Wichita State hits big time with new conference
Wichita State’s first day as a member of the American Athletic Conference will come Saturday without any balls being bounced or sweat being shed.
Still, Shocker Country will end the day as a winner. The big-fish, big-pond dream is finally realized.
Ten years of tireless work by Gregg Marshall, his coaching staff and his men’s basketball players led to Saturday. It’s work that has transformed a fan base and community. Shocker basketball has always been the city’s top sports ticket, but the success of the last decade has upped the fanaticism three or four notches.
All the while, the university up the hill has taken advantage of basketball’s spotlight. The invitation to the American Athletic Conference was the latest and most important move since the Shockers’ 2013 Final Four appearance.
“Yes, it’s a sports move and, yes, it will have impact,” university president John Bardo told The Eagle’s Dan Voorhis last week. “But I see it much more as a recognition for what the institution is. To me that was much more important than having more competitive basketball.”
Bardo sees American members as peer institutions located in major metropolitan cities. The city of Wichita goes from the second-largest Missouri Valley Conference city to the second-smallest American Athletic Conference city.
“We will be better off in five years than we were because we will have a national direction and a leadership that wants things to happen,” Bardo said.
Things are certainly happening. Construction on the former Braeburn Golf Course has expanded the campus by about 40 percent. The Innovation Campus and its emphasis on research through business partnerships has broadened Wichita State’s brand as a research university.
Bardo thinks the American move will increase name recognition for WSU among high school students looking at college choices.
That’s all well and good to most Shocker supporters. A strong university plan that takes advantage of its basketball notoriety makes perfect sense.
But let’s face it. The move to the AAC is more about men’s basketball and the recognition that Wichita State, stuck with the mid-major label as a Missouri Valley Conference member, is now a big-timer.
The University of Cincinnati is on the schedule twice a year. So is the University of Connecticut with its four NCAA titles in the last 19 years. Back on the schedule is the University of Memphis, once a Missouri Valley rival and in the NCAA championship game as recently as 2008.
Wichita State is among college basketball royalty. Never mind that Philadelphia, New Orleans and Orlando are much more pleasing to Shocker fans’ travel plans than Carbondale, Terre Haute and Peoria.
This also gives fans a greater sense of security. Marshall, who’s beginning his 11th season, turned down who-knows-how-many phone calls and offers from athletic directors in bigger, more prestigious conferences such as the Big Ten and the Southeastern to stay at WSU and in the Missouri Valley. Now he’s coaching in a deeper, more powerful league on a national stage. His team returns nearly everyone and should be ranked in the top 10, if not the top five, to begin the season.
Wichita State was a faithful Missouri Valley member for 72 years, proud of its roots. And until this decade, the Valley was just fine as WSU’s conference home.
But winning changes perception. WSU became a national name in college basketball with the 2006 NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, the 2011 NIT championship, then six straight NCAA Tournament appearances — which included the 2013 Final Four that garnered an estimated $555 million in exposure for the university.
The university now takes a bigger stage. More WSU games will be on national television. Shocker fans will purchase season tickets confident they’ll be watching a top-10 team competing with conference rivals also in the national rankings.
Wichita State’s first AAC event isn’t until late September, but excuse fans if they think the Shockers are already on top of the standings. They just got their biggest win of the decade.
This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Wichita State hits big time with new conference."