WSU players view the AAC coaches’ poll as ‘more fuel to the fire’

Wichita State and all of its turnover has made it difficult for every prognosticator to peg where the Shockers may finish this men’s basketball season in the American Athletic Conference.

Some see a team that returns just 11 percent of its minutes. Others give the Shockers the benefit of the doubt because Gregg Marshall has led the program to seven straight NCAA Tournaments and nine straight 25-win seasons.

On Monday morning at the AAC Media Day in Philadelphia, the league’s coaches gave their view of the Shockers by picking them to finish eighth in the 12-team conference.

“I expected them to do that to us,” WSU senior Markis McDuffie said. “It’s just motivation. We’ve got to prove people wrong.”

“It’s more fuel to the fire,” teammate Samajae Haynes-Jones added. “Coach Marshall says he’s used to being the underdog and that’s what fuels him every day. So that’s going to fuel us now to go out and compete as hard as we can every day.”

The AAC’s top three played out predictably with Central Florida being chosen the preseason favorite and Cincinnati and Houston following in second and third. But WSU falling to the bottom-half of the conference raised some eyebrows.

“Anybody who doesn’t think they’re going to finish higher than eighth is crazy,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said.

“That was interesting, very interesting,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said with a wry smile. “Gregg does an unbelievable job. They’re going to be really good.”

Rather than see the prediction as a slight, Marshall said it’s a testament to the strength of the conference.

Of the seven teams picked ahead of WSU, UCF has the most returning talent in the conference, Cincinnati, Houston, Temple and SMU have been consistent winners, and Penny Hardaway at Memphis and Dan Hurley at Connecticut have jump-started their programs.

“That’s where I thought we would be relative to what we have coming back,” Marshall said. “We don’t have a whole lot of experience. It’s hard to gauge how good we can or will be.

“It’s easy to say there’s seven teams in front of us, but I look at Tulsa behind us. They’ve got some really good players and have a whole lot more experience coming back than us, so I’m wondering how they could be picked below us.”

Long-time college basketball analyst Andy Katz said he couldn’t fathom picking WSU any lower than eighth and joked he already knew he was going to be wrong. After poking fun of Katz for being wrong about the Shockers before, Marshall did admit he didn’t have as big of a problem this time around.

“This time you’ve got some validity to your concern,” Marshall told Katz. “A lot of youth, a lot of inexperience. I love this group and we’ve recruited some American Conference athletes. Unfortunately, they’re all in their first year.”

To the newcomers, McDuffie said his teammates have already embraced their underdog role entering the season.

“Every day in practice that’s our motivation,” McDuffie said.

Those newcomers may not bring the preseason accolades WSU is expected to receiving, but Marshall said the future is bright for the Shockers.

“I’ve enjoyed coaching this group because they’re so eager to learn,” Marshall said. “They’re very, very coachable. The biggest thing is they don’t know what they don’t know. They’re open-minded. They’ve been a lot of fun to be around and invest in.

“They’re going to be good sooner or later, it’s just a matter of how quickly that happens.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2018 at 11:26 AM.