Final Four Shockers

St. Louis, MO – They’ve made the cover of Sports Illustrated, USA Today and who knows where else?  Wichita State has reached NATIONAL STATUS!  Coach Gregg Marshall’s team takes on mighty Louisville Saturday night for an entry into Monday’s national championship game and no one is giving the ninth seeded Shockers a chance of beating the Cardinals.

No one gave them a chance to beat Pittsburgh, or Gonzaga or Ohio State, but here they are. USA Today’s betting line has WSU a 10 1/2 point underdog, but don’t bet against the physical, gritty and tenacious Shockers. Oh, by-the-way, they are talented too!  This is not a team of thugs that just out muscles you.  They will be more physical than most, and they back down from no one, but they have talent!

Louisville has those great guards in Russ Smith and Peyton Siva, and they play that great pressure defense, so I’m taking nothing away from Coach Rick Pitino’s team. However, the perimeter players led by guard Malcolm Armstead and the interior guys commanded by Carl Hall are as cohesive a unit as there is in the country.

Marshall can get them to play.  They’ve won 30 times this season and over the last three years WSU is 86-22 with an National Invitation Championship (2011) on their resume.  This team knows how to win. We’ve said it before, there is no better ‘basketball warrior’ than the aforementioned Hall. He has come back from a heart condition several years ago and a broken right thumb (this year!) and the size disadvantage that he faces in the post every night of the season.

Coach Marshall described Carl Hall to me back on March 9th as a great competitor.

They are 6 & 1 since that interview and playing in the Atlanta based ‘Final Four’.

Not to be overlooked in this late season surge is the play of freshman Ron Baker.  He missed most of the season only returning to the team during the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.  At times, he has been a lethal threat for this team that has only lost to Creighton (in the MVC finals) since early March.

The MVC has won four previous national championships. The last was in 1962 when ‘the Big O’ Oscar Robertson was playing with Cincinnati and the Bearcats were a part of the Valley. According to Wikipedia, no number 9 seed has even made it to the championship game in the tournament’s current format.

During Butler’s run to the title game in 2011 they were an eight seed, as was Villanova when they won the national title in 1985.

Good Luck Shockers!

Do Good