The unlikely friendship between Clevin Hannah, Garrett Stutz has only grown through TBT

The long-standing friendship between Clevin Hannah and Garrett Stutz is as improbable as they come.

It begins with their statures: Hannah is a diminutive 5-foot-11 point guard; Stutz a hulking 7-footer. Their personalities also clashed when they both arrived as part of Gregg Marshall’s first recruiting class in 2008: Hannah was a fast and constant talker from Holly Springs, Mississippi, while Stutz was a more deliberate speaker from Kansas City.

They were also at different points in their maturation process when they first started playing together for the Shockers. Hannah, a junior-college transfer, was looking to win right away; Stutz, an incoming freshman, needed time to grow into his frame.

“I was like 210 pounds. I was soft. I was weak,” Stutz recalled. “When he would try to run plays with me, I was too slow to execute or I would mess up the timing. Freshman year, he definitely hated me.”

But after enduring so many trials and tribulations in their two years together with the Shockers, Stutz earned Hannah’s respect along the way. After Hannah graduated from WSU in 2010 after a breakthrough 25-win season, the point guard remembers beaming with pride watching Stutz evolve into a top-notch center who helped lead the Shockers to the 2011 NIT championship and a return to the NCAA Tournament in 2012.

More than a decade later, Hannah and Stutz consider each other close friends. They kept in touch during their professional careers overseas, then have grown even closer in recent years when both have returned to Wichita each summer to spend time with the AfterShocks in The Basketball Tournament.

“It’s special to see Stutz finally come out of his shell because I met him when he was a kid kid,” Hannah said. “He was 18 and he didn’t know nothing. To see him grow up and become a man and have a family with a beautiful wife and a beautiful kid and then me having the same with my wife and kids, it’s just really special every time we get together now.”

After playing for the AfterShocks in their recent runs, Hannah is planning on transitioning to a coaching role for this upcoming TBT. The 35-year-old just completed his 13th season of professional basketball in Italy and is currently contemplating continuing his playing career.

Meanwhile, Stutz, 33, decided to retire after a successful 10-year career that concluded in Japan this past season. He will once again serve on the coaching staff under Zach Bush for the AfterShocks, which play their first TBT game against B1 Ballers at Koch Arena at 8 p.m. Thursday.

While Hannah was the vocal leader when the two were teammates at WSU, Stutz has blossomed in his own right as a leader and has been someone the players on the AfterShocks look to for advice out of respect for his career.

“It’s incredibly valuable to have both of these guys with us,” Bush said. “I can say things and I know certain things, but I haven’t played at the level any of these guys have, so there’s a certain dynamic where you need those voices that the players respect because they’ve been there. Plus, both of their basketball IQs are so high. There’s a reason why they played overseas for so long and had successful college careers. They’re phenomenal pros and phenomenal people, so it’s great to have them around every summer.”

Stutz has come a long way from the player he was during the 2008-09 season when he averaged 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds for the Shockers as a true freshman.

They both laughed at the adversity they overcame that first season together after WSU lost to UMKC at home in November, then started 0-6 in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Shockers ultimately turned things around to rally for a 17-17 season, then continued their progress with a 25-win season and an NIT appearance the next season — Hannah’s senior year.

“I remember a 2 a.m. practice, a bunch of things going on in the locker room, a couple two-three-hour conversations in players-only meetings,” Stutz said. “That first year was rough, but we really made strides that second year. Clevin evolved so much as a player and a person. Our coaches used to love to say, ‘We’ve got to get the JUCO out of Clev.’ And he evolved that second year and turned into a better player, teammate and person.”

“That NIT meant everything to me at the time,” Hannah said. “And then to see them go on after that and to see Garrett grow into the player he became, I was just really happy for them because I know those two years prepared them for that.”

While basketball is what brought them together, their life experiences are what have bonded them together even closer in recent years.

With Stutz and his wife expecting their second child, Hannah has been able to answer questions about family life. Although they don’t talk regularly throughout the pro basketball season, they have a connection that allows them to pick up right where they left off when they do talk to each other again.

After 15 years of meeting each other, Hannah still can’t believe how close the two have become.

“He was the total opposite of who I was coming into Wichita State and where I come from,” Hannah said. “To have someone like that who you can grow a relationship with, with two such different backgrounds, that’s pretty special, man.”

In their first day back in Wichita on Monday, the two were in rare form at the end of the AfterShocks’ practice.

Hannah was still trying to post up Stutz on the block and took great pleasure each time he canned a fade-away jumper over Stutz, who was wearing sandals.

“He still thinks he can beat me one-on-one and that hasn’t happened in years,” Stutz said.

“Man, for sure I can,” Hannah replied back. “I can still get him.”