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A series of “This Day in History” posts from Wichita State’s 1989 College World Series championship team.
The game: WSU 8, Texas Tech 4
The skinny: WSU scored four runs helped by two Texas Tech errors in the sixth inning. Jim Audley’s two-run double put WSU ahead 7-3.
The quote: “Good teams take advantage of breaks. This is a very good team.,” WSU coach Gene Stephenson.
WSU’s record: 17-1
Big picture: WSU won its 17th straight for the best start in the program history.
Don’t take geography lessons from the CBI. The CBI certainly wins the reputation game with the CIT. From that standpoint, WSU got the better deal.
Midwest
Boise State at Stanford
Buffalo at Wichita State
South
UTEP at Nevada
Northeastern at Wyoming
West
Houston at Oregon State
Vermont at Green Bay
East
St. John’s at Richmond
College of Charleston at Troy
Numerous media reports put the guarantee required for the CBI at $60,000. The CIT guarantee is $28,500.
Here is some news: The CollegeInsider.com Tournament field is out. Bradley, Drake and Evansville are in. I don’t see any teams I pegged as likely WSU CBI opponents.
Rider (19-12) at Liberty (22-11)
Austin Peay (19-13) at Bradley (18-14)
Kent State (19-14) at Oakland (22-12)
The Citadel (20-12) at Old Dominion (21-10)
Mount St. Mary’s (19-13) at James Madison (19-14)
Belmont (19-12) at Evansville (17-13)
Portland (19-12) at Pacific (19-11)
Drake (17-15) at Idaho (16-15)
John Feinstein of The Washington Post offers a defense of the mid-majors. As of this morning, ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi has Creighton in. It will be a tremendous blow to the ego and prestige of the Valley if its co-champion with 26 wins can’t earn an at-large bid. That is not supposed to happen.
Lunardi did slap down Digger Phelps earlier today on ESPN during a Creighton vs. Arizona discussion. There’s no way of knowing if Creighton is better than BCS bubble teams such as Arizona, Maryland and Penn State. I would say this: I would have no fear of sending the Bluejays to play those teams on a neutral floor. The most interesting thing Lunardi said was that mid-major teams seeded in the double digits in the NCAA Tournament (not sure of his exact range) are slightly more successful than average teams from the BCS conferences. That would be interesting data to see.
This debate is never ending. People such as Phelps will say “Who did they play?” People who follow conferences such as the MVC will reply “Come and play us.”
I’m saying:
NCAA - UNI and Creighton
NIT - Illinois State, Bradley
CBI or CIT - WSU, Evansville. Maybe Drake.
Wichita State will play a College Basketball Invitational game on Tuesday or Wednesday. Coach Gregg Marshall and his team owe Shocker fans one big thank you. Last season, the CBI didn’t include a team with an RPI ranking lower than No. 129. WSU checks in with a No. 157 and a 16-16 record. While there is competition (from the CollegeInsider.com Tournament) that may dilute the field this season, it seems clear WSU is in this field largely because of the 10,000-plus that fill Koch Arena. The 10-5 record in the final weeks helped, no doubt. The team did its part by finishing strong. The fans did their part season after season, allowing WSU to flex its financial muscle and keep playing.
This is a win-win-win for Marshall and WSU. The team gets to practice and play at least one more game. WSU has a chance to finish with a winning record. Coaches can sell post-season on the recruiting trail as evidence of improvement. For a team picked ninth in the MVC in the preseason, this is all good stuff.
WSU finds out its opponent late Sunday night, supposedly. Let’s do some guessing after eliminating NCAA and NIT teams. The CBI pairs things up geographically. Here are some possibilities:
WSU isn’t the only team looking forward to the CBI. Other schools mentioned as CBI options:
A series of “This Day in History” posts from Wichita State’s 1989 College World Series championship team.
