Wichita State takes its No. 7 seed on the road to Omaha to face Indiana
Last season, it was Kentucky. This season, it is Kansas that’s a strong possibility. The NCAA Tournament selection committee keeps giving Wichita State imposing round of 32 matchups.
And all the Shockers must do to likely face the Jayhawks is get past Indiana on Friday in Omaha. That game will tip off around 1:45 p.m. on CBS.
It isn’t often that a game with the Hoosiers is seen as a side dish. The potential mania that would grip the state of Kansas on Sunday is one such scenario. In the fine tradition of matching Kentucky-Louisville, Dayton-Ohio State, Charlotte-North Carolina and Tulsa-Oklahoma State, the selection committee delivers the possibility of a game avoided in the regular season, agitated for by fans, and destined to bring out the best and worst in passionate supporters.
Wichita State, 28-4, earned a No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region, an assignment that seems a less-than-fitting reward for a team with a No. 17 RPI — a sentiment KU coach Bill Self agreed with at his Sunday news conference. The weakness of the Missouri Valley Conference hurt the Shockers, who played one team ranked in the top 50 of the RPI in January and February, splitting with fifth-seeded Northern Iowa.
Shockers coach Gregg Marshall declined to complain, publicly at least, about his team’s spot in the bracket. Wichita State didn’t make players available for interviews after Sunday’s NCAA Tournament announcement, a hedge against questions overlooking 10th-seeded Indiana, 20-13, to get right to the possible matchup with second-seeded Kansas on Sunday at CenturyLink Center. The Jayhawks, 26-8, play No. 15 New Mexico State, 23-10, which won the WAC Tournament on Saturday.
Should fans of either Wichita State or KU feel like looking past Sunday, the Midwest Region also contains No. 1 seed Kentucky, Big Ten runner-up Maryland and coach Mark Turgeon as a No. 4 seed, and ACC Tournament champion Notre Dame as a No. 3 seed.
“I don’t dwell on (seeding) too much,” Marshall said. “We went to the Final Four as a (No. 9) seed. I do think our region is tough. That’s kind of like last year’s gauntlet.”
Of the four No. 6 seeds (Butler, Xavier, Providence and SMU), Wichita State owned a better RPI rank than three. Those teams averaged 6.2 wins over top 50 opponents. The Shockers went 2-2.
Marshall focused his answers on the accomplishment, lest it be forgotten that the Shockers landed an at-large bid for the third time in four seasons. The Shockers are in the 68-team field for an unprecedented fourth straight time.
“Despite the criticism we get from our scheduling … the schedule is good enough,” he said. “That’s the goal. We have to schedule well enough and play well enough in that non-conference to put yourself in position. We’ve done that.”
Three things about Wichita State’s first opponent
No. 7 seed Wichita State will open the NCAA Tournament against No. 10 seed Indiana on Friday at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb. Here are three things (and more) about the Hoosiers:
▪ 1. The Hoosiers are making their 38th NCAA Tournament appearance. They won five NCAA titles, most recently in 1987.
▪ 2. Guard Nick Zeisloft, a transfer from Illinois State, averages 6.8 points and made 62 of 137 three-pointers (45.3 percent). He played two seasons at Illinois State and started 30 games in 2013-14.
▪ 3. Indiana leads the Big Ten with an average of 77.5 points. It made a conference-leading 308 threes and ranks first with a 40.3-percent accuracy behind the arc (308 of 764).
This story was originally published March 15, 2015 at 8:03 PM with the headline "Wichita State takes its No. 7 seed on the road to Omaha to face Indiana."