Focus on Friday hard to maintain when Sunday is the topic (VIDEO)
OMAHA – The Sunflower State’s Super Sunday is 80 minutes of basketball and 48 hours away.
Kansas and Wichita State coaches and players know. They did their best Friday to act as if Sunday’s potential showdown only exists in the minds of fans and reporters.
“I can assure you there has not been any hubbub in our team meetings about Kansas,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “We have been very diligent with our approach in terms of trying to beat the Hoosiers. I don’t think Kansas’ name has come up one time.”
Same story from the Jayhawks.
“If it happens, it happens,” Kansas guard Wayne Selden said. “We’re just focused on the first game.”
Focus, focus, focus. The right focus is important when not focusing too far ahead.
“We’ve got a really good Indiana team in front of us, and that’s all that’s on our mind,” WSU guard Fred VanVleet said.
Both teams, of course, are NCAA veterans with plenty of experience ignoring the next segment of the bracket. In 2013 and 2014, Wichita State had potential meetings with Kansas State ahead.
Finally, WSU’s Ron Baker was forced to admit the Shockers did, indeed, watch the selection show.
“Everyone saw that Kansas was a potential third-round matchup,” he said. “I think it puts a lot of excitement in the state of Kansas, but obviously both teams have their hands full second round.”
Even the Shockers’ freshmen are schooled in avoiding premature Sunday speculation. They learned from their mentors.
“Focus is the main part, and we’ve got to knock out Indiana first,” WSU center Shaq Morris said. “If we can get that done, we’ll start a focus on Kansas. If we do that, stay mentally focused as a team, we should be pretty good.”
One Shocker is allowed to immerse himself in Kansas. It is standard procedure for assistant coaches to prepare scouting reports on both potential third-round opponents. Steve Forbes is handling the Jayhawks.
Feeling blue — Marshall replayed his last appearance in the CenturyLink Center. In 2013, Creighton defeated WSU in the regular-season finale and Marshall, amid rumors the Bluejays were on their way to the Big East, appealed to continue the rivalry.
He still wants to play.
“This is a great building,” he said. “I have always enjoyed playing here. I would like to do it as soon as possible, but it takes them needing to play as well and working it into their schedule. Maybe Coach (Greg) McDermott and I, if we can run each other down in the next couple of days, we can talk about that.”
Creighton left the Missouri Valley Conference after winning the conference and tournament titles in 2013.
“It was a great rivalry,” Marshall said. “I hope this is not my last trip to Omaha. Maybe we can do it again.”
WSU’s presence at the CenturyLink Center isn’t totally gone. The Shockers hold the arena record for most free throws without a miss, 17 in a 2012 victory over the Bluejays.
Welcome to the dance — Nine Shockers are in their first NCAA Tournament: Rashard Kelly, Zach Brown, Corey Henderson, Rauno Nurger, Ria’n Holland, Bush Wamukota, Tevin Glass, Shaq Morris and walk-on Jared Walker are all here for the first time.
Not that any of them are taking the wide-eyed approach.
“We just have to seize the opportunity,” Kelly said. “As a young boy, this is something you live for, to get the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. Seize that opportunity. What I know is every game is a tough game. You have to execute.”
“I haven’t really asked (any of the veterans) about playing in the NCAA Tournament,” Brown said. “We need to play tough, we need to play hard. Those are the same things that have worked for us all year.”
Way back when – Indiana assistant coach Steve McClain kept repeating the same thing, chuckling a little bit in between.
“Now I’m feeling old, man,” McClain said. “Wow, I’m getting old.”
Maybe old isn’t the best word. Seasoned, for sure.
McClain, in his fifth season as a Hoosier assistant, has deep ties to Kansas thanks to his stint at Hutchinson Community College, where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach, including the 1988 NJCAA championship team, then three seasons as coach of the Blue Dragons, leading them to their last NJCAA title in 1994.
He was also an assistant coach at Independence Community College.
“My wife, Kim, is from Hutch and that’s where I met her, so we’ve still got a lot of close friends and family back there,” McClain said. “It was a special time in our lives.”
McClain left Hutchinson to be an assistant coach at TCU under Billy Tubbs, then was the coach at Wyoming from 1998 to 2007.
“When I was in Hutchinson, we were at Wichita State quite a bit, in Wichita a lot, actually,” McClain said. “Coming to Omaha, I’m running into a lot of people I haven’t seen for a long time. There’s always going to be a place in my heart for (Kansas).”
New territory – Teams from Kansas and Indiana have NCAA Tournament history that dates back 75 years. Wichita State, however, hasn’t been involved in it.
WSU plays its first tournament game against an Indiana team on Friday, against Indiana. The Shockers missed a game with IU when they lost to VCU in the second round in 2012, and fell short of a game with Notre Dame in 1976 by losing to Michigan in the first round.
The University of Kansas has the most experience against Indiana teams in the tournament, but it didn’t start well. KU lost its first four tournament games to Indiana schools, including the 1940 and 1953 championship games to Indiana. The Jayhawks lost to Notre Dame in 1975 and Indiana again in 1991.
A victory over Indiana in ’92 got KU trending in a better direction. Since, the Jayhawks have wins over Ball State (’92), Purdue (’97) and Evansville (’99) before a loss to Purdue in 2012.
Kansas State has two tournament games against Indiana teams. The Wildcats defeated Purdue in 1988 and lost to Butler in 2010.
This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 7:55 PM with the headline "Focus on Friday hard to maintain when Sunday is the topic (VIDEO)."