60. Wichita State
Record since 1938-39: 1,330-977 | Regular-season titles: 11
NCAA Tournaments: 15 | Final Fours: 2
Weeks ranked: 161 | Top-60 NBA picks: 15
POINTS: 374.6
In the past 10 years, Gregg Marshall elevated Wichita State to a top-40 program nationally. Coincidentally, this list publishes on the same day Marshall has resigned from the school. In the big picture, Shockers fans can now boast about having one of the 60 best programs, historically, in the sport. Marshall didn't build it alone; Wichita State was relevant in two periods before. The 1963-64 team, led by Dave Stallworth, was ranked top-five in the nation and made the Elite Eight after beating nine ranked opponents that season. A year later WSU was in the Final Four. In the early 1980s, Xavier McDaniel was a revelation for the Shockers at the time because he was the first player in men's D-I history to lead the nation in scoring and rebound average. McDaniel and Stallworth were Consensus All-Americans -- a bar Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker, Cleanthony Early and Landry Shamet failed to meet. A pair of Final Fours, four Elite Eights, six Sweet 16s. Ralph Miller, Gary Thompson, Gene Smithson and Mark Turgeon all laid the foundation -- then Marshall brought the program to its most prominence and dominance ever. The 2013 Final Four was an unexpected run as a No. 9 seed, but it was the following year's undefeated regular season run, punctuated by the No. 1 seed, that was the example set that you could be from a small league (remember, the Shockers were in the Missouri Valley then), beat good opponents and be rewarded with a top seed. If not for one of the greatest games in NCAA Tournament history -- under-seeded Kentucky beating Wichita State in the second round -- that Shockers team's legacy would shine even brighter.
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