The RoundHouse | 10/17/2018 10:06:00 AM

 
When you are the biggest kid in the class, you hear it often:
 
Watch out for the little ones. 
 
"When you go to P.E. class, you're told 'Be careful. You can't just run into people,'" Wichita State sophomore Asbjørn Midtgaard said. "That's in my backbone. Now it's just got to get out of there."
 
Don't throw your weight around. 
 
"I wasn't that tall, but I was bigger than everybody in high school," Wichita State junior Jaime Echenique said. "You have to be careful, because you are bigger."
 
Wichita State basketball coach Gregg Marshall loves Midtgaard (7 feet, 268 pounds) and Echenique (6-11, 258) off the court. Both are polite, organized, early for academic meetings, focused on grades and generally happy. 
 
"They are the nicest young men on the team," Marshall said. "It's like both of them were coming along as youngsters and people told them 'You're bigger than the rest of group. You have to be nice to everyone. You can't bump into anyone." 
 
On the court, he would like to see a nasty streak emerge more often, especially when a basketball bounces off a rim or the opponent drives toward the basket. Midtgaard and Echenique know those expectations and they're trying to use their size to their advantage more regularly.
 
"That's something he really likes in a player," Echenique said. "Coach Marshall is a hype guy, really tough personality. He wants us to dominate every time on the glass."
 
Echenique says Marshall tells him that if he could snap his fingers and bestow an attribute, it would be for him to play hard all the time. Other times, he tells his big men to play like their hair is on fire.
 
"For some people, it's hard," Echenique said. "For other people, they're born with it. I'm in the middle. I'm getting better."
 
Midtgaard, a sophomore, played in nine games last season. Echenique, a junior, averaged 9.1 points and 6.1 rebounds last season at Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College.
 
"I feel like I'm getting more aggressive," Midtgaard said. "Last year, when I got here, . . . I was nervous all the time. I think I'm more into the system now. I'm getting it."
 
What Marshall wants to see is centers who use their size to its maximum effect, whether that's taking rebounds away from smaller players or building a wall in front of the basket.
 
"Rebounding and defense show your toughness," Marshall said. "We're grinding every day. Encouraging them when we see the glimpses."
 
 Wichita State's big men can form the foundation of a defense that will be much discussed this season. For all of last season's success – a No. 4 NCAA Tournament seed chief among them – the defensive results left nearly everyone dissatisfied. The Shockers allowed opponents to shoot 42.1 percent from the field (fifth in the American Athletic Conference) and 36.3 percent from three-point range (10^th). They ranked 11^thin steals (4.7 a game).
 
"Last year's group was the best offensive team and the worst defensive team that I've had," Marshall said. "In their minds, they felt like they could outscore people, which is not how I want to play. We're going to certainly try to be better on the glass, better defensively."
 
This team is inexperienced – 11 newcomers – which likely means defensive breakdowns. However, it is also a group recruited to play in the American Athletic Conference and possessing physical, rangy defenders such as freshmen Dexter Dennis and Jamarius Burton, redshirt freshman Rod Brown and sophomore (if allowed to play by the NCAA) Teddy Allen.
 
"I do like coming to the gym every day, and I love coaching this group because they are eager," Marshall said. "They all have talent and abilities. It's just a matter of when they are going to be able to showcase them in a real game. I mentioned to them the very first day, if I had a magic wand and could swing that wand to the group to give them one skill  it would be that they would understand how hard you must play to be successful at this level of college basketball."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.