Wichita State basketball says farewell to seniors, another memorable season

Wichita State basketball coach Gregg Marshall wore his blue Final Four blazer and told the story about the difference between the ones with silver buttons and the ones with gold.

Every Final Four coach gets a blazer from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The ones who win an NCAA title get one with gold buttons.

“Our goal is to ultimately come back, and we’ll get everybody a blue blazer with gold buttons,” he said, drawing a cheer from the crowd at Thursday’s postseason celebration and awards ceremony.

While he spoke to the crowd, he also meant those words for the returning players on the stage with him. Thursday provided a last look at the 2015-16 season and a chance to start considering the Shockers going forward. The highlight videos went heavy on the five seniors, but also showed returners such as Shaq Morris, Markis McDuffie and Zach Brown, all of whom will take on bigger roles next season.

Most of Thursday’s celebration, attended by around 1,200 fans, focused on the memories and accomplishments of seniors Ron Baker, Anton Grady, Fred VanVleet, Bush Wamukota and Evan Wessel. Wamukota was the only senior in attendance; Baker, Grady and VanVleet are in training out of town and Wessel came down with strep throat Thursday morning.

Baker and VanVleet shared The Wichita Eagle Most Valuable Player Award for a second straight season to become the first teammates to share the honor twice. Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston shared the award in 1980, as did Rich Morsden and Bob Wilson (1974), Ron Harris and Terry Benton (1972) and Ron Mendell and Greg Carney (1969).

Wessel earned the Shafer Dart Most Inspirational and the Shelley Cox/KAKE-TV Leadership Award.

“I want to thank these guys for the work they put in,” Marshall said. “A great group to coach, very, very easy. Tremendous young people.”

Grady, who played one season at WSU after transferring from Cleveland State, and Wessel prepared statements read by radio broadcaster Mike Kennedy.

“Words can’t explain how much I’ve enjoyed playing my last year here,” Grady wrote. “I want to say thanks to the coaches and my teammates for giving me the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament, something I dreamed of my whole career.”

Wessel spent five seasons at WSU, redshirting one with an injury, and played on four Missouri Valley Conference champions and for five NCAA Tournament teams.

“This is my hometown, the college I grew up watching, and where most of my family went to school,” he wrote. “So being able to have the success I did and leave this place better than I found it means the world to me.”

Baker and VanVleet filmed their remarks, standing together on the court at Koch Arena. Baker is in Los Angeles working out and VanVleet is in Indianapolis.

“It’s been an unbelievable ride,” VanVleet said. “Lot of fun, lot of ups and downs. Through it all, your commitment to us, I hope we’ve been able to pay that back with our hard play on the floor.”

The awards, applause and videos wrapped up WSU’s third straight MVC title and a fifth-straight NCAA appearance, both landmarks for the program. The Shockers went 26-9, 16-2 in the MVC. Seeded No. 11 in the NCAA Tournament, they defeated Vanderbilt 70-50 in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Two days later, they knocked off Arizona 65-55 in Providence, R.I. Their season ended with a 65-57 loss to Miami.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Wichita State basketball says farewell to seniors, another memorable season."