2:06 remaining: WSU 69, CU 61. Mistakes. CU is back in it. WSU must handle pressure and make free throws.

3:45 remaining: WSU 67, CU 54. Hannah with a big three of an inbound play. Shocker ball. WSU doesn’t need a whole lot more points. They need to run clock and avoid turnovers. Murry is 5 of 18 from the field with at least two ill-advised threes. He wants to put the dagger in a little too badly. WSU up 42-20 on the boards. Creighton up 19-6 at the line.

7:55 remaining: WSU 57, CU 47. WSU is in the double bonus. It can win this game at the line – if it can make free throws. CU is making un-CUlike mistakes. Its youth shows up on the road.

10:50 remaining: WSU 54, CU 43. WSU has done a nice job of breaking the press and scoring. Hatch is at the line to complete a three-point play when play resumes. He took a pass and steamed up the sidelines for a basket and foul. Woodfox with seven straight points for the Jays.

11:39 remaining: WSU 52, CU 40. Woodfox with four straight points. Shockers can’t take a break or he is capable of shooting CU right back in the game.

15:50 remaining: WSU 42, CU 32. CU’s Kenton Walker is back after taking a nasty fall in the first half.

17:53 remaining: WSU 40, CU 28. A scene rarely seen at CKA. Creighton coach Dana Altman desperately calling a timeout to shut off the WSU momentum. A dunk on the break by Hawkins gets the crowd roaring again. Stutz has three fouls for WSU. Foul trouble is worth watching for the Shockers. Clemente and Durley each have two.

Halftime: WSU 31, CU 21. Good work by the Shockers, except for 11 turnovers. CU, despite playing poorly, is in good shape down 10. The Jays shot 6 of 26. We’ve seen this many times before with a big Shocker lead against Creighton. WSU must play as well or better in the second half. It did rediscover the energy needed to win. The Shockers outhustled the Jays at almost every opportunity.

WSU is 13 of 28 from the floor and 5 of 10 from three. WSU with 26 rebounds, CU with 12. Murry leads WSU with 10 points. Aaron Ellis has six points, six rebounds and a block. He is looking more solid each game. Booker Woodfox leads CU with five points.

3:44 remaining: WSU 27, CU 15. Jays are 4 of 23, 1 of 7 from three. WSU with 24 rebounds. CU with nine.

6:20 remaining: WSU 22, CU 13. Great hustle play by Hawkins and Ellis gives WSU a possession it shouldn’t have had and leads to a three by Hannah.

7:36 remaining: WSU 19, CU 13. Marshall is on the officials hard. We will see if it is too hard. He is fortunate Gene Grimshaw either has a slow trigger or believes he made a bad foul call on WSU’s Aaron Ellis. Ten turnovers for WSU, most of them unforced. The Shockers can’t win this game at that pace. CU is 4 of 21 from the field and only down six.

11:26 to play: WSU 13, CU 5. Two straight turnovers and a missed three by WSU. The Shockers are on the aggressive and they need to take advantage. CU is 2 of 15 from the field, 0 of 5 from three. I can’t see that lasting all afternoon. Five turnovers by WSU. WSU 15 rebounds to CU’s five.

15:19 to play: WSU 8, CU 3. Almost a full house and the Shockers are getting the fans in the game. Stutz and Murry with threes.

CU starters - Carter, Stinnett, Dotzler, Woodfox, Lawson. WSU - Hannah, Clemente, Murry, Hawkins, Stutz.

People talk a lot about parity in the MVC. Northern Iowa may be laughing at that. After today’s rout at Drake, the Panthers are 4-0 in MVC games on the road with wins at Creighton, SIU, Evansville and Drake. The Panthers are 6-1 in the MVC. They may be hard to catch.

Here, the story is obvious. WSU desperately needs a win, against a team it usually can’t beat under the best of circumstances. Failing winning, the Shockers desperately need to play hard. Shocker fans will forgive a lot. They will not forgive a team that doesn’t hustle.

37.7 remaining: DU 72, WSU 69. Hook by Durley. How much can Drake run off?

52.3 remaining: DU 72, WSU 67. What is it about Drake’s matchup zone? The Bulldogs don’t appear to be playing tough defense in the sense of in-your-face-grind-it-out defense. But it works against an opponent that is indecisive. Durley turned his back. Templeton made the steal. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.

