How Sporting News Got It Wrong

(St. Louis, MO) – I love Sporting News! I grew up in the town that gave birth to Sporting News Magazine. I think Mike DeCourcy is the greatest basketball writer on the planet. Shoot! I worked at a Sporting News radio station, but I’m taking on the sports media giant today. (Someone watch my back!)

Seriously, “Wichita State is one of the most disappointing teams in the nation?” While I agree that 21 wins at this point is below what we’ve come to expect, wouldn’t you agree Mr. Sporting News that playing their first six games without Fred VanVleet and then going 18-3 after that is pretty remarkable.

You said, “Still an at-large berth seemed secure as long as they didn’t trip up in Missouri Valley play.” So you think 14-2 is ‘slipping up?’ You also think winning five of six non-conference games after VanVleet’s return isn’t substantive.

We understand that national publications have to take a ‘money conference’ view of college basketball, but in those six non-conference games they defeated nationally ranked Utah, WAC champion New Mexico State, and their only defeat was an overtime loss AT Seton Hall. Every team they defeated has a winning record.

ESPN’s latest ‘Basketball Power Index’ (BPI) has the Shockers as the 22^nd best team in the nation. Their RPI is 47. Five of Sporting News’ most disappointing teams are mid-majors of course. Because Wichita State dropping from a pre-season # 10 to roughly 28^th right now is far worse than Kentucky dropping from #1 to # 14. UNLV is sixth in the Mountain West instead of fourth. That is so much worse than Duke leaving the national rankings for the first time since Lincoln was President. I suppose California dropping from twelfth (Blue Ribbon) to ‘others receiving votes’ is not disappointing.

I get it. ‘Money Conferences’ move your ‘likes’, ‘shares’ and ‘re-tweets’, but is Gonzaga’s 29 BPI that much worse than Michigan’s 50. They were both in the pre-season national rankings, but somehow Gonzaga’s 21-7 record is so much worse than Michigan’s 19-9? This is like Marco Rubio claiming victory in South Carolina because he finished second.

Robert Fagan, the writer of this piece for Sporting News is a really good writer and I met him once and think he is a great guy. Is this personal? No. Nor do I think he has an intentional bias against the mid-major programs, but unless national publications are intentional about looking at these teams, they unconsciously dismiss them.

I’m merely standing up for reality. Sure the Shockers’ season hasn’t gone according to plan, but they’ve righted the ship, won their third straight league title, won 18 of their last 21 and no one in Wichita is disappointed.

Unless they completely collapse in their final two regular season games and at Arch Madness 2016, the Shockers will be in the NCAA Tournament and Sporting News won’t have to be disappointed anymore!

Do Good