Bob Lutz: Shockers have two lethal seniors in an NCAA field with many more

After a lackluster, 30-30 first half with Vanderbilt in the First Four Tuesday night, Wichita State needed a rescue.

Who ya gonna call?

Do I need to ask?

The start of the second half turned into the Ron Baker/Fred VanVleet show, one Shocker fans have been glued to for four seasons. But this show’s ending soon. Too soon, if you ask Shocker fans.

Seniors move on, often leaving a trail of tears. In some cases, those tears are expressions of joy and if Wichita State can get on a run in the NCAA Tournament — and Tuesday’s 70-50 win over Vanderbilt is a start — emotions will be uncontrollable.

When the Shockers needed them most against Vandy, Baker and VanVleet stepped up to score the first 10 points of the second half. They had 13 of the first 17 points and two crafty VanVleet assists to Shaq Morris, one for a layup and the other a monster dunk, vouched for the other four.

Iconic seniors being iconic seniors.

“They came in knowing how to win,” Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said. “They were coached well at their high schools in Scott City and Rockford, Ill., and they were coached well in AAU. Their parents are teachers and coaches and mentors and they just knew how to win, they knew how to play.”

Arizona, the Shockers’ opponent in the NCAA’s first round today at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, has three key seniors in its starting lineup. Across the country, some of college basketball’s best seniors are leading their team into the tournament, including the Big 12’s Buddy Hield (Oklahoma), Perry Ellis (Kansas), Georges Niang (Iowa State), and Rico Gathers and Taurean Price (Baylor).

“The tournament used to be about those players that are never, ever going to come back down this path again because they have no more eligibility,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “And you would seem them play with their heart and soul because this was it, their last moment as a college basketball player and they don’t want it to end.”

Arizona starts three seniors — guard Gabe York, forward Ryan Anderson and center Kaleb Tarczewski — and has a fourth, forward Mark Tollefsen, coming off the bench.

Like Baker, VanVleet and fellow WSU contributing seniors Evan Wessel and Anton Grady, they don’t want this journey to end in Providence.

College basketball hasn’t been so much about seniors in recent times, what with so many of the best players in the game jumping to the NBA and other professional leagues early.

This season, though, is about seniors. Hield and Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine are the frontrunners for national player of the year.

The four top seeds — Kansas (Ellis), North Carolina (Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson), Virginia (Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill) and Oregon (Elgin Cook, Chris Boucher) have an abundance of senior leadership and experience.

Marshall’s best Wichita State teams have always had key seniors. In just the past three seasons, WSU has lost Carl Hall, Malcolm Armstead, Cleanthony Early, Tekele Cotton and Darius Carter. Those three seasons, all of which included a healthy dose of Baker and VanVleet, happened to produce an overall record of 95-15.

“We’ve just been the beneficiaries of putting (Baker and VanVleet) together,” Marshall said. “We were smart enough to put them on the same team, on the same roster and just give them a little structure. They know how to win and they know how to lead by example. Their toughness permeates throughout our program.”

That experience, savvy and ability is especially fun to watch when Baker and VanVleet decide they’re going to take over a game, like they did Tuesday night against Vanderbilt.

Baker hadn’t done much in the first half except make some free throws. But he ignited the Shockers’ 10-0 run with a steal near mid-court and a resulting layup that served as a rocket launcher.

Both players decided during the summer that a senior season at Wichita State was a better option than making themselves available for whatever professional possibilities were out there. Neither have looked back, partially because there’s simply no time.

Especially not now, when the reason they returned — getting another shot at a deep run in the NCAA Tournament — is their world.

“For me,” Baker said, “it’s pretty easy to block that stuff out. What happens in the future happens. I can only control what’s in front of me and that’s the NCAA Tournament. This time of year is really fun and to be a part of it is very special.”

VanVleet concurred.

“We’re locked in,” he said. “The tournament is the best time that we’ve had in college. It’s the most fun. It’s the biggest stage, brightest lights. You deal with things as they come and our future is in the future.”

The Shockers are in good hands. And it’s from those hands that a team will have to pry a victory away from two Shocker seniors who are holding on tight.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Shockers have two lethal seniors in an NCAA field with many more."