MVC Basketball

In one of the wildest NCAA tournaments ever, the biggest star of March Madness has not played a single minute.

But she has been an inspiration.

Loyola-Chicago's team chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, has turned into a "celebrity" during the Ramblers' run to the Sweet 16. As a result, a Sister Jean bobblehead has transformed into a valuable collectible, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell:

This Sister Jean bobblehead, given out at Loyola in 2011 & 2015, sold for $330 on eBay today. pic.twitter.com/ecL3IuiqJI

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) March 22, 2018

What a time.

Wichita State formally accepted an invitation on Friday to join the American Athletic Conference for the start of the 2017-18 season, school president John Bardo announced on Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/President_Bardo/status/850369135481585665

"This is an event of great importance in defining the future of Wichita State," Bardo said, per a release. "Two years ago we set out on a fact-finding process to determine the best way athletics could help position the university for enrollment growth and enhance WSU's reputation as an academic and research institution."

According to Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel and ESPN.com's Brett McMurphy, the Shockers were voted into the AAC in unanimous fashion. 

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports passed along comments from the Missouri Valley Conference about Wichita State's departure:

Statement on behalf of the Missouri Valley in wake of Wichita State’s exodus. pic.twitter.com/Z4qf4425i8

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 7, 2017

McMurphy added that Wichita State will have $2.5 million of future revenue withheld as its fee for joining the AAC. 

According to Thamel, the Shockers sought to bolt from the Missouri Valley Conference in favor of the AAC "in part because of the chilly reception they've received from the NCAA tournament selection committee."

The Shockers men's basketball team, which went 30-4 during the 2016-17 regular season, entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 10 seed in the South Region despite ranking eighth overall in KenPom.com's rankings. 

By virtue of that seeding, the Shockers were unable to escape the first weekend of the tournament after a win against the Dayton Flyers set up a date with the second-seeded Kentucky Wildcats. 

Membership in the AAC should fix that problem moving forward. 

While the Shockers' resume wasn't thoroughly admired by the selection committee after they went 17-1 in conference play against the likes of Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois, they'll now compete with squads like SMU, Cincinnati and UConn for top billing in the AAC. 

As a point of reference, SMU (30-4, 17-1) received a No. 6 seed after sporting regular-season and conference records that were identical to the Shockers'. The Cincinnati Bearcats, meanwhile, landed a No. 6 seed after going 29-5 overall and 16-2 in conference play. 

For more news, rumors and related stories about Wichita State and NCAA basketball, check out the NCAA basketball and Wichita State streams on Bleacher Report's app.  

The American Athletic Conference will hold a vote on Wichita State's potential admission to the conference in a board of directors' call later this week, according to Pete Thamel of SI.com.

If admitted, which is the "general expectation," the Shockers would begin AAC play immediately in the 2017-18 season.

Wichita State has established itself as one of the top mid-major basketball programs in college basketball and has qualified for the NCAA tournament four straight times under head coach Gregg Marshall, reaching the Final Four in 2013. The Shockers reached the round of 32 this season as a No. 10 seed—a placement that many pundits thought was far too low for the talented Shockers—losing to No. 2 Kentucky.

Landing the Shockers would not only make the AAC a 12-member league, it would also give the conference another big-time program and more visibility. The AAC had just two schools, SMU and Cincinnati, in this year's NCAA tournament.

         

For more news, rumors and related stories about Wichita State and college basketball, check out the college basketball and Wichita State streams on Bleacher Report's app.

Security at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis reportedly had to talk to Lynn Marshall—the wife of Wichita State Shockers head coach Gregg Marshall—about her behavior during Sunday's game against the Kentucky Wildcats.

According to WTVQ's Kennedy Hardman, security paid Marshall three visits over the course of the Shockers' 65-62 loss:

Fellas, talk about a ride or die chick. Gregg Marshall, I love your wife. Inappropriate? ...maybe Entertaining? ...YES ! (Security visit #3) pic.twitter.com/cF6SGQUNYK

— Kennedy Hardman (@kennedy_hardman) March 19, 2017

Hardman also reported arena security was "trying to kick out" Marshall but decided it was best to be "delicate" since it was dealing with the head coach's wife. Although minutes after the final buzzer sounded, she was reportedly escorted away from the lower bowl due to shouting expletives, according to the Associated Press.