1:53 remaining: DU 67, WSU 67. Not sure I loved that three by Murry. Give the Shockers tons of credit for coming back. Hannah has tied WSU’s record for threes without a miss. Chad Elstun and Ryan Herrs are the others.

3:55 remaining: DU 67, WSU 59. The Bulldogs seem to rebounding better, which was WSU’s big edge. Drake shut down Murry and Hannah in the second half. Murry has not scored. Hannah has three points. WSU is 6 of 18 from the field in the second half after making 14 of 21 in the first half. The turnover count is at 20.

7:50 remaining: DU 59, WSU 55. WSU is starting to get some baskets inside with Durley against the zone. He has eight points.

11:23 remaining: DU 52, WSU 49. Turnovers continue to mount. Drake is in the bonus, which may be the biggest stat of the game. The Bulldogs are going to drive the ball, draw fouls and make free throws the rest of the game. WSU has 18 turnovers. The matchup zone invites you to make mistakes and WSU is obliging.

15:12 remaining: WSU 45, DU 42. Nightmare start for WSU.Three turnovers. Miss. Two more turnovers.Drake takes a 42-40 lead. WSU comes back on a basket by Mantas and Hannah’s fifth three. Hannah is 5 for 5, one away from equaling WSU’s accuracy record.

Here’s the list on shots in the final seconds of the half against WSU:

• Centenary – Nick Stallings, three, 3 seconds to play
• Siena – Erik Harris, layup, 2 seconds
• Texas Tech – John Roberson, three, 8 seconds
• Gardner-Webb – Aaron Linn, jumper, buzzer
• Creighton – Josh Dotzler, layup, 1 second
• Drake – Josh Parker, three, 1 second

Halftime: WSU 40, DU 36. Bad final minute spoiled the half a bit. Parker three against a zone. Durley walks for no reason. Parker three at the buzzer, another in a continuing series. For 19 minutes, however, nice work by WSU. Making shots makes everything else easier. They didn’t fold when things got tough. Despite the 12 turnovers, they made some nice passes against the Drake zone. Defense looked good until the final minutes. Josh Young, guarded mostly by Murry, is 2 of 7 for eight points. WSU will take that. Murry leads WSU with 18, one away from his career high. Hannah has 14. Will somebody else help in the second half?

3:03 remaining: WSU 34, DU 28. The Shockers have had some nice 18-minutes halves, then failed to finish strong. Hannah is at the line when we return. WSU is giving Drake some problems, a welcome switch for the Shockers. Making 7 of 10 threes never hurts.

6:54 remaining: WSU 26, DU 22. DU’s Josh Parker will be at the line. The Bulldogs are going to try to drive it and use their quickness. Parker on WSU’s Aaron Ellis is a quickness mismatch. WSU is 10 of 14 from the field and 6 of 9 from three. Hannah is 4 for 4. Drake is staying in it at the line – 5 of 7. WSU has no free throws. WSU eight fouls. DU two. A.J. Hawkins picked up three in four minutes.

7:06 remaining: WSU 26, DU 20. Nice response by the Shockers. Things went bad and they held it together.

11:56 remaining: WSU 15, DU 13. The Shockers came out with more emotion and aggressiveness in the early minutes. Now their mistakes are starting to hurt. Three turnovers in their past four possessions and none of them the result of any great pressure defense.

13:55 remaining: WSU 12, DU 8. Hawkins and Clemente are in.

15:48 remaining: WSU 10, DU 5. Murry has eight of WSU’s points on two threes and a layup. WSU can’t ask for much more than this start. Murry is also guarding Josh Young and doing an admirable job.

It is a late-arriving crowd at the Knapp Center for a Sunday night game.

WSU will start Hatch, Griskenas, Durley, Hannah and Murry. Why not? The three new starters earned it with their play on Wednesday. WSU can surround Durley with some shooters and maybe that helps the offense. Maybe Hawkins, Clemente and Stutz come off the bench and get favorable matchups. It is certainly worth a try.

• Athletic director Eric Sexton said WSU’s cumulative GPA of 3.18 for the fall semester is the highest in the department’s history. I’ve always thought book-learnin’ was overrated, but apparently Sexton is pretty happy about that stat.
• The “this day in WSU history” tally is impressive for Jan. 11. Warren Jabali 22 points and 23 rebounds vs. Drake in 1986. Terry Benton 23 and 28 vs. Loyola-Chicago in 1971. Michael Wiggins 10-of-10 shooting vs. Drake in 1993.
• Johnny Coy and family are here. By now, he should be able to give admissions tours at both schools.

