NCAA notes: Wichita State’s Final Four gave Dayton’s Archie Miller a model to follow

Wichita State started its basketball rise with hopes of earning comparisons to Gonzaga. Years later, the Shockers are the proof that a team outside the traditional power structure of college sports can make itself a big name.

Wichita State and Dayton share a more important common bond as basketball-dedicated schools. Both enjoy their history. Both are adding to that with NCAA Tournament victories and wins over prominent in-state opponents.

The Shockers got their run started a few years before the Flyers under coach Archie Miller, who used the 2013 Final Four as inspiration after he finished his second season. He remembers watching WSU defeat top-seeded Gonzaga to get to the Sweet 16 and stop Ohio State to get to Atlanta for the national semifinal.

“They motivated you to say to yourself, like, ‘Wow, if those guys can be that tough, they can play that hard, they can have that type of culture, that’s something that you have to really rely on,’ ” he said. “And say if we can create something like that, maybe we can get there. (I) look at Wichita State as a program that gives a lot of places like ours the faith that they can play with anyone.”

Miller’s Dayton teams follow that path. The Flyers advanced to the Elite Eight in 2014 as a No. 11 seed by defeating Ohio State, Syracuse and Stanford before losing to Florida. In 2015, they defeated Boise State and Providence before losing to Oklahoma.

“I don’t hear that that often, but it was nice to hear that from him in our coaches’ meeting today,” Marshall said. “This is a guy who has been inspirational in his own right. He was an inspiration to play in the ACC at North Carolina State. He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but his heart and his talent supersede his size.”

One of WSU’s recent signature wins came last season against Arizona, coached by Sean Miller, who is Archie’s older brother by 10 years. The Shockers defeated Arizona 65-55 after leading 31-19 at halftime and by 24 in the second half in the NCAA Tournament.

“He didn’t have any advice after that game,” Archie Miller said. “I haven’t seen a team do that to one of Sean’s teams, maybe ever. I think that was the most impressive thing about it.”

Standard stuff — The routine is the same each season in NCAA play for Marshall. He knows that a reporter will ask if rumors and reports regarding job openings are flattering or distracting or silly — anything to get any sort of a reply.

This year, it’s Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina State and Washington that cause people to wonder. Much like in 2013, when Marshall dropped into Los Angeles during a UCLA job search, he arrived in Indianapolis when the Hoosiers, from nearby Bloomington, are in the market.

“We value the life that we lead,” he said. “We’ve got a great administration at Wichita State. They’ve been very, very supportive and generous and kind to my family. Maybe there will be a time for to us make a move, but I don’t know when that’s going to be.”

Archie Miller also expects those questions, especially since he played at North Carolina State.

“I’m not attached to any of that,” he said. “I think everybody else attaches me to them. I think it speaks volumes about how we do things at Dayton. That’s the only thing I concern myself with.”

Score one for the little guys — Wichita State vs. Dayton. Winthrop vs. Butler. St. Mary’s vs. VCU.

Marshall notices those pairings, all of which match teams outside the top football conferences known as the power five.

“They want to weed out the non-power fives as quickly as possible, it appears,” he said. “When I left the room, it was Middle Tennessee was up nine against Minnesota. There’s a lot of quality basketball being played at some of these places. I’ll go a step further. There’s a lot of bad basketball being played in the power-five leagues.”

Marshall fears that marginalizing schools from conferences such as the Missouri Valley Conference, the Atlantic 10, the Big West, the Colonial and others will change the flavor of the NCAA Tournament.

“They kind of dismiss us, if you will,” he said. “But when the tournament comes around, that’s what makes the tournament so special. Now, I’m not going to take anything away from the wonderful game that Villanova and North Carolina played last year. I just don’t think that weeding out the non-power fives is going to help the interest in those brackets and people that fill out the brackets and people that have interest in the underdog.”

In a name — Dayton senior guard Scoochie Smith isn’t sure how his grandfather, now deceased, came up with his nickname. Smith’s first name is Dayshon.

“I’m not really sure how it came about,” he said. “I looked it up once and said the definition was to be annoying or to dance a lot. I was probably both. At least one of the two.”

Welcome to March — Shockers freshman C.J. Keyser took a picture of the view of downtown Indianapolis from his hotel room. He took a picture of the entrance to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

He took many, many more. As a first-timer in the tournament, he wants to document his memories.

“My mom got like a hundred pictures already,” he said. “I’m just trying to take it all in.”

