Wichita State at 21st in AP poll; Fred VanVleet not on Cousy Award finalists list — for now

Monday presented Wichita State with mixed signals for its national prestige. The mild bit of damage, however, is not permanent.

The Shockers (16-5) moved up one spot in the Associated Press poll to No. 21 and three spots in the USA Today coaches poll to No. 22.

That seems a fitting recognition of WSU’s 11-game win streak.

On the individual front, the prime mover in that rise is not one of the 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, announced on Monday. Senior guard Fred VanVleet was on the 20-person watch list released in October, but wasn’t on Monday’s list.

Monday’s announcement doesn’t mean VanVleet can’t win the award.

Nicole Taylor, who handles media relations for the award, said in an email that “the list is fluid and players can play their way on to or off of the list at any point in the season.”

The award is given to the nation’s top point guard and is administered by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. According to the hall, “A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in October, which has now been narrowed to just ten.”

VanVleet did win the Missouri Valley Conference player of the week honor for the third time this season. He averaged 20 points, 5.5 assists and 3 rebounds in wins over Loyola and Evansville.

He scored a career-high 32 poiuts in Sunday’s 78-65 win at Evansville. His 15-of-15 performance at the foul line ties Dave Stallworth (1963 vs. Texas-El Paso) for WSU’s most makes without a miss.

It is VanVleet’s fifth MVC player of the week honor. He is tied with Xavier McDaniel (1981-85) and Ron Baker (2012-present) for the most weekly awards from the Valley. All three won it three times in one season.

The Shockers, off to their second 10-0 start in the MVC in the past three seasons, play Southern Illinois (18-5, 7-3) on Wednesday at Koch Arena. Coach Gregg Marshall can pass Ralph Miller atop the program’s career wins list. Marshall is 220-81 in nine seasons. Miller went 220-133 in 13 seasons from 1951-64.

“The longer I’ve been around here the more I’ve learned about Coach Miller,” Marshall said Monday on the MVC’s conference call. “He basically started Wichita State basketball. They play basketball before, but he’s the one who brought it to national prominence. We both have a liking for defense; his was more of a full-court variety.”

Miller, who played at Kansas and coached at East High, went 11-19 in his first season, his only losing season. Marshall went 11-20 in 2007-08 before improving to 17-17 and then starting a streak of seven 25-plus win seasons.

“It’s amazing the similarities in that regard,” Marshall said. “It’sjust an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as him. His accompllishments are just tremendous.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Wichita State at 21st in AP poll; Fred VanVleet not on Cousy Award finalists list — for now."