“It better be good Wednesday night for us to have a chance,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “They’re going to shoot the ball and they’re going to shoot from the perimeter.”

Bradley guard Sam Maniscalco led the Braves with 18 points against SIU. He made 3 of 6 threes. The Braves are shooting just 31.1 percent from behind the arc. Their 241 threes rank sixth in the Valley. Last season, with Jeremy Crouch, Daniel Ruffin and a healthy Andrew Warren, Bradley led the MVC wtih a 925 threes and made 37.4 percent at a shorter distance.

“Nice win to start the conference season, a convincing win at home against SIU,” Marshall said. “Maniscalco played very well, shot the ball in. Theron Wilson is doing his thing, offensive rebounding, giving them energy. Very similar to Ramon Clemente, but more skilled. He can hit the three.”

• WSU practiced Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Garrett Stutz looks healthier after a bout with a virus.
• Three of Bradley’s five losses are to Florida, Michigan State and Butler. One is to UMKC. One is at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Marshall declined to talk more about his comments after Sunday’s loss at Creighton, other than to make it clear he had not changed his mind. He took issue with the Bluejays running what he said was a lob play in the final seconds of that game. He didn’t want to address it, other than say his feelings about the play had not changed. You can listen to his post-game interview here. Those podcasts from an Omaha radio station also include host Matt Perrault ripping Marshall for the comments. Perrault and Marshall have a history that dates to last season, when they conducted an interview that neither walked away from looking great. Perrault bungled some questions. Marshall did the interview on speaker-phone, which stinks for the listeners, and clearly wanted no part of the session. Now Perrault has a major mad-on for Marshall, which I guess is to be expected from a talk-radio host in a rival Valley city. Here is what Marshall said on his post-game show:

“They ran the lob-dunk play. I’m filing that one away. One of these days, that will come back to haunt them, I just believe. They ran a lob-dunk play up 16 with 50 seconds to go after a timeout.”

I watched the play several times. I’m not sure many people noticed the play, which amounted to P’Allen Stinnett cutting backdoor. Josh Dotzler appeared to take a look. WSU defended the cut and Dotzler didn’t throw the pass. It didn’t seem like a big deal, although Marshall saw it immediately and didn’t like it. He probably would have been better off to play that “look at how little they respect you” card in private with his team. It’s hard for me to get too offended about a play that didn’t happen. The intent bothered Marshall. He said what he said. That is how he is and I don’t think he is going to change.

What does it mean? Probably not much. I can see how Creighton fans can get fired up about it. They worship Altman. Marshall’s comments aren’t going to hurt him with most Shocker fans. They don’t like Creighton, which is the way it should be. The comments might add a little spice to future meetings, and there’s no harm in that. I’m sure Altman is not beloved in every MVC city, and his career seems to be going nicely.

I think Perrault is off base on some of his criticisms of Marshall regarding moving from small-time Winthrop to the big-time MVC and being out of his league coaching and dealing with the media. You could make an argument that what Marshall did in nine seasons at Winthrop is as impressive or better than what Altman has done at Creighton. Altman started with a lot more to work with at Creighton in regard to history, support, attendance and conference strength. Winthrop was a program with no history in a little-known conference when Marshall took over. Despite having no chance at an at-large bid, he went to the NCAA seven times in nine seasons and won an NCAA Tournament game. Altman has two NCAA Tournament wins, despite having the advantage of higher seeds in most cases. If you want to take issue with Marshall’s comments, that’s one thing. His coaching resume stands up pretty well for a guy his age and job situation. Don’t take this as a criticism of Altman, who is clearly an excellent coach who has done great things at Creighton. I think dismissing Marshall’s work at Winthrop is unfair.

Finally, I think Altman himself would be embarrassed at Perrault’s assertion he will wind up being the greatest coach in MVC history. Surely Perrault has heard of Henry Iba (to name one former MVC coach). If you want to change that assertion to “best coach in the MVC since 1990,” I would listen.

27.2 seconds: WSU 72, G-W 64. WSU ball after a timeout. G-W’s Linn just made three free throws after Hawkins fouled him. WSU is 12 of 15 from the line.

