WSU 70, Newman 61 (3:16) - Newman’s Chip Steven has 13 to lead all scorers.

WSU 64, Newman 50 (7:33) – Murry makes a great hustle play, tracking down his miss, to produce a three by Kyles.

WSU 61, Newman 50 (8:25) – Jets keep it close with threes.

WSU 58, Newman 41 (11:43) - Manigault with two nice plays – a pass to Blair for a basket and a runner in the lane.

WSU 50, Newman 34 (15:46 remaining in the game) - Williams leads all scorers with 10 points. WSU on an 11-4 run after halftime.

Williams starts the second half for WSU.

WSU 39, Newman 28 – Halftime. WSU is shooting 47.1 percent from the floor, 25 percent from three. Stutz leads WSU with eight points. Any negative should be looked in light of the changing lineups Marshall used. Ten turnovers is a problem. Newman got way too many layups and shots in the lane. In all, however, Marshall is getting a look at a lot of players, his main goal.

WSU 37, Newman 25 (2:59) - Demetric Williams has scored seven of WSU’s past nine points. Then he gave up a layup. Freshman.

WSU 26, Newman 16 (7:19) - WSU is pressing every chance it gets, with varied results. Murry and Hatch lead the Shockers with six points. Mathews has five for the Jets.

WSU 21, Newman 11 (10:14) - Shockers going with four freshmen and Stutz. The pace is slowing. Veterans coming back.

WSU 19, Newman 8 (12:44) – Stutz with six straight points, two on dunks. Timeout Jets.

WSU 11, Newman 6, 14:34 remaining – Still no Hannah. Demetric Williams is checking in to play point, so Clevin is deep in the bench for some reason. Could be just to let other people play, although that seems unlikely. Could be something else. Newman is getting to the basket easily against WSU’s defense, although not scoring.

New “Iron Man” intro video seemed well-received by the fans. It was time to update it. Looked good. New intro video also. Can’t go wrong with The Edge and black-and-white photos of Dave Stallworth. Fans seemed to like it.

Shocker starters - Ellis, Hatch, Murry, Kyles, Durley. No Clevin Hannah. I don’t know why. He is in uniform and warmed up. Jets – Darby, Steven, Mathews, Berry, Northington.

City championship on the line tonight (with apologies to Friends University). I guess we will call the City NCAA title game.

No Mason Felter for the Shockers. He said he is academically ineligible for the first semester.  Too bad. This is the kind of game WSU could use Felter. There are several games this semester that Mason would probably get a chance.

Moving ahead, WSU will stir up some old memories with its celebration of MTXE night on Jan. 3 against Bradley. The Shockers will wear the old uniforms from the early 1980s with MTXE and the old-style WuShock (the best WSU uniform  look by a large margin. It should be the look every season). Some old coaches and players will return. WSU is preparing a list. It expects some big names to return. More details to come.

• SIU needed a tip-in at the buzzer to beat NCAA Division II Southern Indiana in an exhibition.
• Jordan Eglseder scores 15 points to help Northern Iowa easily win its exhibition.
• Dwyane Lathan (the transfer nobody is talking about) led Indiana State with 16 points in an exhibition win.

• Wichita State men’s breakdown and schedule.
• WSU women’s breakdown and schedule.
• MVC predictions (I’m buying into SIU for better or worse). Is anybody with me?
• MVC schedule

Previews from other places

• Blogging the Bracket picks Illinois State second.
• Rush The Court picks Creighton as the favorite.
• Rivals.com says SIU is on the decline.
• No prediction from USA Today. Instead, it’s a look at each team.
• CBSSports.com sticks with Northern Iowa as the favorite.

The Shockers are a year older, and Marshall is much more upbeat after Sunday’s rematch with the Wildcats at Koch Arena. The teams practiced for around four hours, doing both situational, controlled work and scrimmages. The scrimmages were closed by NCAA rule and coaches are not allowed to reveal scores or statistics.

“It’s a much better starting point,” Marshall said. “We’ve gotten better as a basketball team from a year ago.”

Anybody who watches Kansas State knows the Wildcats play a physical, aggressive style of basketball. Marshall said he thought his team handled K-State’s muscle.

