:45And certainly our community partners benefited on that.
09:48So we'll continue to do that as well.
09:50And then obviously our hope and goal
09:52is to get to a spot where, you know,
09:54maybe early to mid-July
09:56that our lower bowl is sold out
09:57with not only renewals,
09:59but we'll be in the new sales
10:00at that point as well.
10:01So the momentum continues to pick up
10:04and bring some really cool stories our way.
10:09Exciting momentum for the basketball program.
10:12As for the women's bowling program, Kevin,
10:14they are in the final four.
10:16You're in Cleveland with them.
10:17It's been a heck of a tournament run,
10:19but just at the base level,
10:21having them as an NCAA program
10:23and seeing what they've done,
10:24what does that do for Wichita State Athletics?
10:27Well, it's a really cool story.
10:29And I was texting back and forth
10:31with the AD at Jacksonville State last night.
10:34I happened to get in about 2 a.m. last night.
10:37And he'd hit me when I was sitting on the tarmac
10:40for about an hour,
10:42departing Dallas-Fort Worth last night.
10:44And I just, I thanked him for,
10:47because he played an integral role
10:49in helping us to get into Conference USA,
10:51which is the, it's the SEC of college bowling.
10:54I think we had-
10:55Is it the entire final four Conference USA teams?
10:59It's like, we had the eight of the top 10 teams
11:03in the country were from Conference USA.
11:05So it's a really, really firm league.
11:08And we're really excited.
11:10But anyway, Greg helped us get in there.
11:11And I wanted to express our gratitude and thanks to him.
11:14And I'll see him today a little bit.
11:15But it's been a really cool story, guys,
11:18to launch a program,
11:20which I had not done in my career,
11:22to be able to launch a program
11:24and see the university and our staff
11:27really wrap their arms around that
11:29to have two consecutive final four appearances.
11:32The regional that they were in last week, guys,
11:34Louisiana Tech was the number one seed.
11:37We lost to Newman early on.
11:41So we're fighting through the consolation bracket.
11:43And the way that college bowling works,
11:45it's a little bit like tennis,
11:46where you play various matches
11:48to get the best two out of three points.
11:50And each one of those points
11:51is a different type of match,
11:52different format of bowling.
11:55And so we got to the third point,
11:57like four consecutive matches,
11:58and we swept the third point,
12:00four consecutive matches.
12:02So it's a group that's really resilient.
12:04I love their emotional intelligence.
12:07They're very stable.
12:08And so it'll be really tough this week
12:11because all the other three teams
12:13are number one seeds.
12:15We were the only regional
12:17that we upset the number one seed.
12:19So really excited about what's to come
12:22with bowling today.
12:24We've got, let's see,
12:28we've got two matches today.
12:30We will be up against number one,
12:34Jacksonville State here in about 28 minutes.
12:37And then at three o'clock Eastern,
12:40two o'clock Central,
12:41we'll be up against our next opponent,
12:45depending on what the outcome of this morning is.
12:47We can't wait for it.
12:48I love it.
12:49Just, do you have like a sweet bowling shirt
12:52with Kevin written on,
12:53you know, the little cursive on the chest?
12:56Yeah, not yet.
12:58We'll work on that.
12:59That'll be a year three addition to the wardrobe.
13:02But we got our Shocker gear in full effect.
13:06It's been really cool as we've communicated
13:09with a lot of the Shocker alumni, bowling alumni.
13:12When we made the final four,
13:14I think Coach Vatican gave me
13:16about 80 different contact cards for our alumni.
13:19So I sat one night and just congratulate all them
13:22and thank them because I do believe
13:24we don't get here alone
13:25and we kind of stand on those that,
13:27stand on the shoulders of those that went before us.
13:29There's been a lot of excitement.
13:30We'll have several alumni here today
13:33to watch the team.
13:34So that'll be really cool to experience it with them.
13:36That's awesome.
13:388 a.m. start though, Kevin.
13:39I mean, what time is the,
13:41y'all warm up and stuff.
13:43They were up early this morning, weren't they?
13:45Yeah, they left the hotel around 6.30 this morning,
13:497 o'clock this morning.
13:51Again, we got a one hour time difference.
13:52So we'll, first, the first ball down the lane
13:57for scoring will be about 9 o'clock Eastern this morning.
14:00So here in about 30 minutes.
14:02And then, you know, I got to ask you, Kevin,
14:05when you bowl, what's your average, would you say?
14:09Oh, geez.
14:10I don't even think I could,
14:12I don't even think I could tell you guys.
14:14We did.
14:14Do you bring your own ball when you bowl
14:16or do you just use what's there?
14:17That's all I need to know.
14:18No, I do not bring my own ball.
14:21That tells you the caliber of bowling that I am.
14:23But we did have an opportunity,
14:24our senior staff bowled against our student athletes.
14:28I think it was the beginning of last year,
14:30their first year as an NCAA program.
14:31And it was a comedy of errors for sure.
14:35A bloodbath out there.
14:36Well, good luck to the team out there.
14:39Shocker Bowling.
14:40Great start to the portal season.
14:43Can't wait to see what comes next for Portal Paul
14:45and you guys in the program.
14:47We're excited about the roster.
14:48I think fans are too.
14:49Kevin, safe travels on the way home.
14:52All right, guys.
14:52Thanks so much for having us on the show
14:54and go Shockers.
14:55Here's Kevin Saul,
14:56Wichita State Athletic Director.
14:58TJ, your ears perk up
14:59when you hear they still have a lot to work with.
15:02I was wondering,
15:03because, you know,
15:04there's something to be said about retention.
15:06Sometimes you can get guys that want to come back.
15:09You can say like,
15:10okay, well, do you want to do this?
15:11Maybe we can make this work.
15:13It sounds like that may happen.
15:13It would have been fine
15:17if the answer to that was,
15:19man, this tapped us.
15:19I would have been totally fine with that.
15:21No issues whatsoever.
15:24However.
15:25That's what I'm saying.
15:26Now you've painted this picture
15:28that we've talked about a million times
15:30about the opportunity sitting there
15:32for a high caliber player.
15:34But now you not only have the opportunity
15:36for that high caliber player,
15:38you have the ability to say,
15:40man, and we also think
15:42we're going to be really good next year.
15:44I know.
15:44That's what I'm saying.
15:45As they go in the portal,
15:46as my point was,
15:47is saying like,
15:48hey, we've got these starters lined up.
15:50We need you to come do this
15:52and you can be a part of that.
15:53Like that is such an advantage
15:54in the portal era
15:55where there's going to be
15:562,000 players in the transfer portal.
15:59And we have the money to get you there.
16:01That's,
16:02man, that's good stuff.
16:03All right.
16:04Let's take a quick break.
16:05When we come back,
16:06speaking of the portal,
16:07TJ's got some thoughts on Casey Alexander.
16:09We'll have Royals talk
16:10in the second hour with Jalen Thompson.
16:12Just get warmed up here
16:13on a Friday on Sports Daily.
16:15Stick around.
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