Question - Highest ranked opponent to visit Koch Arena?

[60Shock]

USF in '55 or '56. Bill Russell and KC Jones.

If I recall correctly, USF was not ranked very high when they beat us in a tournament in 1955 which may have been the annual Oklahoma City one. Whichever one it was, we were picked to win it until we got completely surprised by USF. They may have had some following on the West Coast, but were relatively unknown in the rest of the nation at the time. It was much later in the 55 season when they finally achieved their #1 ranking and went on to be undefeated for both 1955 and 1956.

[im4wsu]

Page 156 of the '07-'08 Media Guide lists Shockers vs Ranked going back to the '57-'58 season. Cincy was top 10 from '57 to '63 and No 1 twice in Wichita ('59 and '62). Ohio State was #1 in '60. Michigan #2 in '65; also Loyola Chicago #3 that year. Louisville #3 in '66. Louisville #4 in '71. Louisville #3 in '74. Marquette #5 in '77. Indians St #5 in '78. LSU #4 in '80. Kansas #2 in '89. Kansas #4 in '91. LSU #6 in '07.

I probably missed on, but that is the top 10's at home through '06-'07.

[RoyalShock]

The LSU game where they were highly ranked was in '06 (Fall) and at LSU. When they came to Koch in '07, they sucked and were no where near the rankings.

[jocoshock]

some of these have already been mentioned but...

• We lost to Cincinnati in OT in 76. If memory serves me correctly, they were ranked #4 at the time.
• UCLA in 1967 - I would assume they were ranked #1 with Lew Alcindor on the roster. Also lost to them in the Final Four in 65.
• We lost to Michigan in the 76 NCAA tourney. They were the runner up to Indiana that year.
• KU was #5 when we lost to them back in 1955.
• Michigan was ranked #2 when they beat us in 1965 (we were ranked #1).
• I am not sure how high Marquette was ranked when we beat them in 1977 (Al McGuires last home game), but they went on to win the National Championship..
• Hammered by Michigan State in East Lansing during Magic's freshman year - not sure how high they were ranked at the time. They won the National Championship.
• Larry Bird's Indiana State teams...
• UAB was #9 when we beat them in 81-82.

[jocoshock]

If I recall correctly, USF was not ranked very high when they beat us in a tournament in 1955 which may have been the annual Oklahoma City one. Whichever one it was, we were picked to win it until we got completely surprised by USF. They may have had some following on the West Coast, but were relatively unknown in the rest of the nation at the time. It was much later in the 55 season when they finally achieved their #1 ranking and went on to be undefeated for both 1955 and 1956.

Didn't Loyola win the National Championship in 63? Yes, they did...:mask: We beat them that year, and split two games with runner-up Cincy...

Man, look at that non-conference schedule back then...
Wyoming W 83-72 Dec. 1 Laramie, Wyo.
Colorado OT L 79-69 Dec. 3 Boulder, Colo.
Purdue W 79-59 Dec. 8 Wichita
Santa Clara L 72-65 Dec. 11 Santa Clara, Calif.
Brigham Young W 67-61 Dec. 14 Provo, Utah
Brigham Young 2 0T W 91-89 Dec. 15 Provo, Utah
Arizona State OT W 92-90 Dec. 17 Wichita
Michigan State W 80-69 Dec. 19 Wichita
Louisville W 81-63 Dec. 22 Wichita
Minnesota W 79-62 Dec. 27 Wichita
Ohio State W 71-54 Dec. 29 Wichita
Cincinnati (MVC) L 63-50 Jan. 5 Cincinnati, Ohio
St. Louis (MVC) W 71-65 Jan. 10 Wichita
Bradley (MVC) W 79-60 Jan. 12 Wichita
Tulsa (MVC) 20T L 85-83 Jan. 15 Tulsa, Okla
Drake (MVC) W 68-60 Jan. 19 Des Moines, Iowa
N. Texas State (MVC) L 69-67 Jan. 25 Wichita
Air Force W 77-45 Jan. 26 Wichita
Tulsa (MVC) W 66-38 Feb. 2 Wichita
St. Louis (MVC) L 68-61 Feb. 9 St. Louis, Mo.
Drake (MVC) W 73-49 Feb. 11 Wichita
Cincinnati (MVC) W 65-64 Feb. 16 Wichita
Bradley (MVC) L 64-63 Feb. 23 Peoria, Ill.
Texas Western W 60-58 Feb. 26 El Paso, Texas
N. Texas State (MVC) W 89-73 Feb. 28 Denton, Texas
Loyola (Chicago) W 73-72 Mar. 2 Chicago, Ill.
Villanova L 54-53 Mar. 16 New York, N.Y.**
**National Invitational Tournament
Lineup PPG
F-Dave Stallworth (6-7 So-Jr) 22.6

[jocoshock]

Check this out from the 1963 Sports Illustrated Season Preview. Cincy was favored to win a third straight national championship. They finished second...

