Down goes Kansas. Lost to Wichita State. Rivalry?

[9fold]

2-seed Kansas lost to Wichita State. Towards the end, the announcers talked about how the two schools should play more often. The two schools are 162 miles apart. They were trying to make it into a rivalry, but they said that Bill Self would rather play non-conference games in large cities for recruiting purposes. Granted, Wichita State won today, but looking at the big picture, Kansas, being a top brand, has nothing to gain playing Wichita State. Sounds famliar.

 

[NittPicker]

I get the comparison but there is no way Wichita State fans are as idiotic as Pitt fans.

 

[9fold]

Originally posted by NittPicker:
I get the comparison but there is no way Wichita State fans are as idiotic as Pitt fans.

I'm sure you're correct.

 

[royboy]

Somebody talk Illinois Lion off the ledge?

tough end to the Jayhawk season and not pleasant to lose to an in-state upstart

 

[ILLINOISLION]

Not A Surprise!


KU was really beat up.....Ellis's knee injury really hurt, he had just played the best 2-3 games of his career when he went down, he was playing at 75% today.....the NCAA sitting on the Alexander situation also didn't help.


No excuses. KU was up 8 and missed a chippie with about 5 minutes left in the half, WSU came down and hit a 3 and they had the mo non-stop for the last 25 minutes of the game. WSU shot lights out in the second half (60+%, never saw the final stat) and if they didn't outrebound KU, they came close. More importantly, they outhustled KU and got 90+% of the loose balls.


The better team won today, no question about it.


Considering KU had the #1 and #3 players in this past year's NBA draft.....and only 1 senior......and played the toughest schedule in the country.....a respectable season, but a disappointing finish.


S/B a better team in 2015-16.

 

[pnst81983]

Re: Not A Surprise!

You are correct the better team won. I guarantee you WSU would have won the past 3 years if this was a rivalry. Final Four team in 2013. Number 1 seed in 2014 and lost to Kentucky in a tough draw in a second round. WSU is also down from last year with loss of big man Cleanthony Early and others last year. How did Greg Marshall do it at Winthrop with less talent when we beat Notre Dame and others in the tournament? Just like with Kansas his starters never got seriously recruited with the likes of Kansas and Indiana and he continues to beat them and others with significantly lesser talent.

This is not a coincidence.

 

[Mudge1026]

Re: Not A Surprise!

It would be great if Wichita St could really step up and pay their brilliant head coach. They could become a consistent power over time sort of like Gonzaga but the coach needs to get paid. Ya know someone from the power 5 conferences will scoop him up and that will be the end of it. Would be a shame. A similar situation happened when Marquette lost Coach Buzz to VT and now Marquette will never be the same, sad part is VT will probably be never anything special.


This post was edited on 3/22 10:33 PM by Mudge1026

 

[WDLion]

Upstart?

I wouldn't label a school that's made 11 tourneys and two final fours an upstart.

 

[royboy]

Good point, though I doubt Jayhawk fans consider them their equal

I was mostly commenting on the top dog in-state aspect of this; you're right that the Shockers have a good history of their own, which is probably why their fans want the opportunity to play KU more often

 

[Lion78]

Big difference in the comparison. One (Wichita State) is the new hottness the other (Pitt) is old and busted.

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

Marquette will be just fine. Take a look at their incoming

class. Let's see if Wojo is any good, but both Buzz and Tom Crean chased the money, and look where it got them.

They got paid sure, but Crean is hanging by a thread at IU (and is a gigantic jerk) and Buzz walked into a situation that might be tougher than building a program at Penn State.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

You Can't "Guarantee" Anything!


Just like I can't "guarantee" KU would have won 20 straight if the series had continued from when we last played.

You had a very good team last year (that I picked winning everything in my pool) and a good team this year and you were the better team SUNDAY. But you'll remember..... or should remember.....KU was up 8 and in control until a WSU elbow blooded Ellis and he had to go to the locker room. The game shifted 100% while he was gone. And you were also fortunate both teams didn't play like they did on Friday night or KU would have won.....easily.

And there's no rivalry: the series is KU 12 WSU 3

That said, good luck the rest of the tournament. I hope your team still isn't thinking about KU come Thursday.

 

[Cletus11]

I would not compare Marquette to Wichita State. Marquette actually has some decent BBall history and plays in a major conference. Also located in a major US city (Milwaukee). WSU is a good mid major program. Everybody hopes to turn into Boise State or TCU in football or Gonzaga or Butler in BBall, ie..mid major programs that have so many good years they are no longer considered mid majors. But that is very tough to do.