They get no respect, as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, no respect at all. Were they the surprise of last year’s tournament, toting a No. 9 seeding into the Final Four? Yes. Did they overcome injuries this season to mesh as a well-balanced, hard-hustling machine? Yes. Has any major college team ever taken a better record into the NCAA tournament than the Shockers’ 34-0? No.
But the team has been dogged all year by complaints about its supposedly hayseed pedigree. Though Wichita State is the only team other than the mighty Florida Gators to rank in the top ten nationally at both ends of the court, fans of teams like Villanova, Arizona, Duke and Syracuse argue that the Shockers play an easy schedule against second-and third-tier schools. As Andy Hutchins of SB Nation puts it: “Should the Shockers slip” in the tournament, “fans of every team on a beaten path or in a power conference [are] waiting to smirk and say ‘I told you so’ or ‘I knew they couldn’t hang.’ “
Personally, I think the haters will be outnumbered come tournament time. Americans love a Cinderella story, even if they can’t find Cinderella’s hometown on a map. Wichita State going 40-0 to win the national title would be a classic.
What’s more, it would grant a delirious hour in the national spotlight to a school that has been known too long for tragedy. Among sports fans of a certain age, the story is indelible.