MVC Basketball

With Saturday's win over Missouri State, the Wichita State Shockers became the first Division I men's basketball team since St. Joseph's in 2003-04 to finish the regular season undefeated. The Shockers (31-0, 18-0 MVC) jumped out to an 18-point lead by halftime on Saturday and ultimately won 68-45 for a sixth consecutive double-digit victory.

In addition to making history with their undefeated regular season, the Shockers also set a school record for most wins in a single season. Last year's team broke the same record, winning 30 games on the way to a Final Four appearance.

While last seasons's epic run was more than anyone could have expected, Wichita State won't be catching fans or opponents off guard this season. A soft schedule obviously helped the Shockers, but plenty of teams have faced easier slates since 2003-04 and none of them went undefeated.

In fact, only two teams have pieced together undefeated regular seasons since 1978-79, when Larry Bird led Indiana State to a 33-0 record, before falling to Magic Johnson's Michigan State Spartans in the national championship game. Neither of those two teams—St. Joe's in 2003-04, UNLV in 1990-91—won the national championship, with St. Joe's falling in the Elite Eight and UNLV losing to Duke in a major Final Four upset.

The Shockers will thus look to become the first truly undefeated team since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers accomplished the task under legendary coach Bob Knight.

Six other squads have completed an undefeated championship season, with UCLA accounting for four of those campaigns, in 1963-64, 1966-67, 1971-72 and 1972-73. Rounding out the seven-member list are the 1956-57 North Carolina Tar Heels and 1955-56 University of San Francisco Dons, with the latter team boasting eventual NBA Hall of Famers Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.

The Shockers will have their shot at joining the aforementioned teams in basketball lore, but first they need to secure a No. 1 seed. A slip-up in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament would likely resign Wichita State to a No. 2 seed, as many observers already believe that the unbeaten Shockers are unworthy of top slotting.

With Saturday’s blowout win over Missouri State, the Wichita State Shockers became the first team in a decade to finish the regular season without a loss. Now that they’ve officially locked up that spot in the record books, it’s time to consider how the Shockers’ achievement stacks up against other historical unbeatens, not to mention the best teams of 2013-14.

In nonconference action, Wichita State faced only one Top 25-caliber team, the St. Louis Billikens (who weren’t ranked at the time but have since climbed to No. 10 in the AP poll). Beating SLU on the road would have been a statement win for any team, but it’s one of very few such victories that WSU has logged.

The rest of the Shockers’ schedule featured only two other schools that might even have a shot at an at-large berth, bubble teams Tennessee and BYU. None of WSU’s 18 league wins looks all that meaningful in the bigger picture, especially since second-place Indiana State lost four other games in a subpar Missouri Valley Conference.

However, the relative weakness of Wichita State’s schedule is par for the course for a contemporary unbeaten team. After all, no power-conference squad has made it through the regular season unscathed since Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers won it all in 1976.

When Jameer Nelson led St. Joseph’s to an undefeated regular season in 2003-04, the Hawks' run was almost identical to that of this year’s Shockers. St. Joe’s logged one highly impressive win (over freshman Adam Morrison and Gonzaga on a neutral court), beat a couple of mediocre power-conference teams, then ran the table in a fairly soft A-10.

Even the fabled 1990-91 UNLV squad, routinely listed among the best teams of all time, followed a similar pattern. The Rebels’ big win was a bit bigger (over fellow No. 1 seed Arkansas on the road), their conference a bit stronger (thanks to 23-6 New Mexico State, when both were in the Big West), but what they accomplished wasn’t qualitatively different from the wave WSU is riding.

Indeed, the biggest difference between Wichita State and its two regular-season-undefeated predecessors is really the unspectacular way the Shockers have gone about their business. They aren’t running up triple-digit scores as UNLV did, and they don’t have a transcendent Wooden Award favorite a la Nelson (sorry, Cleanthony Early), so it’s harder for them to earn respect from fans.

The best way for the Shockers to win their critics over, of course, would be to stay unbeaten right on through the national title game. Given what they’ve accomplished already, is such a run all that far-fetched? After all, every other team in the country has at least two losses, with Duke and Kansas still being considered candidates for No. 1 seeds with six defeats on their records.

More to the point, though, all of the other top-tier squads have suffered a bona fide upset. If Syracuse’s only losses had been on the road against Duke and Virginia, they’d have a strong case for being better than WSU. But, when the Orange failed to get the job done against lowly Boston College, they forfeited part of their right to sneer at Wichita State’s easy schedule.

