Bob Lutz: Experience wins out for Wichita State – and big

OMAHA – There was no Battle of Omaha on Sunday. Kansas laid down its arms early.

Wichita State kicked the Jayhawks’ behinds, 78-65. The Shockers were the better team with the better players and the better coach.

The Jayhawks left scratching their heads while the Shockers’ were in the clouds.

“To me, I’m speechless,” WSU senior Tekele Cotton said. “Like I heard Fred (VanVleet) say in the locker room, he didn’t know what to feel, like this feeling was unreal. And he was right about that.”

There are so many reasons for Wichita State to celebrate. Beating Kansas. Beating Kansas convincingly. Beating a KU coach, Bill Self, who has refused to schedule the Shockers during the regular season because there’s not enough to be gained and too much to be lost.

And, of course, there’s the trip to the Sweet 16 in Cleveland to face Notre Dame, with the potential of facing an unbeaten Kentucky in a rematch from the 2014 NCAA Tournament. The Shockers lost that one by two points.

Experienced players with resumes full of impressive accomplishments carried the day for the Shockers. Their starters – two seniors and three juniors, two of whom have been in the program for four years – all scored in double figures. They combined for 70 points, 24 rebounds, 12 assists and seven steals.

Kansas fishes in a deep pool but Self isn’t always bringing home whoppers.

Wayne Selden arrived in Lawrence before the 2013-14 season as, we were told, a likely one-and-done player. Against the Shockers, he was simply done. Selden had no points, one rebound and two turnovers in 23 minutes.

Freshman Kelly Oubre, who might be headed for the NBA this summer, made 3 of 9 shots Sunday.

“They were all veterans and that was the difference,” Self said. “They had four starters play great, I thought.”

Kansas had two who played pretty well – Perry Ellis (17 points, eight rebounds) and Frank Mason (16 points, six rebounds).

The Shockers floated along throughout much of the first half, falling behind by as many as eight points with 5:08 remaining.

Then they scored 25 of the game’s next 31 points and it was over. KU was unable to get closer than eight points.

Some Kansas fans started looking for the quickest way out with about three minutes remaining.

Getting to the Sweet 16 is, of course, an incredible feeling for the Shockers. Stepping over the carcasses of the Jayhawks makes it that much better.

But while some Wichita State players admitted that the team they defeated made the victory that much sweeter, Shocker coach Gregg Marshall stuck what he’s been saying since it was determined WSU and KU would play.

“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for their program – unbelievable coach, great athletes,” he said. “But we’re pretty good, too. This game was about the right to go to the Sweet 16. Anything other than that is just a sidelight.”

I’m calling baloney on that.

Let me assure you that Marshall got a huge kick out of his team kicking Kansas. I believe he does respect KU – who wouldn’t? – and that he has admiration for Self.

I also think he would like to play the Jayhawks regularly and not one of those three-for-one deals, either.

Marshall has built a program at Wichita State. And if anyone knows about programs, it’s Kansas.

Self, though, saw what everybody else saw Sunday.

“There were far superior than us in the second half,” he said. “They took us out of most everything that we wanted to do. They’re a very well-coached, solid, talented basketball team and certainly deserve to be moving on.”

Now for the elephant in the room.

Kansas and Wichita State need to be playing regularly, not once every 23 years or just in the NCAA Tournament when the selection committee feels like having a little fun with the bracket.

“You know, who knows?” Marshall said. “They may want to play now. Who knows? I have no idea; I’m not worried about that. I’m fine letting the series lay the way it is right now. The series is good with me at this point.”

This was fun. The game didn’t turn out to be as close as expected, but it was fun watching Kansas and Wichita State play. Surreal at first, but then it became another basketball game.

The Shockers played better basketball. They have intelligent players who understand the way Marshall wants them to play and they usually oblige.

Cotton, VanVleet, Ron Baker and Evan Wessel, who was superb Sunday, have spent a collective 15 years in Marshall’s program. He winds them up and they do all the right things.

Cotton, Baker and Wessel were part of the same recruiting class before the 2011-12 season. Baker redshirted that season, Wessel in 2012-13.

“We got 10 days that summer to practice because we were taking a foreign trip to Brazil,” Marshall said. “And we were down in Rio playing games, going to the beaches, getting to know each other. There was a really good bond, coach-to-player, player-to-player, and I knew that we had something special. We really had a great group of young players and now they’ve developed and achieved so much and that’s been beautiful to watch.”

I get the feeling there’s a part of Self that’s envious when he watches all of those Wichita State veterans in perfect harmony.

The Jayhawks struggled to find pitch all season and were out of tune again Sunday. The Shockers, meanwhile, will be singing all the way to Cleveland.

This story was originally published March 22, 2015 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Experience wins out for Wichita State – and big."