58.5 seconds remaining: WSU 70, G-W 61. G-W ball after a timeout.

3:59 remaining: WSU 67, G-W 57. Hannah has not played his usual minutes because of foul trouble. He got the crowd roaring with a great effort play. He picked the pocket of a dribbler, then dove for the ball. From the floor, he passed to Stutz for a breakaway dunk and a 64-55 lead. Hannah’s three gave WSU a 10-point lead, which seems to be the barrier it can’t break. WSU needs a few stops to give itself more of a cushion.

4:39 remaining: WSU 64, G-W 57. Shockers shooting 38.3 percent as the missed layups pile up. G-W allowed its previous seven opponents to shoot 44.6 percent from the field. Murry leads WSU with 19.

7:26 remaining: WSU 62, G-W 54. G-W’s Auryn MacMillan, a junior from Australia, is picking on Stutz. He has scored most of his 16 points, it seems, by getting good position on Stutz and scoring over him. WSU is 0 for 3 on lob attempts. It is a good strategy against the zone, but poorly executed.

11:52 remaining: WSU 58, G-W 45. WSU got some things going on offense after G-W cut the led to 49-43. Durley, who has nine points, did most of the damage. He is looking more focused and aggressive than in recent games. G-W won’t win this game because they can’t put together enough stops. But they shoot it well enough to make WSU nervous. WSU is 9-9 from the line. The Shockers are not making layups and short shots in the lane. That is one kind of a problem against Georgetown or Michigan State. It is more worrisome against G-W.

15:22 remaining second half: WSU 49, G-W 39. Shockers can’t pull away. Foul trouble is a bit of an issue. Hannah, Hawkins and Clemente all have three.
Sorry, I’m in limited or no connectivity hell at courtside so blogging is out. It is halftime and WSU leads 41-32. Good offensive half for the most part for WSU, which is what everybody wanted to see. It is an up-and-down game, so coach Gregg Marshall is probably not satisfied with the defense. The Bulldogs are keeping in the game with a few breakaways and threes. Of course, they hit a buzzer-beater.

The Shockers are 7 of 15 from three. Inside, they get shots but aren’t making them. They have missed several shots in the lane and are shooting 42.4 percent overall. They are 8 of 20 inside the arc.

Toure Murry leads WSU with 13 and is playing a lot of point guard. Mantas Griskenas, getting loose by riding a bike in the tunnel, played eight minutes. A.J. Hawkins has eight points. J.T. Durley has five rebounds and looks more energetic than he has in recent games.

“We calculated we will have more practice time for this TCU game, total, than we had for the previous four games combined,” he said. “It’s pretty apparent our offense wasn’t very good. Clevin Hannah is basically having to shoulder the load.”

WSU, coming off Wednesday’s 72-69 loss at Texas Tech, practiced Thursday and Friday. They are off Saturday and return to work Sunday before Monday’s game at TCU.

• Guard Graham Hatch took a bump to the head Wednesday. He sat out Thursday’s practice. He did non-contact work on Friday and expects to do everything on Sunday. Guard Bret Michael is out while recovering from a concussion.
• Forward Gabe Blair practiced for the first time since October on Thursday. Marshall gave an example of Blair’s value. Ramon Clemente tried to power his way to the basket through Blair. Blair swatted his shot.

“Ramon went back up for a shot and all of a sudden he ate some leather,” Marshall said. “Gabe sent it right back in his mug. He adds another big body.”

• Mantas Griskenas, recovering from a sprained ankle, wants to play and says he is healthy. Marshall wants to see more evidence. Wednesday, he put Griskenas in and a Red Raider immediately beat him down the floor for an easy basket.

“I can’t use him at 90 percent,” Marshall said. “I can’t have him get loose during the game. He’s got to get loose before he goes in the game.”

1:50 remaining: WSU 63, CC 37. Deep subs are in. Shockers hold Gents to 17 points in the second half. Stutz is out with 22. Murry has 13.

7:45 remaining: WSU 52, CC 33. WSU 6 for 6 from the line. The reserves are coming. Bret Michael has his warmup off. That is an early victory cigar. Marshall is definitely giving people chances to show what they can do.

MVC score: UMKC 73, Bradley 61. Ouch.

