Some are calling the matchup between No. 1 Wichita State Shockers and No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats from the Midwest Region the best game of the NCAA Tournament thus far. That’s lofty praise considering the first four days of the tournament provided much excitement, including five jaw-dropping overtime games — more OT games than the entirety of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
While I wholeheartedly agree that the matchup between the previously undefeated Wichita State (35-0) and Kentucky (25-10) was a great back-and-forth basketball game, I am more inclined to call it the most influential (saddest?) game of the NCAA Tournament. I might even goes as far to say that it was a turning point for the college basketball as a whole.
The game, which featured the top defensive rebounding team in the tournament, Wichita State, and the top offensive rebounding team in the tournament, Kentucky, became a war-of-attrition that saw 14 lead changes.
The Shockers overpowered the Wildcats in the first half, taking a 37-31 lead into the break. However, Kentucky ultimately dethroned the team-with-a-dream 78-76 to earn a trip to face No. 4 Louisville in the Sweet 16 this weekend. Wichita State had the chance to remain unblemished with a last-second-three-point heave from the Missouri Valley Player of the Year Ron Baker that fell just short. The dream was over. Forever.
So what’s the big deal? The game was much more than your typical No. 1 seed versus No. 8 seed Round of 32 matchup. It was a matchup between a traditional powerhouse with a rich history of greatness in college basketball and a mid-major team that had put itself back on the map after an improbable run to the Final Four in 2013 as a No. 9 seed. There was the contrasting style of the youthful, inexperienced and highly touted NBA-minded prospects of Kentucky against the mature, experienced and under-recruited believers of Wichita on a mission to prove all the naysayers wrong.
The Kentucky men’s basketball program’s list of accolades and achievements is quite extensive. Historically speaking, it is the elite college basketball destination for players and coaches alike, competing with Kansas, Duke, UNC and UCLA for top talent. The program holds the record for most all-time wins at 2,135, highest winning percentage (76.1%) and total NCAA Tournament appearances (53) in college basketball history. It is a runner-up to only UCLA in terms of NCAA Championships with 8 titles.
Kentucky first ascended to prominence under coach Adolph Rupp (1930-1972) who won 4 NCAA titles. It’s success continued under famous coaches Joe Hall, Eddie Sutton and Rick Pitino who is the current Louisville coach. While “Tubby” Smith had some success at the helm, Kentucky failed to remain the iconic program of college basketball at the turn of the century until they lured John Calipari from Memphis to be the head coach in 2009.
Previously, Calipari led UMass Amherst to the Final Four in 1996 and Memphis to the Final Four in 2008. Known for being the top-recruiter in college basketball, he quickly led Kentucky to the Final Four in 2011 before winning his first National Championship in 2012 — its first since 1998. In the process, Calipari became one of two coaches, the other being former Kentucky coach Pitino, to lead 3 different schools to the Final Four. However, Calipari’s Final Four appearances with UMass and Memphis were later vacated due NCAA violations he committed.
On the other hand, the Wichita State men’s basketball program has a much shorter list of accolades. The Shockers reached the Final Four in 1965 under coach Gary Thompson after earning the schools first ever No. 1 national ranking. After this impressive run, Wichita only reached the NCAA Tournament six times from 1965 to 2012. After a long hiatus, coach Greg Marshall has propelled the Shockers back onto the national stage. Marshall earned an NCAA berth in his fifth season in 2012 before leading the Wichita back to the promise-land that is the Final Four in 2013 as a No. 9 seed, where Wichita defeated No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 7 Ohio State, the No. 20 Pittsburgh and La Salle to earn the most unexpected Final Four run since Butler in 2010 and 2011. The Pitino-coached Louisville Cardinals eventually upended them on their road to a title.
Calipari’s success at recruiting, fine-tuning and coaching top college basketball recruits into NBA-ready players at Memphis attracted NBA-minded players to Kentucky. At Memphis, Calipari recruited Derrick Rose, the first overall pick in the 2008, then Tyreke Evans, who went fourth overall in the 2009 draft.
