Final Four run pays off for WSU

[jpshocker]

WSU gear at Target in Houston. We must be big time now.

I spent last week in Vegas for meetings and saw 2 non-kansans wearing shocker shirts. One was from Lexington!

[Aargh]

WSU gets a mention on the SNL opening skit.

I'm probably late to the party because this is probably a rerun, but the opening intro had Kim Jung Un giving his picks in the NCAA tourney. He had WSU going to the F4. While this was done as part of a joke, that's national name brand affirmation. It's stuff like that that creates a national "name brand" for a school. The more times WSU is mentioned to a national audience, the more aware the national audience becomes of what WSU is doing.

Edit: Yep, it's a rerun from the Saturday before the NC game. WSU got about 4 more mentions during the rest of the show. Giving the nation a June reminder that the Shox went F4 is a good thing.

[jcdshocker]

It is also going to help future scheduling. I have heard some rumblings of big name opponents potentially on the 2014 / 2015 schedule. If they come to fruition everyone will like our SOS!

[Dave Stalwart]

Just looking around at the usual places, looking for a Shocker fix.

I stumbled across our ESPN basketball page and noticed they have not yet updated our NCAA tournament history box over on the right. Its still showing what is good through last season, which is 8-10 overall in 9 appearances with one Final Four.

I'm not very good at math, but I do believe we are now 12-11 in 10 appearances with two Final Fours. I'd like to add that it feels good to have a winning record in the dance. I'd sure hate to be 11-19 in 18 appearances. That would pretty much be like averaging a one and done and never making the Sweet 16. Anyone care to guess who has that record?

:)

[ShockerFever]

Has to be a pretty sCUmmy school..

[wu_shizzle]

Wichita State signs 10-year deal with CBS College Sports

Looks like we're outsourcing some ad sales and ticket sales.

[shockmonster]

Wichita State signs 10-year deal with CBS College Sports

Looks like we're outsourcing some ad sales and ticket sales.

In other words, revenue will go up w/o customers feeling it too much.

[ShockerPrez]

So, we make the final 4 20% of the time we go to the dance? That's decent.

[ShockerPhi]

So, we make the final 4 20% of the time we go to the dance? That's decent.

Especially if we start making the Dance 100% of the time!

...

Which we will with Marshall at the helm.

[Aargh]

Marshall is an "underdog" coach. His heritage is "underdog" coaches. What I mean by that is that Marshall and his mentors enjoyed being the underdog and then kicking the big dogs' backsides.

I get a feeling that WSU making a F4 is like Marshall's crack. Making the F4 out of WSU gives a great "buzz". Making a F4 out of Duke doesn't provide the same "rush".

Marshall's addiction is going to be that first F4. He will never be satisfied until he gets that again, and the next one will never be a as good as the first, so he'll have to go for something better.

Pardon the drug analogy, but I believe Marshall has found his addiction - it's being dominant with a team that's thought to be a "mid-major". I don't believe any school that could actually hire Marshall could give Marshall the same level of satisfaction he gets from taking a "mid-major" out and stomping major ass with it.

I have to think there would be less satisfaction with taking down the #1 team in the country while coacihng - say - NC State, than while coaching Wichita State. And that's a job Marshall turned down before he had any success with WSU in the Tourney. I think Marshall had more faith in himself than we did, and we were hyper-confident.

[im4wsu]

So, we make the final 4 20% of the time we go to the dance? That's decent.

Here's a comparison of Valley schools:

[benishock]

Was this ever a double elimination tournament? Otherwise how do we have 11 losses in 10 appearances?

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Was this ever a double elimination tournament? Otherwise how do we have 11 losses in 10 appearances?

There used to be a third place game between the losers of the national semifinals. We lost to Princeton in that game after losing to UCLA in the national semifinal in the '65 FF.

[wushock27]

There used to be a "runner up" game so to speak... The 2 teams who lost in the semifinals played each other

[wushock27]

There used to be a third place game between the losers of the national semifinals. We lost to Princeton in that game after losing to UCLA in the national semifinal in the '65 FF.

Beat me to it! Lol!