Wichita State has won all the games it was supposed to win, and that’s an even more significant feat in a season with so much parity. By comparison, when St. Joe’s made its magical run in 2003-04, Stanford finished the regular season with one loss (to tourney-bound Washington) and Gonzaga with only two: against St. Joseph’s and Stanford.

The Shockers’ ability to take care of business against overmatched opponents will serve them well in the postseason. With the experience they got in last year’s Final Four run, plus the confidence they’ve earned this year, they’ll be a formidable foe even for the Syracuses and Floridas of the world.

That’s not to say it wouldn’t be a staggering upset for the Shockers to win it all. It’s just to say that this team has been defying expectations for the better part of two years, up to and including winning 31 consecutive games without two of last year’s key starters.

The Shockers are already poised to enter the tournament as the most surprising unbeaten team since Larry Bird took unranked Indiana State to the 1979 title game. They could do Bird’s squad one better by becoming the most unexpected national champion in history.

Strewn amongst the mind-numbing stories about commercialism and greed, violence and petty problems remain as blatant reminders of what the holidays are truly about. Regardless of one's faith or culture, one can't help but be overcome by the tradition and chaos that occur this time of year.

Though much of the news is dominated by the drama of shopping and selfishness, there are always those stories that bring one back to reality and make us hug our loved ones just a little bit tighter at night.

Take Barry Hinson's family, for example.

Just a week ago, it seemed as if things couldn't get any worse for the second-year head coach at Southern Illinois. The Salukis were 2-8 and off to one of the worst starts in program history. The team was seen as "uncoachable" by Hinson, and apparently they were playing like a bunch of momma's boys, according to his postgame rant. In his eyes, his wife could have played better than his team.

Hinson's job even came into question by many media sources, who cited the coach's public criticism of individual players as unprofessional and uncalled for.

All of that melee was put into perspective on Christmas morning and in the worst way imaginable. Hinson's son-in-law, Niles Thomason, passed away suddenly on Wednesday on the one day of the year where family matters the most. He was only 35.

Though few details have been released about Thomason's death, the Southern Illinois athletic website offered condolences for the Hinson family.

No game can replace the hole that Hinson and family are now feeling. No words and no gifts can justify the loss, but if Hinson's postgame comments didn't give the Salukis a reason to win, they sure have one now.

Southern Illinois struggled in their first season under Hinson last year, but improvement was seen at the end of the 2012 season. After losing 11 of 12 games in a stretch between Dec. 22 and Feb. 2, the Salukis won six of their final eight regular-season games. However, that momentum didn't carry over to 2013, as the Salukis started off the year with a 2-8 record. Since Hinson's public criticism of his team, the Salukis have gone 2-0 with wins over nonconference opponents Ball State and SIU-Edwardsville.

The program is in dire need of success, but his family is in even greater need of some positive events. It can't be said enough that the hole in their family can never be filled, but a rough season will compound the problem.

Hinson is very well-respected in the Southern Illinois community. In the first game following his viral postgame conference, Hinson received a standing ovation from those in attendance.

There is no word on whether or not Hinson will miss any games for services or to be with his family. The Salukis take the court next at Miami of Ohio on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Cue up the SportsCenter replays—we’ve got another classic coach moment.

Rather, there was an abundance of beautiful instances during Barry Hinson’s rant on Tuesday night. The head coach of the Southern Illinois Salukis basketball team sat down with the media after his team’s 73-65 loss to Murray State and let his boys have it.

The tirade was a mixed bag of disappointment, sniper references and praise for his wife’s slick pump-fake.

It was one of those glorious instances when a coach’s composure crumbles like a cookie, and it was spotted by Mike Johnson of Next Impulse Sports.

Coach Hinson began the press conference in relative calm, building a foundation for the rant to come with complaints about missed layups.

“We got three straight stops, missed three straight layups,” Hinson said. “You can’t do that against good teams...we came out in the second half, got a couple 50/50 balls. We just missed three point-blank layups.”

He was just limbering up, however. Hinson's disappointment over missed layups barely penetrated the topsoil on his deep frustration over the game. The coach would dig down further into this anger, calling out his players for sulking, falling down and being un-coachable.

Here are some of my favorite lines from Coach Hinson:

“We’re going to college! And getting it paid for!”

“I just got a text here.”

“Our guards had one assist and seven turnovers! They must think it’s a tax credit!”

“There was a sniper in the gym...We had guys falling down...I thought Navy Seal Team 6 was out there!”

The crowning moment of the evening was a line Hinson dropped about his wife, who is apparently a student of the ball-fake.

“My wife—MY WIFE—could score more than two buckets on 11 shots!” Hinson said. “Because I know my wife will at least shot-fake one time!”

