Since 2019, Wichita has welcomed high-level basketball in the middle of summer, becoming a tradition for local fans of the sport.
That’s because a band of Wichita State alumni called the AfterShocks have competed in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a $1 million winner-take-all tournament, at Charles Koch Arena.
But what does it mean for the players to step back into the Roundhouse, clad in black and yellow again, with fans of old and new cheering them on for a chance to win a tournament together? On Tuesday afternoon, the AfterShocks held a press conference ahead of the 2025 TBT Wichita Regional and answered just that.
“I’ll never take it for granted,” Conner Frankamp, who played at WSU from 2015-18, said. “I feel like we’re pretty lucky to be able to play that high-level basketball in the summertime, and especially how the fans come out to see us.”
For Markis McDuffie, a 2018-19 graduate, it’s a nervous excitement for him to run through the south tunnel and hear the same chants and fight songs while he was still taking classes on campus.
“It’s amazing, you know, and it automatically puts us in a position where it’s like nostalgia being back here at Koch Arena,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it, like I do every year.”
Some said they get chills and feel the same sense of responsibility to protect their home court as they did in their collegiate careers.
“You always get the same chills in your body,” Rashard Kelly, a 2017-18 graduate, said. “Just to hear the screams, the echoes, the fight song, you know, just seeing the lights, seeing the same court and running out the same tunnel. And we always try to protect our house.
“It’s going to be the same situation. No matter how many years we are removed, we still have that same mindset and demeanor.”
While there is excitement about getting another opportunity to play with past teammates and friends, the AfterShocks’ connection goes much deeper than basketball.
“The brotherhood in this is very special,” said head coach Zach Bush, who graduated in 2016-17. “Unfortunately, we had a couple of guys that weren’t able to play that we wanted to … but getting back to spend time together, I think this is so much fun … I know it’s corny, but we say it every year — getting to be back together, selfishly, is my favorite part.”
“We all love each other at the end of the day, we all support each other,” Kelly added. “I mean, we show up for each other’s weddings, show up for each other for our kids being born — the kids are now a part of our extended family. This is a real brotherhood we got going through Wichita State.”
The fans and atmosphere are another reason the AfterShocks keep coming back. Bush said that if the team weren’t able to play in Koch Arena, “we wouldn’t be doing this.”
“I think it speaks volumes,” Bush said about the fans. “And you know, we hope they come out, this could be the last time. So, they have control this year; they can keep us in Koch Arena round after round. We’d love to stay as long as we can.”
The AfterShocks start their TBT run on Friday, July 18, at 8 p.m. against No Excuses, a team composed mostly of Houston-based pro-am players. The game can be streamed on TBT’s YouTube channel.
