Poised For History

(St. Louis, MO) – 33 and 0 is not nearly good enough. Or so goes the mantra for Wichita State’s basketball team. With Saturday’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semi-final win over Missouri State, the second ranked Shockers are still hungry for more. More wins, more championships and more time together.

Head Coach Gregg Marshall’s players talk more about ‘family’ than they do ‘team’ and they want to keep playing together as long as possible. Last year’s run to the Final Four was a rare run for a ‘mid major’ team, but this year’s edition may be better than that team.

Cleanthony Early, the most significant of the four seniors on the team is repeatedly promoting his younger teammates and deflecting attention.  He is a happier, team-first kind of player in 2014 and is surrounded by underclassmen that are demanding national attention too.

Sophomores Ron Baker and Fred Van Vleet (MVC Player of the Year) have captured the imagination of many. The two second-year players are versatile, talented and like all Gregg Marshall players, they defend.

Junior Tekele Cotton is the most explosive of the Shockers. He is their shut down defender and has been featured on Sports Center’s Top 10 more than once for his thunderous dunks.

After a sluggish start that saw the Shockers have more turnovers than buckets in the opening eight minutes, the Shockers went on a 13-0 run and the game was basically over with 2:33 left in the half. Wichita State creates more offense with deflections, steals and blocking out than most teams do with set plays.

Post game, both players and coach were focused on the job at hand. They truly are looking at one mountain at a time and for now that is winning the MVC tournament and securing a number one seed in the NCAA tournament and a likely return to this same building for the second and third rounds.

Marshall was testy, but happy in the post game press conference saying that many still find fault with his team, but those that do, know little about college basketball.

Arch Madness has rarely seen a team this good and this dominant. WSU won the semi-final by 25 (67-42) but could have won by 35. How far they will go this spring is still to be determined, but this Shocker team has the right machinery to drive to Dallas.

Do Good