WSU VERSUS INDIANA PREDICTIONS AND PREGAME DISCUSSIONS

[purrrrrfect]

Hey Shox..i'm back to wish you good luck this weekend!!! While I picked you guys to beat the Hoosiers, I wouldn't be surprised if they won a close one. I think playing in Omaha with your great fanbase and playing with the confidence you guys gave shown all year will carry you well. I picked you guys to win...so damnit...win! Half my brackets had you guys beating KU, with the other half losing....but I think it'll be a great game either way and I'll enjoy watching it. Hopefully my Panthers can play on Sunday and take out Louisville for you guys. Serve the MVC well....do work...play angry and enjoy the bright lights again! See you in Indy!

The real question is how many Squawk fans will be cheering for you against Indy...

[MadaboutWu]

Good luck on your side of the bracket. Hope the MVC takes no prisoners this weekend!

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

The real question is how many Squawk fans will be cheering for you against Indy...

Absolutely zero. None. They don't want to play us and for good reason.

Good luck Panthers. Go kick some ass and show the East Region who's boss. We're rooting for you guys.

[ShockerEngineer]

Absolutely zero. None. They don't want to play us and for good reason.

Good luck Panthers. Go kick some ass and show the East Region who's boss. We're rooting for you guys.

Yeah, I've already seen numerous comments from KU fans to the effect of "I'd rather get beat by New Mexico State than Wichita State".

[Cdizzle]

Yeah, I've already seen numerous comments from KU fans to the effect of "I'd rather get beat by New Mexico State than Wichita State".

There is a lot of that going around. Also a lot of WSU going from the most overrated team in the country to the most underrated team in the country, which is probably my favorite.

Starts to suck when one might have to back up one's talk.

[Dave Stalwart]

There is a lot of that going around. Also a lot of WSU going from the most overrated team in the country to the most underrated team in the country, which is probably my favorite.

Starts to suck when one might have to back up one's talk.

YES. Now that the game is a serious potential, we are no longer the little guy unworthy of being scheduled. Now, all the sudden they are squirming and saying things like it's a shame we fell to a 7 seed because we are better than that, and KU got hosed by us getting that seed so they have to face effectively a 3-4 seed early on.

It's amazing how the tone changes now that they might have to actually play the game. They are basically priming their comments in the event of a loss and hedging their bets big time. It's as wonderful as I would have hoped. :)

[MadaboutWu]

Sweet to hear. They are right. They are effectively playing a 12 and a 4 seed should we advance. So they did get screwed (them being a 2 is another matter).

[jdshock]

I don't have anywhere else to rant about this, so I'm putting it here.

I have to deal with an OU alum and a Duke alum on a daily basis. They both told me today that WSU is the most overseeded team in the tournament. They said WSU should be in the NIT and that if it hadn't been for the Final Four we wouldn't have made the tournament (sidenote: I think it's possible prior to the Final Four run this team goes to the NIT, but I think that's a sign of a broken system and not evidence that we should be left out now).

I bet the OU alum that no one in the Big 12 makes the Elite 8. I think he's delusional enough I could've pushed him to two or three teams at straight up odds and he would've taken it.

[shocksrbest]

I don't have anywhere else to rant about this, so I'm putting it here.

I have to deal with an OU alum and a Duke alum on a daily basis. They both told me today that WSU is the most overseeded team in the tournament. They said WSU should be in the NIT and that if it hadn't been for the Final Four we wouldn't have made the tournament (sidenote: I think it's possible prior to the Final Four run this team goes to the NIT, but I think that's a sign of a broken system and not evidence that we should be left out now).

I bet the OU alum that no one in the Big 12 makes the Elite 8. I think he's delusional enough I could've pushed him to two or three teams at straight up odds and he would've taken it.

Iowas State is the best bet to go Elite 8...IMO. No way Oklahoma should be a 3 seed. I disagree with the NIT comment. At 28-4 there is no way we should be in the NIT. So...if we beat KU, will they contend we are better? KU did win the Big 12 and OU did not.

[another shocker]

Iowas State is the best bet to go Elite 8...IMO. No way Oklahoma should be a 3 seed. I disagree with the NIT comment. At 28-4 there is no way we should be in the NIT. So...if we beat KU, will they contend we are better? KU did win the Big 12 and OU did not.

ou 3 seed, bad enough.. and somehow ucla made the cut.. but the worst of all HOW DID OKLAHOMA STATE AT 18-13 get an at-large?! p5 is rubbing out the non-football schools.

[FlyingWheat]

I don't have anywhere else to rant about this, so I'm putting it here.

I have to deal with an OU alum and a Duke alum on a daily basis. They both told me today that WSU is the most overseeded team in the tournament. They said WSU should be in the NIT and that if it hadn't been for the Final Four we wouldn't have made the tournament (sidenote: I think it's possible prior to the Final Four run this team goes to the NIT, but I think that's a sign of a broken system and not evidence that we should be left out now).