Marshall's passion for the Shockers has been well-documented, as the Wichita Eagle's Travis Heying noted during Wichita State's 64-58 win over the Dayton Flyers on Friday at the NCAA tournament:

Hey @ESPNAndyKatz, how did you enjoy Lynn Marshall's company for 40 minutes? pic.twitter.com/jnjddY7dTT

— Travis Heying (@travisheying) March 18, 2017

Sunday's game ended in more disappointing fashion for the Shockers, whose season is now over following a tight loss to the South Region's No. 2 seed.

Kentucky, meanwhile, is slated to meet the No. 3-seed UCLA Bruins or No. 6-seed Cincinnati Bearcats in the Sweet 16.

Wichita State kicked off its 2017 NCAA tournament run with a 64-58 win over the No. 7-seeded Dayton Flyers on Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, but few believe the Shockers qualify as a No. 10 seed.  

"[They're] like a 4-seed, like a 4- or 5-seed maybe," Dayton head coach Archie Miller said after the game, per Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com. "Thirty-some wins, and you look at the numbers across the board. I mean, every coach studies the analytics.

"They're a team that can beat anybody on a neutral court at any time, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were pushing toward another second weekend. They're a great team, and they're really well-coached, maybe as fun of a team to prepare for as we've had."

As Miller noted, the analytics think highly of Wichita State.

According to KenPom.com, the Shockers are the fifth-best team in college basketball. ESPN's BPI isn't quite as high on the squad but still lists it at No. 15.

Wichita State has outscored opponents by 19.6 points per game this year, including the postseason, for the second-highest margin in college basketball. And the eye test also seems to favor the Missouri Valley Conference team, which was No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll prior to Selection Sunday.

"Somehow, 20 divided by four equals 10, but that's OK," Shockers head coach Gregg Marshall said of his seed.

What held the team back was its RPI, which was only No. 31, and a strength of schedule that ranked 186th in the country, per ESPN. Aside from a 2-1 record against conference rival Illinois State, the team lost its other big matchups (Louisville, Michigan State and Oklahoma State).

Still, it's clear this is a quality program that has reached a Final Four and a Sweet 16 in recent years despite relatively low seedings both times. While fans will always complain, Marshall noted Dayton was the team that suffered.

"I think Dayton deserved a better draw in this tournament," Marshall said after the win. "I'll finish with that."

Kentucky could be the next team that suffers, as the No. 2 seed will face Wichita State on Sunday in Round 2 in Indianapolis.    

Illinois State head coach Dan Muller is clearly annoyed with the NCAA selection committee for leaving his team out of the NCAA tournament, and he took to Twitter on Monday to express those frustrations:

ACC BIG 10 BIG 12 SEC PAC 12 BIG EAST. It's me again. Looking 4 home & home next year. Pls call me 4 chance 4 QUALITY road win, top 33 RPI pic.twitter.com/zYAZpR3kJn

— Dan Muller (@DanMuller) March 13, 2017

That led to the following exchange with Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork:

.Hey @DanMuller I'm here with Coach Kennedy & since he doesn't do Twitter, he said to give us a call. We'd love to match up. https://t.co/eLrdBp0UIn

— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) March 13, 2017

.Our people (Twitterless AK) are ready @DanMuller
Your bitmoji game is strong. Good luck in the NIT.

— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) March 13, 2017

Apparently, it didn't take long for the two sides to iron out a tentative agreement:

Talked to AK (Hope it was him & not Randy). Need to figure out dates but it's a done deal if we do. AK said it's the TWARD invitational. pic.twitter.com/NCOiWexjW3

— Dan Muller (@DanMuller) March 13, 2017

The Redbirds have a legitimate gripe. They finished 27-6 and reached the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title game, losing to Wichita State. However, the team's only top-50 win this season came against the Shockers, while the Redbirds lost to TCU, the toughest non-conference opponent the team managed to schedule.

"My team is crushed," Muller told Scott Gleeson of USA Today. "I feel terrible for them, especially my seniors. We feel we should be in but we aren't. It's tough to take but we'll have to gather ourselves and get ready for the NIT."

He added: "We ask dozens of schools to play us every year and they won't. Don't talk to me about scheduling."

The players were just as disappointed with the snub.

"I'm pretty upset, mad-slash-sad, shocked," guard Paris Lee told Mike Helfgot of the Chicago Tribune. "Everybody in that locker room is human. Everybody is hurt."

Illinois State is a No. 1 seed in the NIT, alongside California, Iowa and Syracuse, and will face UC Irvine in first-round action on Wednesday. It will be one of the favorites to win the title, though it's clearly not the title the Redbirds had been hoping to contend for this season.