11:29 remaining: WSU 50, CC 30. WSU’s best stretch of the young season. The Shockers forced turnovers, rebounded, took good shots and made them. And they are 5 for 5 from the line. Stutz has 18. The lineup of Stutz-Clemente-Hawkins-Hannah-Murry made a statement. Now we will see how the others fill in. The Gents are working on six straight empty possessions.

14:59 remaining: WSU 39, CC 28. Murry scores five straight to force the Gents to call timeout. Defense helped produce both baskets. After a miss, Hannah pushed the ball and found Murry open for a three on the wing. After a steal by Hannah, he passed to Murry for a layup. Murry has 13, all in this half. Redus is back for the Gents.

15:38 remaining in the game: WSU 34, CC 28. Murry has eight of WSU’s 10. Two threes and a lovely backdoor layup from Stutz. Defense is now the issue. The Gents scored on three straight possessions.

Hannah replaces Hatch in the lineup to start the second half.

Break almost over. Volleyball team introduced and coach Chris Lamb stumps for fans to come out this week. It will be interesting to see how roles get defined in this half. Other than Stutz scoring and Ramon rebounding, this team lacks definition. Stutz’s 15 first-half points are two more than any Shocker has scored in a game.

Halftime: WSU 24, CC 20. Don’t buzzer-beaters seem to fall against WSU unusually often? Centenary’s Nick Stallings made one to end the half despite good defense. Eleven turnovers is the story for WSU. Stutz has 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Chamberlain has five and Hannah and Kyles two each. Strange, strange box score. WSU coach Gregg Marshall played 11. I would expect him to narrow that down in the second half.  WSU is up in rebounds 22-10. It seems like a game the Shockers should be dominating. They are not because of turnovers.

3:37 remaining: WSU 22, CC 15. Stutz scores six of WSU’s eight to give it a little cushion. WSU is getting the ball inside against the zone defense. The Gents are shooting 28.6 percent. Reggie Chamberlain has give for WSU. Gary Redus, a starter for the Gents, is icing his right ankle. His return looks iffy.

7:57 remaining: WSU 14, CC 11. Both teams heat up when they quit throwing the ball away. Stutz has seven for the Shockers. He improves each time out. Nothing fancy. He uses his height and good hands.

11:43 remaining: WSU 8, CC 3. Three more turnovers for WSU, which cannot take advantage of miserable shooting by the Gents. Centenary is 1 of 10 and 0 for 5 from three. Mantas Griskenas is in for the first time this season. Durley, Kyles, Ellis and Hannah complete the lineup.

15:04 remaining: WSU 5, CC 2. Four turnovers for the Shockers. Defense looks better than Wednesday. Centenary is 1 of 6 with three turnovers. Stutz has all of WSU’s points.

Garrett Stutz in the starting lineup for J.T. Durley. Graham Hatch also starts, moving Toure Murry to the point.

Fifteen minutes until tip here at Koch Arena.

We know who is joining WSU in the CBE CLassic next season in Kansas City’s Sprint Center: Texas, Pitt and Iowa.

Looking ahead to the Old Spice Classic

• No love for WSU in this analysis.
• Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl is worried about Siena. J.P. Prince is hurting and may not play. That could affect a possible second-round matchup with WSU.
• Siena’s coaching elves are busy watching tape.
• Michigan State’s Goran Sutton is also injured.
• No love for WSU in this Washington Post chat.

Around the MVC

• Illinois State’s Champ Oguchi is the star of November.
• Things don’t get much easier for Southern Illinois.
• UNI freshman Johnny Moran is off to a great start for the Panthers. He reminds some of Ben Jacobson – the player not the coach.

