The RoundHouse | 3/14/2021 7:13:00 PM
The culmination of Wichita State's most turbulent season is a return to the routine.
The Shockers are back in the NCAA Tournament and back by taking the hard route to an at-large bid. Wichita State plays Drake in the Thursday's First Four game between No. 11 seeds for the right to play No. 6 seed USC in the West Region.
"We were just very nervous about it," guard
Alterique Gilbert said on a Zoom interview from Fort Worth. "Once they announced our name, we just exploded."
The Shockers (16-5) will make their eighth tournament appearance in the past nine seasons (when a tournament was held). It is the sixth time they earned an at-large bid in the span.
"It was a long morning for a lot of us," forward
Dexter Dennis said. "This is the moment a lot of Division I players dream of."
None of that seem assured, or even likely, in November after a coaching change and amidst a pandemic. It didn't seem likely when the Shockers trailed Oral Roberts by nine points in the second half of the opener or when they started 1-2.
"We had some adversity, but we battled through it," coach
Isaac Brown said. "We're ready to go."
The bracket offers several familiar names, starting with Drake (25-4), which finished second in the MVC and lost to No. 18 Loyola in the MVC Tournament final. The Bulldogs went 1-2 against the Ramblers and defeated Kansas State in the opener to start an 18-0 run.
The Shockers played Drake 151 times between 1936 and 2017, most as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers left the MVC in 2017 carrying an 11-game win streak over the Bulldogs. A second-round matchup against third-seeded Kansas is possible and Creighton, VCU, Missouri and Oklahoma are also in the West Region.
Those NCAA stories will play out over the next four days. On Sunday, Brown put the focus on Wichita State's spot in the field, something former coach Gregg Marshall made part of the March routine.
While nothing about 2020-21 felt routine, the ending keeps Wichita State among the programs that play on the sport's biggest stage.
"When kids sign with Wichita State, they do it because they've seen us in the NCAA Tournament," Brown said. "All the recruits, they came here for our rich basketball tradition. I'm so excited these guys this is opportunity."
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