Strong work, Mr. Hinson. Hopefully the team appreciates your message. If not, the rest of us certainly enjoyed it.

Bad dog! Get on the treadmill!

Follow @Dr__Carson 

KANSAS CITY, MO — It's not surprising that Ron Baker sacrificed to make the final winning play in Wichita State's 75-62 victory over BYU on Tuesday night in the CBE Classic Championship.

Baker became a folk hero last March. The floppy-haired kid from western Kansas who paid his own way two years ago to even play for the Shockers. And there he was in the final minute at the Sprint Center, sprinting to the offensive glass where his jaw found the elbow of BYU's Nate Austin.

Austin was called for a flagrant-2 and ejected. Baker buried both free throws. A close game became what looks like an easy double-digit win for the Shockers because of Baker's hustle.

This is the point in the story that usually goes something along the lines of small-town kid makes all the gritty plays to get on the court. He doesn't belong on the court, but he makes himself belong.

But let me fill you in on a little secret before everyone else catches on. That's not the story of Ron Baker. Baker has screwed up that narrative and weaved a better one.

He's one of the best wings in the country.

Because, yes, Baker is that guy who makes all the subtle, hard-nosed plays that go appreciated by purists and coaches. "He effects winning," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said. "He's always there effecting winning in a positive way."

But what Marshall also has in Baker is a star who can do just about everything on the court, and that includes score.

The Shockers are six games into the season, and Baker is tied with Cleanthony Early as the team's leading scorer. That's Early, the senior, and the guy who scored at will against Louisville in the Final Four and was expected to be Wichita State's go-to man.

"I think that when it came to possessions where they really got stuck and needed a play—whether it was a big shot, or a drive and kick, a big offensive rebound—he made really big plays for them," BYU coach Dave Rose said of Baker. "We had a hard time with him, his size, his physical presence and his skill level is really good."

In addition to Wichita State's resident marksman from deep, Baker is also playing the backup point guard spot, and as Rose noted, he's become the guy who Marshall goes to late in the clock when he needs someone to create for himself. 

In other words, don't pigeonhole Baker as a spot-up shooter. He had an off-shooting night—he went 5-of-16—yet he still managed to score 23 points by getting to the line 11 times and sinking all 11.

Baker was also in on a lot of plays on the other end that led to BYU, averaging 94.6 points per game coming in, shoot a putrid 20 percent in the second half. He had two steals and two blocks and forced several other misses by getting to a spot where the Cougars didn't anticipate he would be.

"His defense, his steadiness are something beyond his years as a sophomore," Marshall said.

Marshall has a really good thing going in Wichita. As I wrote Tuesday night, this team is a better team than the Final Four team he had last year.

The Shockers got there, remember, in large part because Baker returned for the postseason from a stress fracture in his foot. They're now 21-3 with him in the lineup.

Because of that March run, Baker, for the time being, will be known as a guy who made big shot after big shot in the tournament. 

But Baker's changing that narrative, and it's going to get noticed.

"Scouts at Wichita State practices to see Anthony come away liking the kid from western Kansas," ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla tweeted on Tuesday night.

Yep, that kid from western Kansas can ball.

You'll see it again come March.

Follow C.J. on Twitter @cjmoore4.

KANSAS CITY, MO. — It may not end like that magical run a year ago. The shots may not fall like they did. The bracket may not break.

But realize this about Wichita State: This was supposed to be the year for Gregg Marshall's team.

The Shockers are better than they were a year ago at this time, and they'll probably be better in March too, and if you cannot fathom that, simply look at one result.

Wichita State beat DePaul 90-72 at the Sprint Center on Monday night in Kansas City.

A year ago, just five days earlier in the season, Wichita State beat DePaul 75-62 in Cancun.

"I think they're every bit as good," DePaul coach Oliver Purnell said.

Purnell didn't want to say this team was better, because you just don't compare a team in November to one that went to a Final Four.

And that sort of comparison could be flawed logic, too small a sample size, but my eyes and my head keep coming to the same conclusion.

This is the better version. 

The Shockers are led by a point guard, Fred VanVleet, who was the most decorated player Marshall has recruited to Wichita, according to all the recruiting analysts, and this is now his team.

Malcolm Armstead was great. He brought the kind of toughness to Wichita State that Peyton Siva brought to Louisville, but VanVleet is a better scorer, a better ball-handler and more of a natural point guard.

Then, there's Ron Baker the freshman versus Ron Baker the sophomore. And Cleanthony Early the junior versus Cleanthony Early the senior.