• Mantas Griskenas strained the Achilles tendon on his left foot during Saturday’s practice and is not expected to play Monday. Aaron Ellis is still hobbling due to a sprained big toe. He did not practice. Coach Gregg Marshall said Ellis’ return date is an unknown, and it may decide on how much pain he can play with. Gabe Blair is improving, he said, and he may be ready to go soon. Because it is a back issue (stress fracture in a vertebrae) trainer Todd Fagan is being cautious with Blair’s return.
• The injuries mean sophomore walk-on Mason Felter will enjoy a more prominent role in the frontcourt than previously expected. Felter looked good in practice, scoring over Ramon Clemente in the lane once and making a couple outside jumpers. “Mason’s a good ballplayer,” Marshall said. “He gets an opportunity tomorrow to be in the rotation behind Ramon. He had a great practice. He had a little bounce to his step. I think he saw an opportunity.”
• Your likely starters, according to coach Gregg Marshall, are Clemente, J.T. Durley, A.J. Hawkins, Clevin Hannah and Toure Murry. Marshall said Durley and Garrett Stutz are close at center, which to me means Stutz had a good week of practice after struggling in the scrimmage at Kansas State. If he is pushing J.T., it is good news for both, especially since forwards Blair and Ellis are out of practice.
• Murry, well, if you’ve seen him play this is not a big surprise. He may be a rock in that starting lineup for the next four seasons.
• ESU is picked eighth in the MIAA. Three Wichitans – Matt Boswell (Kapaun Mount Carmel), Doug Moore (East), Luke Barnwell (Bishop Carroll) -  are on the roster. Center Shang Ping is a transfer from Nebraska who played in 21 games last season for the Huskers and aveaged 3.0 points.
• Don’t miss this video.

Drake’s loss looks bad for the MVC, but I don’t think there is much shame in it. The Hilltoppers are a conference champion from a conference similar to the Valley. It’s a traditionally good program with a NBA-type player in Courtney Lee.

• Drake’s loss means the MVC goes winless in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since SIU and Northern Iowa whiffed in 2004. The MVC champ – SIU (2007), WSU (2006), SIU (2005) – had won at least one game the past three tournaments.

It appears the South Carolina job search will move on without Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall. That could change if the Gamecocks run through several candidates. Media reports in South Carolina are focused on Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel and at least two season wraps (here and here) make a point to mention Marshall as an unlikely candidate.

Stay tuned, because coaching searches can take dramatic twists. It appears, however, WSU fans can relax.

Anybody who watched the region and national juco tournaments knows Marshall and his staff are full-speed recruiting for next season. Itawamba guard Anthony Brock said he will visit WSU this spring.

I watched Brock on Thursday in a 75-73 loss to Indian Hills. He did not play well. He forced shots and did not play particularly hard. With only look, I won’t make a call on Brock’s ability to help WSU. We know the Shockers need point guards and his credentials look good. After watching four games over two days in Hutch, my biggest impression is that the talent level is down from 10-15 years ago. Prep schools have altered the landscape.

As Creighton proved with Woodfox and Witter, schools can find good juco players. A backcourt with Chipola’s Clevin Hannah and Brock would be quick and good with the ball. I would think WSU would be an improved pressing team with them and difficult to press. If you watched Winthrop this season, think of point guard Chris Gaynor.

WSU signee Garrett Stutz is a two-sport athlete. The way the Marshall family gets involved with recruits, Stutz may have a gallery following him hole to hole.

Former coach Mark Turgeon’s influence on the program’s roster ends when this season ends, just one year after his departure. Tuesday, P.J. Couisnard and Matt Braeuer play their final home games (as do Phil Thomasson and Lance Harris). Couisnard and Braeuer are the last significant links to the 2006 MVC champions and Sweet 16 team (Junior Wendell Preadom was a reserve on that team and Thomasson a redshirt transfer). When Couisnard and Braeuer depart, the program switches totally from Turgeon flavor to first-year coach Gregg Marshall.

It is stunning, and a measure of the recruiting misses and mistakes, that the 2008-09 roster will have, at most, two players (Gal Mekel and Preadom) who played in a game for Turgeon and none who started. Turgeon recruited Ramon Clemente and Graham Hatch (who honored their commitments to WSU this season) and J.T. Durley (who redshirted in 2006-07). So that’s five players connected to Turgeon (three whom he coached), at the most, and we know it’s possible some of those will not return next season.

That is a lot of turnover, and a reminder Marshall faces significant challenges when he continues to remodel the roster next season.

That is the chicken-or-the-egg place we are at with the Gregg Marshall-and-South Carolina story. He thinks the attention to the story is overblown and the media is treating him and his family unfairly. As far as I can tell, most of his gripe is with talk radio and TV. KGSO’s Chris Allison gave him a chance to identify the mistakes. Marshall declined, although he later said a report stated he is friends with South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier. In fact, they have never met, Marshall said Tuesday. I can find that reference here at the KWCH Web site. I don’t know if it has been repeated elsewhere.