Not surprisingly, top recruits wanted a piece of Calipari’s magic when he moved to Kentucky. John Wall came to Kentucky for a single season before going first overall in the 2010 draft. Similarly, Demarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe came for a single season before going in the early first round of the draft. Similarly, in 2012 four of Calipari’s players went in the first round of the draft after again just one season: Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague.
Kentucky quickly became a pit stop before the NBA for highly recruited players. Against Wichita State Kentucky started five freshman, all of which are expected to declare for the NBA draft after the season. Many criticize Kentucky for becoming a pre-professional program rather than a college basketball program that develops young talent into well-rounded basketball players and people.
Kentucky has become the poster-child for the “one and done” era; they are the symbol of what college basketball has become. Meanwhile, Wichita State is the symbol of what college basketball used to be. Unlike Kentucky, Wichita State is a program that can’t recruit the talent that a top-tier school attracts. They build from the ground up, developing players over time to maximize their skill sets. Seniors lead the Shockers, but they have players from all classes contributing, as they started two seniors, one junior and two sophomores for most of the season. Their main contributors off the bench are two seniors and a junior. Due to strong coaching and team building, Wichita State was able to replace key contributors from last year’s cindarella Final Four team.
Throughout the game, I found myself torn between choosing the team that I picked in my March Madness bracket (Kentucky) and the team that I was rooting for deep down for the sake of college basketball (Wichita State).
I just couldn’t root for Kentucky: the group of all freshman and a couple sophomores who were hoping to stave off one more game before the NBA draft. In my mind, Wichita State is the great hope for the sport. They were a team on a mission from a mid-major conference and the first team to enter the tournament undefeated since UNLV in the 1990-1991 season.
I am as big of March Madness fan as they come and seeing the team I picked win always makes me happy. This time was different though. Something didn’t feel right about seeing youthfulness triumph over experience and a commitment to college basketball. The “one and done” strategy shouldn’t best the “bring in and build up” strategy, and it feels wrong for a the powerhouse to top the mid-major team with a dream. When Wichita State lost, college basketball did too.
Totally agree with your hypothesis and was also rooting for Wichita State. Kentucky is a basketball factory, a direct pipeline to the pros, with just an overnight stop of one year. But while college basketball fans may have an emotional disconnect to the current system, it all comes down to the financial rewards of playing in the NBA. And even though we pretend big-time college sports is more "pure" because the athletes don't get paid, the fact is sports like football and basketball generate millions of dollars in revenue for the schools. The only ones not benefitting from this bonanza are the players.
The NBA has proposed raising the age limit from 19 t0 20 and yesterday's ruling allowing Northwestern University's scholarship athletes to from a union may be a game changer in all this, but it will have a long way to go to have a major effect on the current system. To quote from a recent article in Forbes Magazine, "Changing the NBA’s age limit for entry into its draft will not happen overnight. This is due to the fact that because it is a condition of employment, labor law says that the age limit must be collectively bargained. Thus, Silver and the NBA will not be able to self-impose any change in the age limit. Seeing as the NBPA is currently without an executive director, this is unlikely to be a change that will be instituted swiftly, as the two sides will not be able to collectively bargain."
March Madness is a unique phenomena, where major powerhouses with star underclassmen who are headed to the NBA as fast as they can get there, are matched up against schools who have more athletes who have to stay longer and grow with the program (and most of them will not play in the NBA). One of the great thrills this year is seeing so many upsets by these smaller schools and I wish Wichita State won have taken Kentucky down, but as the field shrinks from 16 to 8 to 4 to 2, it's unlikely any of these underdogs will survive. Just the nature of the NCAA beast.
Lastly, this whole billion dollar bracketology thing flew out the door by day two of the tournament. Warren Buffett is no fool.