"These guys I think are a little better offensively as a group," Marshall said. "Clea's better than he was last year. Fred is better than he was last year. Ron's better than he was last year."

Baker scored 21 against DePaul. Early scored 15. Van Vleet had six assists and one turnover. And Wichita State looked like a team on the offensive end that was playing much later in the season than November.

Consider that the Shockers had just six turnovers against a pressing team that came in forcing a turnover on nearly one out of every four possessions.

Those six turnovers were the second fewest the Blue Demons have allowed in four years under Purnell.

Marshall, with two of his veterans in earshot, pointed out that the defense is really the only thing holding this team back at this point.

"What we want to do is defend and be as tough as we were last year," he said. "I'm not sure we're that yet, but if we can develop into that, I think we'll be pretty good."

Can this team develop that?

"My teams generally get there," he said. "We're not there yet."

Marshall has a track record that didn't need a Final Four for us to believe him when he says they'll get there, and he actually has a few pieces that could make the Shockers even better on that end as well.

Wichita State's inside trio of Kadeem Coleby, Chadrack Lufile and Darius Carter are not nearly as good as Carl Hall on the offensive end, but they're more athletic. And Marshall has enough scorers that they don't need to be Hall.

Marshall will have a better idea of where his team is defensively Tuesday in the CBE Classic championship against a BYU team that is experienced and borderline Top 25.

The Cougars can score—they're averaging 93.2 points per game—and we'll learn how far along that Wichita State defense really is Tuesday night.

Marshall proved last year he can speed that process along pretty quickly. He was replacing five starters a year ago and had three freshmen playing major minutes. Again, it was thought to be a transition year.

This was going to be the year.

And the only thing that has changed is that the Shockers have a slightly bigger target on their back and a different sort of reputation than they would have had.

Before Purnell could leave Monday night, he was asked what Wichita State's weakness is. Is it mid-major size?

Purnell looked like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard and followed the following statement with a certain four-letter word: "I don't consider them a mid-major. You go to a Final Four, c'mon, you're not a mid-major."

And that was in a transition year.

When Creighton announced it was leaving the Missouri Valley Conference for membership in the Big East, some projected doom and gloom.

The Bluejays have consistently been the league's best team in recent years, with eight conference titles and nine overall trips to the NCAA Tournament since 1999. And when NIT (4), CBI (1) and CIT (1) bids are included, they have qualified for the postseason in each of those past 15 years.

Though fellow MVC member Wichita State—who starts the 2013-14 season as the 16th-ranked team in the nation—was the one who shocked the world with a Final Four trip in 2013, Creighton was the team that millions around the nation became familiar with seeing on their brackets come March.

But the Missouri Valley Conference is poised to survive and hold onto its mid-major status despite the loss of its most recognizable school. The attitude has been evident since the very day Creighton announced it was leaving, when conference commissioner Doug Elgin promised the league wasn't going to lick its wounds for too long.

“We’ll get past this,” said Elgin. “We’re going to move forward in much the same way Creighton is going to move forward.”

Elgin hearkened back to 1996, when Tulsa—one of the MVC's powerhouses of the time—announced it was leaving to join Conference USA. Not only did the conference survive, he reminded, it thrived—leading to an era during which every team in the conference would qualify for the NCAA Tournament in a 12-year span.

To replace Creighton, Loyola (Chicago) was granted membership beginning in 2013-14. The Ramblers last made the NCAA Tournament in 1985, when they advanced to the Sweet 16.

The remaining teams in the league believe that, even without Creighton, the MVC will be a force to be reckoned with on the college basketball landscape. During the conference's mid-summer coaches' conference call with media, coaches were quick to remind everyone the cupboards aren't left bare.

“I’m not excited that Creighton is leaving, but I’m excited about our league,” Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson said. “We had a team that went to the Final Four...and it wasn’t Creighton. Our league is fine.”

“It’s good for all of us,” Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said. “(Recruits) know that Wichita is in the Missouri Valley and they know how good the league is.”

And, it's not as if Creighton's successes—or even Wichita State's Final Four run of a year ago—are the only highlights on the MVC reel in recent years.

Notably, Northern Iowa advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2010, including a shocking upset of top-seeded Kansas. SIU made five straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2003-07, including a Sweet 16 run in 2007 as a 4-seed.

And in the 2006 tournament, the conference sent four of its 10 teams to the tournament, getting three coveted at-large bids—with two of the teams that earned those at-large bids, Bradley and Wichita State, advancing to the Sweet 16.