I asked him about reporting in The Wichita Eagle after the news conference and he said he had no issue with the reporting. Is he thrilled with everything the Eagle has done? Probably not. My impression is that at least we have gotten the facts straight.

To a certain degree, this is the way things are going to go with these stories. Coaches want them to go away and they say they don’t understand the intense interest. The media is interested because the public is interested. Fairly or not, this deal has been the talk of Wichita the past few days. The WSU basketball coach is the No. 1 figure of the No. 1 sports story in town. WSU and Marshall benefit from that passion when Koch Arena fills up with 10,500 fans. This is the downside. Everybody wants to know, and it’s easy for a frantic tone to evolve. I’ve been around enough coaches to know that they love their gossip – when the gossip involves other coaches.

Marshall is paying the price for all the coaches who said they were not interested in a job, and then later took that job. It’s not fair, but the media and public are no longer inclined to believe coaches. Fans and the media have seen too many under-the-table deals and pledges of loyalty rendered meaningless. The media is paying the price for the reporters and commentators who made mistakes or say and write outrageous things with little regard for perspective or the facts. Coaches are not inclined to trust the media, in some cases, because of loose talk and sloppy reporting.

At this point, I think the story goes away until March. Marshall has addressed it, probably more than many coaches would. His statement won’t satisfy fans who want his unending devotion. It was a pretty standard statement. It also seems to accurately describe the situation. We don’t know much, and Marshall says there is not much to know.

I talked to Bill Stutz, father of WSU recruit Garrett Stutz, this afternoon. He talked with Marshall over the weekend and gives him a rock-solid endorsement for his handling of the situation. He is confident Marshall will coach his son next season, something that should give Shocker fans some relief. I write more about it in Wednesday’s Eagle.

The media gets to tell its side. Here is Marshall’s:

“Here’s what I’ve learned from this – you can’t believe everything you read in the newspaper,” he said. “You can’t believe everything you hear on the radio. You can’t even believe your local news. I have heard things that are not true, said about this, myself. Not true. Just simply not true. I guess it’s newsworthy. I don’t know why it’s still a story.”

Other tidbits from Tuesday’s press conference:

• WSU guard Matt Braeuer is making improvements on his concussion test. His basketball future remains uncertain. He is not practicing.
• LSU has asked to move next season’s scheduled meeting in Shreveport to the 2009-10 season. The game also might be moved to Dallas. No decision has been made. I would think WSU would love a move to Dallas. It has been trying to schedule games in Texas for years.
• Marshall is thinly disguising a feeling his team is not getting a fair shake from the referees.

An example from the SIU game in which two Shockers fouled out: “(SIU center Randal) Falker’s a pretty big, strong guy. We were just pushing him all around, getting all kind of fouls. Just pushing him too much.”

And one from Creighton, in which Marshall received a technical he thought was undeserved and the officials missed a Creighton player kicking the ball into the student section. “I had some discussions about breaks we didn’t receive in the Creighton game, and that was confirmed. That was confirmed. But you know what, they’re not going to change the L to a W.” When Marshall was asked for specifics, he looked to sports information director Larry Rankin, who advised Marshall not to say more.

• Marshall lightened up in practice as the losing and injuries mount. There is no point in hammering away at this team’s psyche, he said. “You can’t just press, press, press right now,” he said. “At a different time, I think we could have just run these guys right into the ground. Not just physically, but psychologically. I’ve tried not to do that. With the exception of a couple of games, I think we’ve competed very well. And even played pretty well, relative to what we can do. And it hasn’t been enough, except for the Bradley game.”
• His impression of the MVC continues to be that it is a grinding, physical conference. WSU does not have the bodies to play that way this season, one reason why it is plagued by injuries and foul problems, in my opinion.

After the news conference, Marshall went to watch film and practice and found out guard Gal Mekel was sick. Mekel did not practice. If he does not play against Northern Iowa on Wednesday, Wendell Preadom starts at point. P.J. Couisnard is the backup. My money is on Mekel playing. He is not the kind of person who lets the flu keep him out of a basketball game.

When I left Koch Arena at 6 p.m., Graham Hatch was shooting with manager Ryan Mahoney rebounding. The Shockers watched film at 2. Practiced at 3, followed by weights. Hatch is not the only Shocker who stays late. This team lacks many things, but the desire to work hard is not one of them.