2011–20: A Decade to Remember

[WuShock Reaper]

January 1, 2014 - Well! Look at that for the Shockers. They finished November at 7-0. That’s Undefeated. Then they finished December at 6-0. That’s Undefeated too. Let’s add those two months together, 13-0. Hey that’s UNDFEFETED! Whoa! Well, it won’t last long. MVC conference play is about to begin and that means games-on-the-road. There will be White-outs, Red-outs, Purple-outs, Fat-heads, jacked-up super bowl type crowds, and students just waiting to storm the court.

Time to suck-it-up men. PLAY ANGRY!
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[WuShock Reaper]

With wins at Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, and Illinois State (all by double-digits), this MVC Conference Championship was over before it even began. What a cake walk!

Then came…

January 11, 2014 - #6 Wichita State at Missouri State
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Bob Lutz and Paul Suellentrop give a recap of the Shockers at Missouri State Bears:

One of the greatest comebacks in Shocker history, they were 17-0, (4-0 MVC), and still UNDEFEATED!

[WuShock Reaper]

January 18, 2014 - #5 Wichita State vs Indiana State - and our Nationally telvelised game on ESPN.

Well done Shocker Nation, well done indeed.

[WuShock Reaper]

January 22, 2014 - #5 Wichita State at Illinois State

Tekele Cotton and the ESPN Sports Center Top 10 – THE DUNK

[ShockTalk]

January 22, 2014 - #5 Wichita State at Illinois State

Tekele Cotton and the ESPN Sports Center Top 10 – THE DUNK

Never, ever, gets old.

[WuShock Reaper]

Sports Illustrated Cover - February 2014.jpg

[WuShock Reaper]

As the Month of February started, there would only be three teams in the nation left undefeated: #1 Arizona of the PAC-12 at 20-0; #2 Syracuse of the ACC at 19-0; and #4 Wichita State of the Missouri Valley. It seemed like each morning you could wake and turn on the sports shows or internet media-world and hear one of two things: the Wichita State Shockers are a fraud and haven played anyone; or Wichita State Shockers are legit and you better get prepared for them to go all way. It was either MEDIA HATE or MEDIA LOVE. There weren’t any fence-sitters.

February 19, 2014 - Wichita State Men's Basketball History

Arizona and Syracuse would both lose two-games each in February, so their undefeated seasons were over. WSU was last team standing undefeated.

The Shockers would finish the month of February with 8 more wins. They would be 30-0, and 17-0 MVC. Just one game left for PERFECTION. Could they make it?

[WuShock Reaper]

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March 1, 2014 - #2 Wichita State vs Missouri State
Full Game

With a capacity crowd of 10,506 chanting “undefeated,” the No. 2-ranked Wichita State Shockers sealed a perfect regular season by improving to a NCAA Division I regular-season record 31-0 with a dominating 68-45 win against Missouri State Saturday at Charles Koch Arena. Wichita State (31-0, 18-0) became the first NCAA Division I team to finish a regular season undefeated since Saint Joseph's in 2003-04 and became the first unbeaten MVC team since Bradley went 16-0 in 1985-86. Wichita State finished the regular season with a 18-0 home record at Charles Koch Arena, marking just the third time a Shocker men's basketball team has finished with an undefeated home record since the arena opened in 1955-56. Wichita State takes the No. 1 seed into the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament

WSU 31-0, 2014.jpg

[WuShock Reaper]

Sports Illustrated Cover - March 2014.jpg

[WuShock Reaper]

The Wichita State Shocker Story
First Shown on NCAA.com on March 5, 2014: A Shocker of a Story: Rise out of the Valley Having fallen short at last year's Final Four, Wichita State channeled the disappointment and turned it into an undefeated regular season. The Shockers still feel like they have something to prove.

[WuShock Reaper]

ARCH MADNESS 2014
March 7, 9-seed Evansville vs 1-seed Wichita State

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Cleanthony Early and Ron Baker scored 17 points apiece and No. 2 Wichita State set a Missouri Valley tournament record with 11 blocked shots, staying perfect for the season with an 80-58 romp over Evansville in the quarterfinals Friday. Kadeem Coleby had six of the blocks for the Shockers, who are two victories shy of matching the NCAA record of 34 wins to start a season by UNLV in 1990-91. The Shockers were just as relentless in the second half. A 15-5 run put them up 20 points with just under 12 minutes to go. Valley player of the year Fred VanVleet had nine points, five assists and four steals for Wichita State. Tekele Cotton and Chadrack Lufile had 11 points apiece.

[WuShock Reaper]

ARCH MADNESS 2014
March 8, 4-seed Missouri State vs 1-seed Wichita State

2014 Arch Madness - Missouri State vs Wichita State.JPG

"I can't remember which one was our best game, but if you think so, then OK," point guard Fred VanVleet said after the second-ranked Shockers encountered little resistance in a 67-42 rout of Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinals on Saturday.

Coach Gregg Marshall said he's got a "fun team to watch, a fun team to coach, a fun team to be around." He scoffed at naysayers who might criticize strength of schedule. "Who can find fault with 33-0? No, I take that back, I know people find fault with 33-0. I don't. I enjoy it," Marshall said. "I've enjoyed it the whole year."

Marshall wrapped up his postgame news conference by complaining about an exposed nail on the table at the podium that caused him to rip his jacket on Friday, and to point out that Tekele Cotton's first name is often mispronounced. "He's going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the second time in three weeks," Marshall said. "It's not Tekeel, it's Tekale -- like the vegetable."

[WuShock Reaper]

ARCH MADNESS 2014
March 9, 2-seed Indiana State vs 1-seed Wichita State - CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Full Game

Wichita State's still perfect. And proudly awaiting a No. 1 seed.

After the nation's only unbeaten made another put-away run in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title game, guard Fred VanVleet fired back at doubters who cast aspersions on a schedule ranked 113th in the nation. "You can debate what you want to debate. Facts are facts, truth is truth," VanVleet, the conference player of the year, said after the second-ranked Shockers beat Indiana State 83-69 on Sunday to go to 34-0. "We're not into debating how good or great we are or how bad somebody else. "That's for barber shop talk and coffee table arguments. We're not into that stuff. If they feel that way, it's on them. And nobody that's arguing about it is on the selection committee."

Players wore championship T-shirts that proclaimed Wichita State the winner on the front but on the back had a bracket with Indiana State winning. "They'll get us the right ones eventually," guard Ron Baker said.

Wichita State matched the NCAA record for victories to start the season by UNLV in 1990-91 with its third straight convincing tournament win after going 18-0 in the conference regular season. The Shockers won their first conference tournament since 1987..

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Other then winning Arch Madness --- one of my all-time favorite moments was when Ron Baker wanted to make sure Indiana State player Jake Odom was recognized for his contribution to the Missouri Valley Conference.

[WuShock Reaper]

The Arch Madness Experience (2014)

Relive the 3-day MADNESS through the eyes of Shocker fans and players.

[WuShock Reaper]

March 15, 2014 – “A Word to Shocker Skeptics”

Wichita State University Coach Gregg Marshall and his Shocker team have dealt with skepticism all season long. The criticism has fueled them to a perfect 34-0 season. "Wolves do not fret over the opinions of sheep." Chadrack Lufile