The NCAA tournament is stressful, OK? “And we play in the best conference, the ACC”.
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Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall warned everybody the NCAA selection committee underseeded.
Arizona coach Sean Miller watched VanVleet and Baker frazzle his guards and ruin his offense. Tired by a game with Vanderbilt, one that didn’t finish until almost midnight, the tiring routine of travel soon wore down the energy of the team whether they wanted it or not. Now of course some of those numbers from the season could be skewed by some of the weaker teams in the Missouri Valley, but it isn’t like that rugged defense hasn’t carried through in the NCAA Tournament.
“This time of year I could stay up all day, it doesn’t matter”, he said. If not for a couple of poor performances against Colorado and UCLA, this team would have just 6 losses and may have finished inside the top 10.
“We really needed him, and his athleticism of guarding the stretch 5 and the stretch 4 guys”, Miami center Tonye Jekiri said “On the offensive end, we always needed him to score a lot”.
Wichita State’s senior backcourt of Baker and VanVleet, who were part of the Shockers’ 2013 Final Four team, led the way in that one, combining for a triple double (28 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists). We’re hoping we can get one more victory tomorrow afternoon. As sophomores, they went 35-0 before falling to Kentucky when VanVleet’s last-second 3-pointer missed.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – It didn’t take long for Wichita State to send a message to Arizona that the Wildcats were in for a long night.
“We took care of our business and we have stuff to do”, Michigan State senior forward Matt Costello said this week after his team won the Big Ten Tournament.
We’re going to need a bigger boat. Arizona, on the other hand, has been up and down throughout the regular season, before falling in OT to OR in the Pac 12 tournament.
“I think we leave here with our head held high”, Miller said.
The Shockers forced 19 turnovers they converted into 22 points.
HOW ABOUT SOME RESPECT: Miami is the third seed, but it’s a 2.5-point underdog to Wichita State. “They love to win”, Tarczewski said. Wichita State was severely under-seeded and there’s a reason why it was actually the favorite heading into the game. Fred and Ron really run their team, so it’s going to be a huge game tomorrow.
Wichita State pretty much dominated in every facet of the game. He is one of only five SEC coaches to win 300 or more games at one school along with Adolph Rupp at Kentucky, Billy Donovan at Florida and Dale Brown and Harry Rabenhorst at LSU. “But we’re not, either, so it’ll be a great match-up”.
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ARIZONA: Was ranked 17th in the most recent AP poll.
