Looking objectively at the NCAA Tournament Bracket it is hard to see a team who was more hard done to than Wichita State. The Shockers finished the season with a 28-4 record with only one loss on the resume which would be considered anything like bad (George Washington). They were ranked 17th in the RPI and 14th in the KenPom rankings. With this kind of resume a seed somewhere on the five line would be expected, maybe a four at a push. Instead the Shockers found themselves relegated to a 7th seed, with the NCAA ranking them 26th out of the 68 teams in the field.
For most teams this might be an issue. For Wichita State and the Play Angry motto which has been their mantra under head coach Gregg Marshall it is just another case of the establishment trying to keep the smaller schools down.
Marshall is the key to Wichita State and any chance it has at beating Kentucky. After turning Winthrop into a perennial tournament team, he suffered through a couple of lean years in Wichita before bringing in the recruits to play his system and breaking into the world of the college basketball elite.
Confidence is a huge part of playing a team like Kentucky and, because of the mindset their coach has installed into them, the Shockers have no lack of that. Wichita State has lost just five games over the past two seasons and in the NCAA Tournament a year ago they took on Kentucky in one of the most high level NCAA games in recent history. The teams went shot for shot, big play for big play, as Kentucky (criminally underseeded as an eight) outlasted WSU 78-76 as point guard Fred Van Vleet missed a potentially game winning three pointer at the buzzer.
That miss has spurred Van Vleet and the rest of the Shockers on this season. In the junior point guard’s mind the Shockers have unfinished business at the NCAA Tournament, and more specifically unfinished business with Kentucky.
As good as the Kentucky team is, the Shockers may have the best trio of guards in the country. Van Vleet is the architect, pulling the strings from the point and making everyone around him better. Though he seems perfectly capable of putting up close to twenty points on any given night, his game revolves around his ability to see others in space and use his slow-slow-quick tempo to get them in positions to score. Van Vleet is just a pure and steady point guard who will not get flustered by pressure as his 1.7 turnovers to 5.3 assists per game shows.
When the Shockers are looking to score the key players are guard Ron Baker and forward Darius Carter. Baker, a junior, is the Shockers biggest threat to light up the scoreboard with his smooth stroke from downtown. A former walk on, the 6-3 Baker may not have the size of the Kentucky guards, but he averages 15 points per game and if his shot is on then he can cause Kentucky plenty of damage. Carter is vitally important because on a team with few bigs who contribute at any level he is the one player that can bang inside and cause Kentucky problems.
The third guard in the Shocker starting lineup is the most unheralded, but he just might be the most important. Tekele Cotton has the body of a strong safety and lives to defend the other team’s best player. Against Kentucky you can expect to see Cotton switch to whoever is having the best day in an attempt to shut them down. He is also a highlight machine who can bring the energy of the Shockers up in an instant with one of his trademark monster dunks.
To get to Kentucky the Shockers would have to go through Indiana, Kansas, and a suddenly streaking Notre Dame squad. It is not going to be an easy task, but John Calipari’s bunch would probably rather see any of those schools in the Elite Eight than a Wichita State team looking for revenge in a role reversal from last year.
This will be the third in our series of articles where we look at teams who can stop Kentucky and their “Pursuit of Perfection” in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Previously we took a look at the Gonzaga team which many consider to be the best Mark Few has ever put together in Spokane and at an Arizona squad which has the size and athleticism to match up with their Wildcat namesakes.