Anxiety and urgency as Wichita State prepares for whatever happens Sunday

A tuba weighs 50 pounds. A drum coffin, used to protect drums, not bury, weighs 105 pounds. The WuShock costume is 30 pounds of fabric, padding and fake wheat.

This is how Wichita State’s trip to the NCAA Tournament starts — not with a bracket or in a committee room. It starts in front of a computer screen, filling out forms to prepare for a chartered plane that will leave Yingling Aviation at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport on.…

Well, that’s the problem. Nobody knows when. Or bound for where.

“My worst nightmare,” said Ruth Matz, director of administration and personnel, who plays a large role in getting the Shocker basketball traveling circus right with the NCAA and TSA, on the plane and cleared for takeoff.

The possibility of playing Tuesday or Wednesday in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, adds a layer of crazy and uncertainty WSU administrators are trying to fight with organization and experience. On Sunday, CBS will announce the bracket in a two-hour show — new length this season — with a similar format that is sure to take more time for discussion and analysis and delay the reveal.

More waiting. More uncertainty.

WSU (24-8) is a polarizing candidate for one of the 36 at-large spots in the 68-team field. The Shockers are the darling of the eye test, favored by anyone who watches them more than once, loves defense and understands great guard play. Their list of impressive wins, however, consists of Utah and, perhaps, Northern Iowa. WSU lost five non-conference games to some of the better teams it played, three without guard Fred VanVleet, and lost twice to Northern Iowa and at Illinois State.

The Shockers are viewed as something of a borderline NCAA team. That may mean they are sent to Dayton on Tuesday or Wednesday for what the NCAA calls the First Four, actually a play-in round to advance to the main 64-team bracket. The last four at-large teams head to Dayton to play for the right to play in second-round games two days later.

They could end up in the main bracket, perhaps as a No. 8 seed, as ESPN’s Joe Lunardi predicts, in places such as Oklahoma City, Brooklyn or Des Moines.

By Saturday, the possibility of WSU dropping to the NIT seemed to diminish. WSU, as the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion, holds an automatic bid to the NIT, a spot in the 32-team tournament it would gladly cede to Creighton or Kansas State.

You know, in a friendly gesture.

The possibility of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 adds unwelcome uncertainty to Sunday’s announcement. The possibility of flying Monday to Dayton for a Tuesday game, followed by a trip to a first-round site, would be welcome because it means the Shockers win. It also adds a crazy timetable WSU hasn’t dealt with in its four previous appearances.

“Anxiety,” said basketball director of operations Dominic Okon, who handles travel plans for the team. “It’s my job to get the team from A to B … without any notice. When people notice what I do, then there’s a problem.”

On Friday, Matz prepared the manifest that lists names as they appear on drivers licenses, birthdates and weights for all, plus equipment such as trombones, trumpets and flags. If you are one of the 150 or so people in WSU’s traveling party — players, coaches, trainers, cheerleaders, administrators, tuba players and mascot — she warned you to pack for a week of travel that could start in Dayton and end in St. Louis, Raleigh, Des Moines or elsewhere.

“That was not something you want to spring on people,” she said.

Teams that win in Dayton leave after the game for the next site. Losers wait until the next day. In past seasons, the committee limited travel for the First Four winners, sending them to nearby sites and usually within the Eastern time zone. Teams that win on Tuesday play Thursday; Wednesday winners on Friday.

The process will speed up when (or if) WSU’s fate is announced during the NCAA show. The Shockers may leave as early as Monday morning for Dayton, where media obligations begin at 4:20 p.m. with practice at UD Arena at 5:05 p.m. for the first team scheduled. The NCAA will tell Matz and Okon that a plane is available for a time window of a few hours and it’s their job to lock in the departure time and ground transportation. The NCAA assigns hotels.

Okon and Matz downloaded the manuals for each site — largely similar documents adapted to arenas and cities — so they can move quickly when (or if) WSU’s opponent and destination is revealed.

Matz’s first job is to submit participant lists for players and pass lists for cheerleaders and the pep band. Okon will read the manual and wait for the NCAA and TV networks to set game times, which can take another hour or more after the bracket announcement, to plan WSU’s itinerary. If the Shockers play in Dayton, he will take part in a conference call on Sunday night. If it’s later in the week, the conference call likely takes place on Monday.

“If we are in the play-in games, if we have to stay until midnight or whenever to get all our after-practice stuff done … equipment, practice stuff, we’ll do it,” Okon said. “We have enough people and experience to make sure we’re ready. Laundered, packed and ready to go.”

Jeff Chapman, a student manager, wants an early reveal for WSU so he has time to prepare scouting videos for the coaches before they leave for the night.

He is in charge of downloading video of WSU’s opponents for coaches, who will spend Sunday evening developing plans and calling coaching friends for insights. WSU subscribes to the video library of Synergy Sport Tech, as most schools do, to scout opponents. Chapman will put recent games, perhaps the past five or so, on the Macs for coach Gregg Marshall, assistants Greg Heiar, Isaac Brown and Kyle Lindsted, and consultant Chris Jans, a former WSU assistant who helps with scouting.

Chapman will also download video of important players and situations that coaches request. Heiar usually wants clips of baskets made by a team against man-to-man defense and against zone defenses. Coaches could ask for in-bound plays, types of defenses or other categories. If it’s Dayton, Chapman will grab the first opponent, plus the three possible opponents for later in the week. If WSU is slotted into a first-round game on Thursday or Friday, coaches need the opponent and the two second-round options.

In the ticket office, associate athletic director Russell Wilkins is prepared for the NCAA or NIT. Season-ticket holders received a letter allowing them to select tickets for Dayton and the eight first-round sites. For the NCAA, tickets are handed out at the site.

If it’s the NIT, tickets go on sale Sunday night on goshockers.com. That possibility produced groans in the ticket office on Friday.

“We’ve already started working on letters to go out for the NIT,” Wilkins said. “We’re ready for every opportunity.”

Four-plus months of basketball come down to a few seconds on a two-hour selection show. Get your computers ready.

This story was originally published March 12, 2016 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Anxiety and urgency as Wichita State prepares for whatever happens Sunday."