Not even Wichita Coach Ralph Miller, whose team has been the only one to defeat Cincinnati in two games over a two-year period, would suggest they can be beaten.

so if I am not mistaken, that means we beat them 3 times including the win in 1963. Beat the NC and runner up in the same season..

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1074590/index.htm

[60Shock]

And the MVC was murder. Wouldn't surprise me if at any given time we had one, perhaps two teams in the top 10 and another two or three in the top 25.

[jocoshock]

And the MVC was murder. Wouldn't surprise me if at any given time we had one, perhaps two teams in the top 10 and another two or three in the top 25.

You are correct sir!!

On February 16, 1963, Cincinnati finally lost a heartbreaker to Wichita State, 65-64. Loyola didn’t move up in the rankings, however, because on the same night they were blown out by Bowling Green, 92-75.

The Ramblers won their next three games, but then lost a nail-biter to #8 Wichita State, 73-72.

http://www.stellarcollegebballgame.com/1963Loyola.html

[im4wsu]

some of these have already been mentioned but...

• We lost to Cincinnati in OT in 76. If memory serves me correctly, they were ranked #4 at the time.
• UCLA in 1967 - I would assume they were ranked #1 with Lew Alcindor on the roster. Also lost to them in the Final Four in 65.
• We lost to Michigan in the 76 NCAA tourney. They were the runner up to Indiana that year.
• KU was #5 when we lost to them back in 1955.
• Michigan was ranked #2 when they beat us in 1965 (we were ranked #1).
• I am not sure how high Marquette was ranked when we beat them in 1977 (Al McGuires last home game), but they went on to win the National Championship..
• Hammered by Michigan State in East Lansing during Magic's freshman year - not sure how high they were ranked at the time. They won the National Championship.
• Larry Bird's Indiana State teams...
• UAB was #9 when we beat them in 81-82.

True, but the premise of the question was at "Home."

[jocoshock]

True, but the premise of the question was at "Home."

• We lost to Cincinnati in OT in 76. If memory serves me correctly, they were ranked #4 at the time.
• KU was #5 when we lost to them back in 1955.
• Larry Bird's Indiana State teams...
• UAB was #9 when we beat them in 81-82.

Fixed...

[shockmonster]

Check this out from the 1963 Sports Illustrated Season Preview. Cincy was favored to win a third straight national championship. They finished second...



so if I am not mistaken, that means we beat them 3 times including the win in 1963. Beat the NC and runner up in the same season.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1074590/index.htm

Then our fickle fans ran Ralph Miller out of town the following year.

[another shocker]

Didn't Wichita State beat a top-20 UNLV team (Tark coached) in '78?

[im4wsu]

• We lost to Cincinnati in OT in 76. If memory serves me correctly, they were ranked #4 at the time.

Fixed...

The Media guide says ranking was #16. I would think this was the ranking when played and not end of season ranking, just based on them listing the '64 game at Michigan as WSU #1 and Mich #@ and knowing that WSU never finished a season at #1.

[im4wsu]

The LSU game where they were highly ranked was in '06 (Fall) and at LSU. When they came to Koch in '07, they sucked and were no where near the rankings.

Correct. I mistyped the year.

[im4wsu]

If I recall correctly, USF was not ranked very high when they beat us in a tournament in 1955 which may have been the annual Oklahoma City one. Whichever one it was, we were picked to win it until we got completely surprised by USF. They may have had some following on the West Coast, but were relatively unknown in the rest of the nation at the time. It was much later in the 55 season when they finally achieved their #1 ranking and went on to be undefeated for both 1955 and 1956.

USF played WSU in OKC on Dec 20, 1954 and won the NCAA in March '55. They played @wsu: on the same date in 1955 and won the National Championship that year also. I have to believe they were ranked when they played in Wichita, being they were defending National champs and repeated the following March.