To say Paul Jesperson came up big for the 11th-seeded Northern Iowa Panthers might be an understatement.

Tied with the No. 6 Texas Longhorns with just 2.7 seconds left on the clock, the senior guard hurled a half-court shot as the buzzer sounded—and it fell.

Here's another angle:

The Panthers won the first-round meeting, 75-72. They're slated to face the Texas A&M Aggies in the second round Sunday.

[Vine]

Boosted by that run to the Final Four three seasons ago, Wichita State is 7-3 both straight up and against the spread over its last 10 NCAA tournament games. Near the other end of the scales, Vanderbilt is just 1-4 both SU and ATS over its last five tournament outings.

The Shockers hope to begin another March run when they clash with the Commodores in an NCAA tournament First Four matchup Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio.

Point spread: The Shockers opened as 2.5-point favorites; the total was 136, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark (line updates and matchup report).

March Madness pick, via Odds Shark computer: 73.7-62.8 Shockers

Why pick Vanderbilt to cover the spread

Vandy opened its SEC slate with three straight close defeats and then won 11 of its last 16 games, topping Texas A&M and Kentucky in the process, to finish in a tie for third place—good enough to garner its first invitation to the Big Dance since 2012.

Sophomore point guard Wade Baldwin ran the show, leading the team in scoring and assists, while 7-footers Damian Jones and Luke Kornet helped the Commodores rank seventh in the country in field-goal defense, holding foes to just 39 percent shooting from the field.

With three future NBA picks, Vanderbilt has the talent to hang with just about anyone.

Why pick Wichita State to cover the spread

The Shockers started a bit slowly this season, as senior point guard Fred VanVleet missed time with an injury, but since his return, they're 16-3 SU and 14-5 ATS. Along the way, Wichita State won 12 games in a row, ultimately claiming another Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title, before getting upset by eventual champion Northern Iowa in overtime in The Valley tournament semifinals.

So, the Shockers are making their fifth NCAA tournament appearance in a row. Wichita State ranked No. 1 in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 59 points per game, and sixth in field-goal defense, limiting opponents to just 38 percent shooting. This is a tough, experienced outfit that just knows how to win games.

Smart betting pick

Wichita State starts three seniors, led by the backcourt pairing of VanVleet and Ron Baker, who both know a little about late-March basketball. Meanwhile, Vandy starts three sophomores, with no holdovers from its most recent NCAA tournament experience four years ago.

And as we all know, veteran guard play goes a long way toward winning games and covering spreads at the Big Dance. The smart money here sides with the Shockers.

March Madness betting trends

Wichita State is 19-3 SU and 16-5-1 ATS in its last 22 games.

Vanderbilt is 2-5 ATS in its last seven games as underdogs.

Vanderbilt is 1-5 SU in its past six tournament games.

The over is 8-2 in the past 10 Wichita State tournament games.

All point spread and lines data courtesy of Odds Shark, and all quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line movement updates, and get the free odds tracker app for iOS or Android.

Only 2.5 seconds separated the Northern Iowa Panthers from punching a ticket to the NCAA tournament.

Undaunted, senior guard Wes Washpun had his team's destiny in his shot and took aim while falling away.

The long two-pointer clanked against the iron.

Just before the buzzer sounded, however, fate gave it a fortuitous bounce.

With time expired and the Evansville Purple Aces downed, 56-54, the elated Panthers had only one task left to complete—they stormed the court.

WICHITA, Kan. — The three letters that no one in Wichita wants to hear come March are N-I-T.

But two weeks ago, Wichita State sat at 2-4, and head coach Gregg Marshall read one writer foolishly declare that his team needed to win the rest of its games to make the NCAA tournament.

Marshall emerged from Wichita State's locker room late Saturday afternoon with his strut back and a message for the rest of the country.

"Redeem and revive," Marshall said after the Shockers put on a clinic in a 67-50 win over then-No. 25 Utah. "Don't bury us after that s--t in Orlando."

That steaming pile of you know what in Orlando was the team ranked 10th in the preseason losing three games in four days at the Advocare Invitational and creating bubble talk in November. Only it wasn't the team that garnered that high ranking; it was a poor-man's variation of it.

This was supposed to be a fairy-tale season, the perfect college basketball tale that began in April.

Marshall signed an extension with Wichita State on a Wednesday after saying no to a lucrative offer from Alabama—reportedly near $4 million per year, per the Associated Press' Dave Skretta (via Yahoo Sports).

