Ho Hum - Shox Win Another - Now 12-0

[Wufan]

You are at least, at least third in line when it comes to mid majors..Butler(although they changed conference this year, I wonder if you would call them BCS? IF you did you would have to call Creighton BCS and that would hurt) and Gonzaga and probably Memphis.

BCS is a football term which stands for "Bowl Championsip Series.". The BCS is specific to FBS schools, the highest and most expensive classification of NCAA football. Neither Butler nor Creighton play FBS football, and in fact they both joined the remnants of a league that rejected football all together and purposefully removed FBS football members. BCS is not an appropriate term for Creighton, Butler, Gonzaga, or WSU. While Memphis plays FBS football, they are not in a BCS conference.

Now, please continue.

[2livewu]

Given the weakness of the valley I could see a 16-2 type valley year. Sucks we wont get to see them play a top 20 team until march madness. Carter and Lufile have to continue to progress if WSU is to compete with the big boys.

Let's be clear about something:

WSU is 42-12 against the MVC the last 3 seasons. If just Baker is healthy, there is no loss to the Aces, SIU or UNI, teams clearly not on the same planet as WSU.

16-2 was more like a healthy WSU last year, and of course they were 16-2 the previous year. Both seasons the Valley was stronger than it is this season, and I don't know too many people that would argue that the 13-14 WSU team isn't the best of the 3.

My point is simply that the gap between WSU and the rest of the Valley (especially the rest of the Valley sans ISU) is wider, perhaps a lot wider, than the previous 3 seasons. Now, I don't think the results will be that much different and 16-2 or 15-3 will most likely be the end record, but that's more due to the anomalies associated with large numbers, and not the relative strength or weakness of the teams.

[CBB_Fan]

I think it is important to note that Wichita State hasn't faced a single "elite" team. That is a big reason why they have aren't ranked higher, and a part of why they are undefeated. This isn't necessarily because Wichita State wanted this schedule, because we tried hard to improve it. Being forced into the CBE tournament on a bad year hurt, as did losing out on a one-off game in Texas against LSU.

All that aside though, here are some other Top 10 schedules:

Louisville:
vs Charleston (W)
vs Hofstra (W)
vs Cornell (W)
vs Fairfield (W)
vs North Carolina (neutral) (L)
vs Southern Miss (W)
vs UMKC (W)
vs Louisiana-Lafeyette (W)
vs Western Kentucky (W)
vs Missouri State (W)
@ FIU (W)

Ohio State
vs Morgan St (W)
vs Ohio (W)
@ Marquette (W)
vs American (W)
vs Wyoming (W)
vs North Florida (W)
vs Maryland (W)
vs Central Connecticut (W)
vs Bryant (W)
vs North Dakota State (W)
vs Delaware (W)
vs Notre Dame (neutral) (W)

The point is that a lot of the teams in the Top 10 have much weaker OOC schedules than Wichita State does, with tons of home games against walk-overs (Wichita State has played 5 games outside of Wichita, 3 of those being true road games). Kansas, Wisconsin, and Michigan State have good schedules, but that isn't true for every top team.

[Aargh]

The MVC is the #11 rpi conference with an rpi of .5147. That's not the MVC that WSU plays, because you have to remove WSU's rpi from the Valley's to get the rpi that WSU faces in league play.

Without WSU, conference rpi drops to 14th. That puts the Valley just below the Horizon League and just above the depleted CAA. William & Mary is currently 2nd in the CAA and that was one of the Shox buy games this year.

Other than WSU, the Valley is collectively below the Horizon League. And just above a league where WSU paid the second-place team ~$80K to come to Wichita for a game. It's time for some other schools to step up and represent. That ain't gonna happen this year.

[rlh04d]

I'm really bored with every thread about WSU turning into fans of other teams trying to find something to pick at.

There are ten teams in this conference. Only one of them is selling out games, playing high profile games, getting on TV, and bringing any level of attention to the conference.

Let's stop deflecting attention from what truly matters here: the inability of the other programs to carry their weight. And the inability of the fans of those programs to give their teams the resources to win.

You're not mad at WSU. You're mad at the failures of your programs. Until you can acknowledge that we just keep going in circles.

What WSU's success this year is maskijg is what no one wants to acknowledge: if WSU was having a historically average nonconference season, the MVC would be a joke this year. The bottom keeps getting worse. We are fighting to hang onto top ten conference level right now ... but without WSU's success, this is barely a top 15 conference now.

There is a severe long term problem the MVC is looking at, and it doesn't look like it's going to change. WSU's success is masking it.

[PantherSigEp]

Not sure how anyone can call WSU's schedule soft. They have played some good teams and beat all of them. Are we really bagging on them because they have been better than every team they faced? St. Louis and BYU will both likely end up in the top 25 or at the very least the tournament.

[xsaluki]

I believe the Shocks are playing like a legit top 10 team, watch them play and it is apparent
I also agree that there is a serious issue with the MVC outside of WSU
I also hate that my team sucks a s s

However, I also believe WSU's success has bred a new group of super-sized bandwagon douches. Most teams with success can't avoid it.

That is all.

[Snaggletooth]

However, I also believe WSU's success has bred a new group of super-sized bandwagon douches. Most teams with success can't avoid it.

You can call Shocker fans whatever name makes you feel better, but we are not "bandwagon" fans. Even when we were in the abyss the fans stood by the program and drew at attendance level well above any MVC schools this year.

[Aargh]

Wait until WSU loses a game. That always brings out the "I knew the Shox weren't that good" posters who claim to be WSU fans.

It can be very difficult to tolerate the posters of a top-10 team. Some of us will let the team's accomplishments speak for the Shox. We will be outnumbered by the others.

[xsaluki]

However, I also believe WSU's success has bred a new group of super-sized bandwagon douches. Most teams with success can't avoid it.

You can call Shocker fans whatever name makes you feel better, but we are not "bandwagon" fans. Even when we were in the abyss the fans stood by the program and drew at attendance level well above any MVC schools this year.

Ok, if there are no bandwagon fans then the term must apply to all You win.