Shockers Are First Four

(St. Louis, MO) – Apparently Wichita State barely made it into the NCAA Tournament. The Shockers are an 11 seed, but are playing in one of the ‘First Four’ games in this year’s Big Dance.

Tuesday night’s opener will be against a team that mirrors them in some ways. Vanderbilt was a pre-season top 25 team, while WSU could be found in the top 15 of many of the prognostications. Early season injuries derailed an otherwise successful season for Gregg Marshall and the ‘play angry’ Shockers.

They won the Missouri Valley’s regular season crown with a 16-2 record, but those early non-conference losses when Fred VanVleet is injured doomed their ability to have an outstanding resume boosting RPI.

Vanderbilt was simply inconsistent. Former Illinois State head coach Kevin Stallings’ team racked up 19 wins and beat some pretty good teams, but after winning their first five games, they lost three of four to Kansas, Baylor and Dayton before a three game losing streak to non-tournament teams LSU, Arkansas and South Carolina.

Their late season win over Kentucky only made the season more confusing. They swept Tennessee in the regular season, only to be destroyed by them in the conference tournament.

Inconsistency drove the Commodores to the ‘First Four’ and injuries held the reigns for the Shockers.

Vandy has a tough seven footer for the Shockers to deal with in Damian Jones, and an outstanding guard in Wade Baldwin IV. How the Shocker parade of post players handle Jones will be a key thing to watch.

Can Ron Baker, Fred VanVleet and Evan Wessel make one last historic stamp on the Wichita State history books? We’ll find out Tuesday night.

Do Good