He hoped star guards Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker would stay as well, but he knew when he decided to stay that he needed to be prepared to watch them leave early. His first order of business after signing the extension was to file paperwork to have Baker and VanVleet's draft stock evaluated by the NBA.

The day after Marshall relayed their evaluations, Baker's phone lit up, and VanVleet was on the line with the message that Baker was telepathically hoping he'd receive: VanVleet had decided to stay.

"At the end of it, it felt more like a stressor," he said. "I didn't feel good about it, so I think that told me everything I needed to know."

VanVleet relayed the conversation he'd had with Marshall and the reasons he was staying. Before he could finish, Baker blurted out, "You don't know how much that relieves me."

"When you're going through stuff like that, sometimes you forget to tell people what you're thinking," VanVleet said. "From the outside looking in, I think everybody was expecting both of us to go. But I think internally, I think neither wanted us to go that bad."

Before Baker allowed himself to make his decision, he called his mom and dad, who had him on speaker phone as the three discussed his future. In the middle of the conversation, Baker's stream of consciousness again took over, and he told his parents, "I think I need to come back and enjoy Wichita."

"I felt tied together with Fred," Baker said. "All my years I've been eligible I've played with him. Me and him are kind of tied to the hip. Him coming back was probably 75 percent of the reason I was coming back. He's one of those guys you don't want to be without playing the game."

A month later, Anton Grady visited Wichita. Grady averaged 14.3 points and 7.9 rebounds last season at Cleveland State and played on relatively successful teams in Cleveland, but he'd never made an NCAA tournament. He told Baker and VanVleet that he wanted to get to the tourney.

"I said I was coming back for the same reason, except I wanted to go to a Final Four," Baker said.

"I had a message [prepared for Grady]," VanVleet said. "I didn't really need one. He was just like, 'This is where I want to come. You guys don't need to sweet talk me."

"The fact that they've been here and had great success is what got Anton," Marshall said.

That success is a Final Four in Baker's and VanVleet's freshman seasons, a perfect regular season in their sophomore year and a Sweet 16 trip last year.

Combine the best backcourt in the country with an All-Horizon League big man, a former McDonald's All-American in former KU guard Conner Frankamp (who would join at semester) and arguably the most talented recruiting class Marshall had ever signed, and you get...2-4?

---

Last Friday, Marshall sat in his office and placed values on each player on his roster to illustrate the misfortune that had engulfed his program.

VanVleet and Baker are Nos. 1 and 1A, he said. VanVleet tweaked his left hamstring in an Oct. 29 practice, then pulled it two days later on a fast break in a secret scrimmage against Oklahoma State.

After trying to rush back, he rolled his right ankle in the season opener on Nov. 13 against Charleston Southern. Four days later, he played half-speed at Tulsa, reinjured his hamstring again and finished that game on "half a leg." After that, VanVleet went on the shelf for two-and-a-half weeks, including the entire Advocare Invitational.

Grady, whom Marshall labels No. 3, is out indefinitely. In the second game in Orlando, Grady ran into the arm of Alabama's Dazon Ingram and dropped to the floor in the scariest moment of this college basketball season. Baker overheard Grady telling doctors on the sideline that he couldn't feel his extremities. He left the floor on a stretcher.

(Fortunately, Grady is running again—he spends practice doing exercises on the sideline—and Marshall is hopeful he will play again. But it's still too early for doctors to make the call.)

Nos. 4 through 6, Marshall said, are some combination of senior Evan Wessel, freshman guard Landry Shamet and Frankamp.

Shamet scored 13 points in 27 minutes in Wichita State's season opener. He was the freshman most ready to play. "He's got a Fred/Ron mentality," Marshall said.

Shamet has a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal in his left foot, which required surgery. Marshall said it is a worse version of the injury that held Baker out of 21 games his freshman season. Shamet hasn't played in the last six games, and if he returns this season—he could opt to take a medical redshirt—it'll be late in the year.

Frankamp spent the first two months of practice showing some of the wizardry and shot-making that helped the 6'1" guard break KU senior Perry Ellis' scoring record in Wichita's City League. But because Frankamp didn't decide to leave Kansas until after practice had started last year, he was forced to sit out the first seven games because of transfer rules.

So out of Wichita State's top six players, four of those guys have missed a combined 21 games.

"It's like Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall, had a great fall and now we're trying to put the pieces back together," Marshall said.

---

VanVleet sat stewing on the bench three weeks ago in Orlando.