Junior Darral Willis, junior Daishon Smith, sophomore Kaelen Malone and freshman Austin Reaves, is also experiencing the tournament as a newcomer.

“This is fantastic,” Willis said. “It’s wonderful. Growing up I watched March Madness a lot, and it just seems like you have to win. I’m playing with my brothers even longer.”

Follow it overseas — Wichita State recruit Asbjorn Midtgaard is a newcomer to March Madness.

He is catching on quickly and plans to watch the Shockers in Denmark.

“The first time I watched NCAA basketball, was last year’s final,” he wrote in a text message. “A pretty good introduction if you ask me. The tournament overall is some of the most intense basketball I have ever seen. Can’t WAIT to try it.”

Midtgaard (6-foot-10, 242 pounds) signed with WSU in November. He averages 8.6 points and 6.8 rebounds for the 79ers, a Danish club. He scored 12 points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s 95-50 win over the Stevnsgade Supermen.

Midtgaard isn’t preparing a watch party for the Shockers.

“NCAA is not a big deal here, only in the basketball community,” he wrote. “I’m gonna follow WSU all the way to the championship.”

The Cowboy way – Since a Sweet 16 run in 2005, Oklahoma State is 1-5 in the NCAA Tournament, with the lone victory coming against Tennessee in the first round eight years ago.

It’s a trend Cowboys coach Brad Underwood intends to change.

“This should not be a foreign place for Oklahoma State basketball,” said Underwood, whose team plays Michigan in the first round of the Midwest Regional. “The history of our program proves that out.

“I think, at different times, programs go through little lapses or whatever it may be, but we’re excited to be here. I think you go into every game with the opportunity to win it. I think no matter whether you have a 16 seed by your name or a 10 like we do, you have a great opportunity in today’s basketball world.”

Fifth-year senior Phil Forte will try to earn his first NCAA victory after two losses to Oregon and a loss to Gonzaga in his first three seasons.

“Being 0-3 is something in the back of my mind,” Forte said. “More importantly, it’s about us moving forward, about our team winning one game and trying to advance.”

Life changing – The tale of Michigan’s harrowing plane accident during takeoff March 8 for the Big Ten Tournament was retold by Wolverine players and coach John Beilein during Thursday’s news conferences.

All passengers were evacuated safely after the aborted takeoff, which occurred in high winds. Michigan boarded another plane for Washington, D.C., the following day and went on to win the tournament, defeating Wisconsin in the final.

Beilein was asked if the incident had led him to think about other accidents involving sports teams, including the 2001 plane crash in Colorado in which 10 members of the Oklahoma State basketball traveling party perished.

“I mentioned that, but only to my family,” Beilein said. “I tried not to think about what would have happened to me.

“I thought about that (the OSU plane crash), I thought about Evansville, I thought about Marshall, I thought about all the sports tragedies.

“We are just blessed it never got to that point.”

Taking on the big boys – Jacksonville State freshman Tyrik Edwards is looking forward to the Gamecocks’ first-round matchup against Louisville as much as anyone.

Edwards, who hails from Hopkinsville, Ky., said his family includes several Louisville fans.

“When they found out we were going to have to play them, they didn’t know who to cheer for, but it should be fun going against a team my family loves,” Edwards said. “We are going to come out, play hard and are looking forward to beating them.”

Worth noting — Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which opened as Conseco Fieldhouse in 1999, has hosted 179 men’s college basketball games. The first was Ball State’s 72-52 victory over Purdue on Dec. 18, 1999. Wichita State has never played there. It was the site of Kansas’ 72-40 loss to No. 1 Kentucky in the 2014 State Farm Champions Classic.… Dayton junior Joey Gruden is the son of Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden and the nephew of ESPN’s Jon Gruden, a former NFL coach, who played football for the Flyers. Kostas Antetokounmpo, who is sitting out the season for academic reasons, is the brother of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. … Dayton leads the series with WSU 2-0. The teams last met in the 1962 NIT, a 79-71 Flyers win in New York. … Dayton is making its 18th NCAA appearance. The Shockers are 17-14 in their 14 NCAA appearances. Its six straight NCAA bids match Southern Illinois (2002-07) and Cincinnati (1958-63) for the most in MVC history. … The Shockers practiced at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse on Thursday before coming to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for their public workout and interviews. Marshall spent much of the public practice talking with broadcasters Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill, as is the custom during NCAA games.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 8:00 PM with the headline "NCAA notes: Wichita State’s Final Four gave Dayton’s Archie Miller a model to follow."