Wichita State climbed to No. 10 in this week's (Dec. 4) Associated Press poll (No. 16 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll). It is the Shockers' highest AP ranking since 1980-81 when WSU was as high as No. 2 that season. The Shockers are one of six Valley schools receiving votes in either (or both) of this week's polls (Bradley, Creighton, Missouri State, UNI, and Southern Illinois.) The last Valley men's basketball school to crack the AP Top 10 was Creighton (Jan. 20, 2003). When WSU was ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press poll Dec. 20, it was the first WSU AP ranking since 1983. WSU was No. 17 last week.
On back-to-back Saturdays, Wichita State picked up top-25 road victories against LSU (No. 6 - AP) and Syracuse (No. 14 - USA Today/ESPN). Since the Associated Press began its basketball poll in January 1949, no Valley team had ever won two top-25 road games in the same season.
WSU holds road wins at George Mason, at then-No. 6 LSU, and now against then-NO. 14 Syracuse. No other top 25 team owns a road victory over a team through last week's rankings. The other 24 teams ranked in the Associated Press poll combine for 10 road victories. No. 24 Nevada is the only other school with three -- at Oregon State, Santa Clara and Louisiana-Lafayette. No. 18 Georgetown and No. 19 Butler each have two.
WSU's win over No. 6 LSU Saturday marked some Shocker notes against ranked teams, including highest-ranked win since defeating No. 2 Louisville 84-78 on Feb. 25, 1967, in Wichita, first win versus a top-10 team since defeating No. 9 Alabama-Birmingham 75-60 on Dec. 12, 1981, and first win vs. a top-10 team on the road since defeating No. 9 Marquette 75-64 on Feb. 19, 1977. WSU also defeated its highest ranked road opponent since topping No. 3 Loyola-Chicago 80-76 on Jan. 25, 1964.
Wichita State has beaten 50 percent of the Final Four teams from a year ago in their own gyms with the 72-66 win at George Mason and the 57-53 win at No. 6 LSU Nov. 26. The last time a WSU team had two wins against Final Four teams from the previous season was in 1979-80. WSU played four games against Final Four teams from the previous season in 1979-80 and in 1963-64. In 1979-80, WSU defeated Michigan State and went 2-1 vs. Indiana State. In 1963-64, WSU swept two games each from Loyola and Cincinnati. Before the last two Saturdays, the last time the Shockers won a game on a defending Final Four team's home court was in 1963-64, when the Shockers won at Loyola-Chicago and at Cincinnati. Last year, the Shockers played Illinois and Michigan State in 2005-06, who were coming off Final Four appearances the year before.
