The RoundHouse | 7/10/2020 8:03:00 AM
Five meetings and four regular-season games give Wichita State and Kansas State a chance to start on a rivalry and give each school a non-conference event to savor.
It is both perfectly timed and overdue.
The series starts with a proposed benefit exhibition (we hope) on Oct. 24 at Intrust Bank Arena. Proceeds will benefit Kansans affected by COVID-19. In 2021-22, the four-season series starts at Intrust (Dec. 5, 2021), followed by games at Bramlage Coliseum (Dec. 3, 2022), Kansas City's Sprint Center (Dec. 22, 2023) and Charles Koch Arena (Dec. 7, 2024).
"It makes a lot of sense," Wichita State athletic director
Darron Boatright said. "With an extended series, hopefully it can develop its own tradition."
Fans endured years of talk, some optimistic, some snarky, between the two schools. In 2020, the Shockers are restocking after a 23-8 pandemic-shortened season that it hoped continued in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats are restocking their roster after an 11-21 season.
Everyone in college athletics wants to save money and give fans a quality product.
Good timing.
"We're all looking at a way to cut costs and diminish travel," Boatright said. "We've said all along we will play basically anyone as long as the series is fair. This is the epitome of fair."
Boatright credited Shockers coach
Gregg Marshall and Kansas State coach Bruce Weber with pushing the game into reality. The conversation started with the charity game and grew into a series that gives both schools what they want, with on-campus games and in NCAA Tournament-quality arenas in cities with loads of their fans.
Boatright said WSU will control tickets for the regular-season Intrust Bank Arena game, as K-State will in Kansas City. The visitors, Boatright said, will get tickets in a location that will lend sort of an NCAA Tournament atmosphere.
Scheduling changed dramatically over the past 10 seasons for Wichita State as it stacked NCAA wins and rose in status. Intrust Bank Arena's construction helped and joining the American Athletic Conference adds to the heft. The Shockers play in the best exempt tournaments and schools such as Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Providence and VCU highlighted recent non-conference schedules.
Playing an in-state opponent still means something important. This series adds to the scheduling punch Wichita State dreamed about 15 years ago and went about earning. A series with Missouri begins this season at Koch Arena.
"It starts with the longevity Coach Marshall has had here, building and maintaining such success," Boatright said. "Teams know – if they play Wichita State, it's going to do nothing but help when it comes to qualifying for the post-season."
Now it's up to the Shockers and Wildcats to make these games a highlight of the non-conference schedule.
Both schools managed to build strong basketball traditions 130 miles from each other and play 31 times without leaving much of a mark.
The big one is a 1964 Kansas State win over the Shockers in the NCAA Tournament. That sent the Wildcats to the Final Four and spoiled Dave Stallworth's one shot at that spotlight.
The schools last played in 2003 and rarely met when both peaked.
In 1986-87, the teams split games and both qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The next season, both teams grabbed NCAA berths after the Wildcats, on their way to a 1988 Elite Eight loss to Kansas, won the lone meeting. A Wichita State loss to DePaul kept the Shockers from playing Kansas State in the NCAA's second round.
NCAA Tournament losses by the Wildcats in 2013 (La Salle) and 2014 (Kentucky) spoiled those possibilities. In 2006, they waited on opposite sides of a bracket in Las Vegas. A loss by the eighth-ranked Shockers to New Mexico robbed us of a Mark Turgeon-Bob Huggins matchup.
Wichita State's highlight is tougher to discern. While there are some nice individual moments, none of its 11 wins would make any fan's top 50 list.
In 1969-70, the Shockers split Friday-Saturday games with the eventual Big 8 champions, winning 77-73 at home with 30 points from Greg Carney. In 1971-72, the Shockers again split a two-game series against the eventual Big 8 champion. They defeated Kansas State 69-66 behind 19 points and 16 rebounds from Terry Benton at Levitt Arena.
Freshman Jason Perez previewed things to come with 20 points on 4-of-4 three-point shooting in a 74-59 Shockers win in 1996, their first in Manhattan. That gave coach Randy Smithson a 2-0 start to his tenure as coach. Turgeon won his first game as Wichita State coach to open the 2000-01 season, a 76-66 victory at Levitt Arena. Terrell Benton scored 23 points, making five threes. The next season, Troy Mack scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 65-56 win at Bramlage.
All fine, but not exactly Ron Baker matching up with Rodney McGruder or
Markis McDuffie vs. Dean Wade.
We've got five years and a tour around the state (plus a few miles into Missouri) to update that history.
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
