Battling the Blue Bloods (updated)

(St. Louis, MO) – Blue Bloods stand in the way of Missouri Valley Conference teams in the NCAA tournament. Is it a conspiracy or just random seeding by the Selection Committee? We don’t know, but what we do know is Kansas and Louisville are worthy opponents for Wichita State and Northern Iowa.

Or as Gregg Marshall says, “Indiana, another, just, historic college basketball team, so we’ve got Kentucky last year at the end, Indiana, now Kansas, I mean, I guess we could play the Lakers and the Celtics after that, but it’s amazing the lineup that we get.” Many thought WSU got the short end of the stick last year when they entered the ‘Big Dance’ undefeated, and now this year the hill seems pretty steep once again.

As soon as the brackets were put on display by CBS, you could see these potential collisions between the Shockers and the Jayhawks, and the Panthers battling Louisville. People in the Sunflower State are drooling over Sunday’s matchup of the state’s two best college basketball teams.

Many thought UNI (31-3) was underseeded, but if they had switched seeds (4 for 5) with Louisville (25-8), the only thing that would be different would be the color on the uniforms. Is Northern Iowa overlooked in this game? The Panthers are seeking the program’s second trip to the Sweet Sixteen. Louisville is looking for their fourth straight, and their 20th overall.

Kansas (27-8) has 20 Sweet arrivals. They and the Cardinals trail only North Carolina, Kentucky (25 each) and North Carolina (24) in those kind of appearances. So Kansas and Louisville have 39 combined Sweet Sixteen appearances, while Wichita State and Northern Iowa have won a combined 19 tournament games.

The Missouri Valley had two teams reach the Sweet 16 in 2006 when Wichita State and Bradley climbed the mountain of success.

It’s often speculated that Kansas Coach Bill Self won’t schedule games with Wichita State.

Shocker guard Ron Baker, says he’s excited to play the Jayhawks,”Obviously when people saw the bracket they were already talking about this day on Sunday. It’s a big thing for the State of Kansas; a lot of excitement, a lot of houses are going to be divided. It’s just going to be exciting. As a player, being from Kansas, just really, really fortunate to be in this game. Obviously these type of games don’t happen a whole lot.”

Marshall says the Shockers (29-4) are not numbered among the ‘blue bloods’, “It’s an honor to be able to play them and it’s an honor to compete with them to win. That’s what we’re after, no matter who the next opponent is, our goal is to get to Cleveland and the Sweet 16. That’s our goal. Kansas has great players, unbelievable coach, Bill Self does a great job, and they’re right up the road. It’s a game in the making. It’s an opportunity, it’s a wonderful opportunity and whoever plays the best is going to win. We’re not the “blue blood,” so to speak, that those teams are, but we generally play well against them, and if we play really well, we’ll have a chance to win.

Where Louisville may be more athletic than Northern Iowa, the Panthers are deeper. “We go ten deep sometimes, ten guys that can really help our team,” said UNI’s Seth Tuttle. “Some times when you get out there for a long time, your legs remind you how important it is.”

“We need to defend Louisville like we defended Iowa,” says Northern Iowa play-by-play man Gary Rima. “Both were long but not great jump shooters. Plug up the middle and make them shoot jump shots! If we rebound and defend that way I like our chances! They are not a great mid range to 3pt arch shooting team!”

UNI Coach Ben Jacobson is 3-2 in NCAA tournament action. Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino is 51-17.

KU’s Perry Ellis and WSU wing Evan Wessell won three state championships as teammates at Wichita Heights High School. One of the former mates will have bragging rights about 6:30 Sunday night.

The all Kansas game is at 4:15 Sunday afternoon, and Northern Iowa’s game tips at 8:40 Sunday night.

Blue Bloods versus Valley Scrappers. Let the games begin!

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