Meanwhile, the Bluejays' NCAA runs, even in years when they had promise as a sleeper, were always short. It has been the other teams in the MVC who have been able to catch lightning in a bottle. Now, they'll try to continue to do it outside of Creighton's shadow.

Doug McDermott will return to Creighton for his senior year, according to ESPN.

McDermott, an All-American this season, will likely be the overwhelming favorite for every player of the year award in his senior season.

The Bluejays forward averaged 23.2 PPG and 7.7 RPG in an average of 31.6 minutes each contest. 

McDermott said of his difficult decision, “I've had enough of this. I'm ready to make this decision. This is where my heart is. The NBA can wait. I feel like I can play there someday, but this is an opportunity I can't pass up."

For a player of his magnitude to return is surprising at the surface level, but considering that he is not the type of athlete that projects to improve in the NBA, it is understandable that he would return to school.

The NBA Draft is a futures market, and players are, more often than not, selected based on their potential and not their skill level.

McDermott will likely not improve his draft stock by returning to Creighton, and he will likely not hurt his chances either.  

Eamonn Brennan of ESPN wrote of McDermott’s decision, “Doug McDermott isn't going to wow NBA scouts so much that he'll be a lottery pick. At that point, aside from the ever-present injury risk all athletes face, the question changes from "why stay" to "well, why not?"

Why not indeed?

Doug McDermott clearly has the ability to dominate the college game, and he will likely receive more awards and attention at the college level than the pro level.

With little risk of losing out on a first round draft position and little ability to push up into the hallowed realm of the lottery, why not be a superstar just one more year?

Creighton will enter the new Big East this season, and they will do so behind the strength of their returning star.

The NCAA tournament has a way of opening new doors. The Wichita State Shockers are finding that out.

No. 9 Wichita State bowed out of the Big Dance Saturday night, but it didn’t go quietly. The Shockers led for much of their Final Four contest with Louisville, silencing the doubters who didn’t believe the 10.5-point underdogs could even cover the spread against a dominant and motivated Cardinals squad.

Their four-point loss was a heartbreaking reminder of how cruel the Big Dance can be to Cinderella challengers, but it also highlights the turnaround it represents for many of those programs.

Butler and VCU are so often grouped together as two of basketball’s top mid-major programs. While both are led by incredible coaches with impressive accolades, Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens weren’t exactly household names prior to their recent success in postseason play.

It may take some time for the dust to settle, but Gregg Marshall isn’t far behind his mid-major contemporaries.

People don’t forget deep tournament runs and close brushes with college basketball glory. Right or wrong, one Final Four appearance can change everything for a team like Wichita State and everyone involved with the program.

With an undergraduate student body of 12,243 and a campus in Kansas that most people probably couldn’t find on a map at first glance, Wichita State isn’t exactly a well-known institution on the national stage.

Its basketball team hadn’t reached the Final Four since 1965 prior to this year, and despite NIT success and a NCAA tournament berth in recent years, the Shockers weren’t on anyone’s radar when the tournament began in March.

Consider that ancient history.

Notoriety is a major factor in college basketball recruiting, and Wichita State suddenly has the ammunition it needs to attract prospective recruits. At the very least, this year’s tournament success gives Marshall and his program a reason to believe new recruits and top prospects will give Wichita State a second look they probably wouldn't have prior to this season.

College basketball recruiting is all about momentum. Success begets more success, and a Final Four appearance in the NCAA tournament is sometimes all it takes to turn heads in the recruiting game.

And then there’s the money.

According to Alicia Jessop of Forbes.com, the financial impact of reaching the Final Four is certainly noticeable, especially for smaller programs like Wichita State:

"Teams participating in the Division I men’s basketball tournament earn one unit for each game that they play in, except for the championship game.  Units correspond with a dollar amount designated by the NCAA.  Last year, each unit was worth $242,200.  This year, each unit is worth $245,500.

"Given this, Wichita State’s NCAA tournament appearance last year earned $242,000 from the basketball fund.  This year’s appearance will be worth significantly more.  As a result of making it to the Final Four, Wichita State, along with this year’s other Final Four participants–Louisville, Michigan and Syracuse–have earned $1,227,500 from the basketball fund."

While that money will get distributed throughout the Missouri Valley Conference, Wichita State stands to earn a considerable amount with which to continue building its basketball program. The foundation is certainly in place.

Money and publicity. No two things drive college athletics quite as significantly.

After and impressive string of postseason wins over some quality programs, Marshall and his team have put themselves in position to take advantage of both going forward. All it takes is one big tournament run to get the ball rolling.

Wichita State came up short of its ultimate goal in the tournament, but it has plenty of momentum to carry into next year—and hopefully many more to come.