The Shockers were blowing a second-half lead to Alabama—just as they'd done the day before against USC—and VanVleet was frustrated. But he didn't know how to express it.

"I'm trying to coach them and do everything I can, but I'm not out there with them," VanVleet said. "Part of me is saying 'shut up, you're not out there. You don't really know what they're going through.' And the other part of me is seeing what they could be doing and getting mad."

Once the coaches left the locker room after the game, VanVleet decided he couldn't stay quiet, and he addressed the team, going down the line and challenging guys individually.

"We had been harping on the same things since June," VanVleet said. "To me, it seemed like guys weren't understanding the magnitude of those plays, and when you don't have that killer instinct and you don't play smart enough to win, you don't win.

"We don't play in the SEC or Big Ten where we have all these top-notch teams that can help our resume. Our pre-conference is pretty important to us, and I just don't think some of the younger guys really understood that at that time."

The next day the Shockers lost by 23 points to Iowa, but two of the players VanVleet had laid into the most, Zach Brown and Shaquille Morris, responded with good games.

Brown is a player WSU coaches have tried to get to be a clone of Tekelle Cotton, the former Shockers guard who was the team's defensive stopper the last four years. After Saturday's game, he said he's embraced his role as the team's "junkyard dog," and here are his numbers since VanVleet's tongue-lashing:

• Before VanVleet rant (5 games): 3.4 PPG and two steals
• After VanVleet rant (4 games): 11.8 PPG and five steals

"He probably didn't like me too much at that time," VanVleet said of Brown. "But it's been paying off since the way he's been playing. It flipped the switch." 

Without Grady, Marshall has turned to three bigs (Morris, Rauno Nurger and Bush Wamukota) to basically provide defense, rebounding and hustle.

Over the last week, they faced UNLV's Stephen Zimmerman and Utah's Jakob Poeltl, who are both projected by DraftExpress.com to go in the lottery of the 2016 NBA draft. Zimmerman scored 11 points, but he also had four turnovers. Poeltl came in averaging 21.3 points, and the Shockers limited his touches and held him to 11 points.

Wichita State's coaches have been known to put together some of the best scouting reports in the country—"I don't know how their wives deal with them when all they do is sit at home and watch film, but it helps us win," VanVleet said—and one of VanVleet's complaints when he was out was a lack of attention to detail to those reports.

That was reflected in Wichita State's defense. Wichita State's defensive efficiency in Orlando (110.0) would rank 285th nationally, per kenpom.com.

Against Utah and UNLV, who came to Wichita averaging 83.1 points and 82.1 points, respectively, the Shockers held them both to 50 points. Their defensive efficiency in the two games (82.6) would rank fourth nationally. 

Offensively, the Shockers have struggled shooting the ball for most of the year, but that had a lot to do with VanVleet's absence.

"New roles were being made in days instead of months like they usually are," Baker said. "Now that we've got Fred back, things are a lot easier. He's definitely the head of the snake." 

VanVleet also has less pressure on him to play heavy minutes with the addition of Frankamp. The former Kansas guard struggled for much of his first two games. He went 0-of-5 in his debut, prompting a meeting with Marshall last Friday. "He was nervous as a cat," Marshall said. "You could tell he was nervous. He wasn't even dribbling the ball with assuredness. He was shaky."

Marshall told Frankamp to play like he's been playing at practice and just "let it go." He missed his first four shots Saturday. But when he finally got a jumper to fall with 54 seconds left in the game, Intrust Bank Arena erupted, and the next possession he crossed over and drained a three.

Even if Frankamp struggles shooting, he will provide value as another ball-handler who can create shots for others, and that's what the Shockers were missing in VanVleet's absence.

The value of VanVleet and Baker in the Utah game was most reflected in the turnover differential—the Shockers forced 19 turnovers and had just three, which led to 25 more shot attempts than the Utes. No matter how well you shoot, you're going to win most games when that happens.

It was a classic Wichita State performance. The Shockers had the Utes scouted so well that they were anticipating their every move, and VanVleet was a technician picking apart the Utah defense.

Afterward, VanVleet was praising his teammates he had broken down weeks before. The Shockers need to win a few more games to get back in the Top 25, but only a few teams in the country are capable of reaching the level the Shockers reached against the Utes.

"We keep guarding the way we're guarding and our offense starts to come around, we'll be dangerous," VanVleet said. "This is more like what me and Ron came back for."

C.J. Moore covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @CJMooreBR.