The game: WSU 11, ORU 2
The skinny: Catcher Eric Wedge homered and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
The quote: “We’ve been very patient. We waited on a lot of pitches, recognized a lot of breaking balls, and recognized the ones that were good to hit,” WSU coach Gene Stephenson said.
WSU’s record: 10-1
Big picture: WSU hit .364 and scored 150 runs in its 10 wins.
Final: CU 63, WSU 62. Here’s the explanation from MVC commissioner Doug Elgin. The officials, using a stopwatch, determined the clock started around .4 seconds late. They also determined Woodfox’s shot would have beaten the buzzer even if the clock started on time.
“We looked at in the truck and it was clear to us the shot left the shooter’s hand between 1.0 and 0.9 left,” Elgin said. “We took a stopwatch to the inbounding of the ball from the time the ball was touched to the time the clock started. The clock clearly started late, there’s no doubt about that. We determined there was at least 0.4 differential between the end of the game and when the shot left the hand. The shot was before the expiration of time (had the clock started properly).”
1.9 remaining: WSU 62, CU 61. Murry with a three from the corner. Officials are checking to see how much time is left after the ball went out of bounds off a Shocker. Perhaps less than a second. CU ball under the basket.
9.1 remaining: CU 61, WSU 59. Ellis missed. Clemente grabbed the rebound on the floor and called timeout. Shocker ball.
12.2 remaining: CU 61, WSU 59. Aaron Ellis is at the line for a one-and-one. Quite a dramatic turn here. The Jays are not closing well.
18.9 remaining: CU 61, WSU 59
1:45 remaining: CU 59, WSU 53. The Jays let up and the Shockers kept coming. Nice effort.
5:57 remaining: CU 55, WSU 41. Dreams of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament are fading. That tournament requires teams to have a winning record against DI competition. WSU will not, assuming no miracle here.
10:52 remaining: CU 49, WSU 31. Even when Jays slow up, WSU isn’t good enough to take advantage.
15:52 remaining: CU 47, WSU 25. WSU is in danger of getting embarrassed, if it isn’t already. No let up in the Jays. Woodfox has nine points in the second half. For the first time in a long time, the Shockers look lost. They have no answers.
Halftime: CU 36, WSU 23. Jays looked very sharp, very much like the best team in the MVC. I think that is the consensus and nothing they did in the first half disproved that. Booker Woodfox has given them no points (0 for 5), yet they are up 13 on WSU. Graham Hatch is WSU’s bright spot. He has 10 points. Other than him, no Shocker is getting anything going. This is, in worst-case scenario, a good lesson for WSU. They are seeing an example of a team turning it up a notch in March.
WSU is 7 of 26 from the field and Hatch has three of those baskets. CU is 13 of 29. Ten turnovers by WSU is another problem.
3:54 remaining: CU 27, WSU 18. With Durley on the bench with two fouls, WSU’s offense is impotent. The Shockers need his inside threat.
7:46 remaining: CU 25, WSU 16. Are you taking your role as yell leader too seriously when your outfit includes two sweatbands and batting gloves? Is clapping that hard on the hands?
11:52 remaining: CU 13, WSU 10. Nice answer by WSU. The Shockers need to ride out Creighton’s emotion for as long as possible.
13:18 remaining: CU 13, WSU 5. Great start by the Jays. Their defense is dominating. Their crowd hasn’t sat down. The Shockers need to find a way to score quick. Right now, WSU is seeing what an NCAA Tournament-quality team looks like.
WSU starters – Durley, Clemente, Hannah, Murry, Hawkins. CU - Lawson, Carter, Stinnett, Dotzler, Woodfox.
Bad crowd. Lots of CU fans. Good representation from WSU. Nobody else is here.
Lots of pressure on Creighton. None on WSU. I don’t know if it will matter. Both teams are better than they were in the regular-season meetings. That probably gives the edge to the Bluejays. Their big men are playing better. Justin Carter and Antoine Young are contributing more. The Jay must think they need to win to make the NCAA Tournament (whether or not that is actually the case). That can be quite a burden.