‘They have no interest’: WSU AD tired of stalled basketball talks with K-State
It has been nearly two decades since the last time Wichita State played a regular-season game against one of its two in-state rivals in men’s basketball.
There is little hope a series with Kansas, which hasn’t been resurrected since 1993, is possible anytime soon, but WSU athletic director Darron Boatright sees no reason why the Shockers and Kansas State don’t play every season.
The two sides have been in on-again, off-again discussions about resuming the rivalry, which hasn’t been played since 2003, but Boatright has grown frustrated by what he feels like are unreasonable negotiations from K-State.
“We’ve made it abundantly clear that we’re willing to play them in a home-and-home situation and we’ve made it abundantly clear that we’re willing to start it at Bramlage (Coliseum),” Boatright told The Eagle. “But our expectation is that they return to Charles Koch Arena.
“They have no interest in playing us, that’s obvious. For whatever reason, I don’t know. But it’s not the same reason as Kansas’. (K-State) has its own rationale and it’s very difficult to figure out. It makes no sense to me.”
When asked for a response, Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor told The Eagle: “It’s not dead.”
“I think we were pretty close a year and a half ago and then Wichita State … things just didn’t work out,” he said. “I think we are still talking it’s just a matter of finding a date and the right opportunity.”
K-State made a strong push in the spring of 2018 to schedule a game for the 2018-19 season, but the timing did not work for WSU. The Shockers graduated six seniors and lost nine of 13 scholarship players, while K-State was returning the bulk of its team that had just made the Elite Eight.
“We did talk to them, but they don’t want to start the series right now,” K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber said in 2018. “We had asked them about playing at our place to start and they said, ‘No.’ Then we looked at maybe going to their place. It just didn’t work out.”
Boatright said that K-State has not been so keen in starting a series before that season or after.
“They knew our program was in reset mode, so that’s the only reason why they made the effort to call,” Boatright said. “That was a slap in the face. That’s not serious. If they ever want to be serious about playing, we’d love to play them. Our fans would love it, their fans would would love it, the state would love it. And we’ll start it in Bramlage. But that’s not going to happen. I have no reason to believe that’s going to happen.”
Taylor’s response: “It kind of goes in spurts. We were pretty good and they were down, so they didn’t want to play. Now we are down and they are pretty good. I think that is part of it.”
According to Boatright, the breakdown in discussions has been K-State’s unwillingness to agree to an evenly balanced series. K-State is only willing to play if WSU comes to Bramlage with no return trip to Koch Arena for the Wildcats.
“We will play Kansas State in anything that was equal,” Boatright said. “If they want to play in the Sprint Center and Intrust Bank Arena, we’ll do that. If they want to play in Bramlage and Koch Arena, we’ll do that.”
Taylor said: “I don’t know why we would want to do it neutral. It would be a great home-and-home series for both them and us. But maybe neutral is a little more palatable for both coaches. I haven’t talked to (Weber) much about it other than he said, ‘Sure, if we can figure out a date we will do it.’ We haven’t had any conversations in the last year.”
It hasn’t been hard for WSU to find other Big 12 programs to play, as the Shockers have struck agreements with Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State all in recent seasons. Baylor was willing to come to Koch Arena, while Boatright said that Oklahoma State will do the same in the 2020-21 season. Meanwhile, OU also agreed to an “equal” series with WSU as both sides played home games at off-campus sites.
The move to the American Athletic Conference, on top of WSU’s recent history of success, has opened more doors across the country for Boatright when it comes to nonconference scheduling.
“Our brand has taken a national relevance and we’re seeing the term ‘mid-major’ is no longer being associated with Wichita State,” Boatright said. “When others evaluate us to see if we fit on their schedule, they know they’re going to get a big-time basketball opponent. For the institutions that are serious about trying to get to the postseason, that matters. For the programs that build their schedule to protect the contract of their coaches, it’s probably going to hurt us.
“We will continue to play anyone anywhere on a home-and-home basis. We will play the best if the best will play. And we expect if we’re going to their campus, they’re coming to our campus. That’s just a philosophy and the way of doing business we’re going to continue.”
WSU has five games locked in already for its 2020-21 nonconference schedule: a Koch Arena date with Oklahoma State, a trip to Oxford to face Mississippi and three games in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis, a tournament field that includes Duke, Ohio State, Memphis, Texas A&M, West Virginia, Utah and Creighton.
With WSU’s move to the American, it no longer has to schedule so aggressively in the nonconference. But WSU coach Gregg Marshall has made it clear to Boatright that he still wishes to play a challenging nonconference schedule. That’s why WSU is looking into possibly renewing the series with VCU, a home-and-home series that was completed this season after both teams won at home.
But Boatright has something else that he would like to see happen in the near future, as well.
“I’d like to get a little Big Ten flavor at some point, if we could,” Boatright said. “I think our style matches up well with Big Ten basketball. I think we could find some good series there.”
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