I bet the OU alum that no one in the Big 12 makes the Elite 8. I think he's delusional enough I could've pushed him to two or three teams at straight up odds and he would've taken it.

RPI don't lie

[Rlh04d]

I don't have anywhere else to rant about this, so I'm putting it here.

I have to deal with an OU alum and a Duke alum on a daily basis. They both told me today that WSU is the most overseeded team in the tournament. They said WSU should be in the NIT and that if it hadn't been for the Final Four we wouldn't have made the tournament (sidenote: I think it's possible prior to the Final Four run this team goes to the NIT, but I think that's a sign of a broken system and not evidence that we should be left out now).

I bet the OU alum that no one in the Big 12 makes the Elite 8. I think he's delusional enough I could've pushed him to two or three teams at straight up odds and he would've taken it.

Compare our resume this year to the resume of the Final Four year (thus prior to the Final Four run and its benefits):

2013: 26-8, 38 RPI, 63 Noncon SOS, 102 SOS, 2-2 vs RPI Top 25, 3-2 vs RPI Top 50, 8-5 vs RPI Top 100, 5-1 Neutral, 7-5 Road, three bad losses
2015: 28-4, 17 RPI, 61 Noncon SOS, 120 SOS, 1-2 vs RPI Top 25, 2-2 vs RPI Top 50, 7-4 vs RPI Top 100, 3-2 Neutral, 10-2 Road, no bad losses (outside top 100)

Differences: 2015 season had a better record, far better RPI, slightly worse overall SOS, one less top 25 win, worse neutral record, better road record, and no bad losses, compared to three that year. The three sub-top 100 RPI losses easily eliminate the one extra top 25 RPI win.

You could also compare it to the year prior, which was a weaker resume than this year in every way except SOS (we had a terrific #16 noncon SOS that year), but got us a 5 seed.

No chance we would have ever been worse than a 9 seed, in any year, before or after the Final Four. This is the second best regular season under Marshall, and far better than the years we missed the tournament.

[jdshock]

RPI don't lie

Neither do Sagarin, KenPom, or BPI. According to all of them we were underseeded.

I decided to look up today what top-25 wins the Big 12 has other than in conference wins. I took the top 25 teams according to KenPom that were not Big 12 teams (so I ended up having to go down to team 28 or 29 or something). All of the teams in the Big 12 combined only have neutral court wins over Butler and Iowa and away wins at Iowa and Georgetown. Georgetown sucks and UNI has a win over Iowa too. If anyone in the Big 12 gives you crap about our conference, let them know they didn't do anything more to prove themselves outside of conference over MVC teams other than get beat by 40 by UK. The Big 12 does also have home wins against Utah, Michigan St, and Arkansas. UNI and WSU did not have the privilege of having any of those teams come to our home arenas to get beat.

This is the conference that analysts have been drooling over all season! The ACC had just as bad of a record against the top 25 kenpom teams that weren't acc teams. The ACC had 3 losses to Providence alone! The ACC was something like 8 and 13 out of conference against those teams with a total margin of victory of -113.

[wu_shizzle]

Yeah, I've already seen numerous comments from KU fans to the effect of "I'd rather get beat by New Mexico State than Wichita State".

I have a feeling Self would as well.

2 losing to a 15 can always claim it was a fluke and KU was hobbled by injury.

They are the weakest 2, and I don't think they match up well with NMST.

[CBB_Fan]

If we want to play the comparison game, how about a few blind resumes with win percentages instead of W/L? There is one 3, one 4, one 5, one 6, and one 7 among the teams.

A: RPI 25, SOS 11, OOC RPI 19, OOC SOS 12. 17% vs top 25, 38% against 26-50, 100% 51-100. KenPom 22, 41 offense / 25 defense.
B: RPI 32, SOS 30, OOC RPI 62, OOC SOS 135. 33% vs top 25, 60% versus 26-50, 50% vs 51-100. KenPom 23, 61 offense / 10 defense.
C: RPI 16, SOS 99, OOC RPI 15, OOC SOS 48. 33% vs top 25, 100% vs 26-50, 71% versus 51-100. KenPom 14, 20 offense / 15 defense
D: RPI 19, SOS 57, OOC RPI 14, OOC SOS 45. 33% vs top 25, 100% vs 26-50, 66% vs 51-100. KenPom 29, 21 offense / 81 defense.
E: RPI 10, SOS 3, OOC RPI 10, OOC SOS 24. 60% vs top 25, 40% vs 26-50, 75% vs 51-100. KenPom 15, 13 offense / 33 defense

Personally, I'd put these at E > C > B ~= D > A. Which teams do you think got which seeds?

EDIT:
A was 4 seed Georgetown
B was 6 seed Butler
C was 7 seed Wichita State
D was 5 seed Arkansas
E was 3 seed Baylor

Just goes to show how much a little conference affiliation can buy you. It should not matter if you play a ton of top teams if you beat them; all that proves is that you CANNOT beat good teams. Our resume was easily equal to most of the 4 seeds, maybe even the lowest 3s. So was UNI's.