“We were able to compete with big, strong, aggressive athletes and not back down,” he said. “We were able to go against a team that is well-coached and do our thing.”

In a recurring theme, WSU junior Graham Hatch stood out in Marshall’s mind. Hatch has always hustled. More encouraging is his good shooting day.

“He’s right in the middle of the fray,” Marshall said. “He will mix it up.”

WSU will not practice on Monday, although the players will look at some film from the scrimmage. David Kyles, out with a sprained left ankle, did not scrimmage. Preparation begins Tuesday for Saturday’s exhibition game against Newman. WSU opens the season on Nov. 15 against Farleigh Dickinson.

• Bradley scrimmaged DePaul.

Evansville handles Hanover. Northern Iowa over Upper Iowa.

Bradley was supposed to scrimmage DePaul today. Drake and UMKC also supposed to practice behind closed doors.

“We had some guys that didn’t play particularly well, and we have some guys who have no clue what we’re doing,” Marshall said. “But that’s why you do it.”

Hatch made shots, rebounded and hustled.He was the player who stood out, both for his effort and effectiveness.  Hannah, Marshall pointed out, enjoys playing against rookie guards. He makes it difficult on Kenny Manigault and Demetric Williams. They sometimes struggled to bring the ball up court. Hannah seemed to get a shot – from deep or in the lane – whenever he wanted. Walk-on Derek Brown contributed a lot for a guy who joined the team two weeks ago. He is a good shooter and looked like he picked up the system quickly.

“I thought Graham Hatch was tremendous, Marshall said. “I thought Clevin Hannah was very good. I thought J.T. Durley was very good offensively. But he would have never scored like he did throughout the course of the scrimmage in a real game because he would have been on the bench with three fouls because of his defense. We’ve got a number of guys like right now. (Toure) Murry is a little like that. Murry’s more worried about the offensive end than he is the defensive end.”

• My choices for starting lineup if the season started today: Hatch, Hannah, Murry, Durley and Aaron Ellis. Ellis is playing well. Marshall called him WSU’s best screener and post defender. Gabe Blair, who will push Ellis for playing time, is still learning the system and he’s a little banged up. He’s not quite as bouncy as he was last season.
• David Kyles didn’t practice due to a sprained left ankle. Marshall isn’t sure if he will play in Sunday’s scrimmage against Kansas State.
• A few highlights: Garrett Stutz took a pass at the free-throw line and looked defended for an instant. Then he turned into the lane, dribbled and swished a pretty running shot. Manigault hit one of the big men (can’t remember who) with a precise no-look pass for a layup. Manigault was bottled up on offense most of the scrimmage, until he used his speed to get into the lane for a layup. Hatch made several threes. Durley scored against Stutz with that up-and-under move he uses so well.

The biggest news of the fall concerns two pitchers who barely touched the mound this fall. Tyler Fleming had surgery to clean up scar tissue in his right shoulder on Monday. The labrum and rotator cuff look good. Pitching coach Brent Kemnitz says there is a chance Fleming could be 100 percent by December and on track to throw this spring. Grant Muncrief, who had Tommy John surgery in April, looks good throwing bullpens. He could be ready by late February. The coaches had largely written him off for this season. Apparently, aggressive rehab this summer in Wichita is putting Muncrief on the fast track. Recovery is usually 10-12 months after surgery and he will be at 10 months in February. Logan Hoch, who also missed last season with shoulder surgery, threw this fall and expects to be full strength this spring.

Any one of those three helps WSU’s bullpen. If two or three are back and effective, the bullpen is in great shape.

“A lot hinges on the health of Logan Hoch, Grant Muncrief and Tyler Fleming,” Kemnitz said. “If you throw them in the mix, our depth is incredible. We’re hopeful. We think they’re going to be OK.”

Some random thoughts and numbers:

• Black won the series 4-3 by hitting .339 and – in what might be the best stat of fall – walking 33 times and striking out 25. Strikeouts killed the Shockers last season (423 to 220 walks), so any good sign is encouraging. Johnny Coy led Black with a .483 batting average. Mitch Caster (.714 slugging percentage) and Will Baez both homered twice. Caster also doubled three times. Coy struck out once in 29 at-bats.
• Three pitchers carried Black. Reliever Cobey Guy struck out 18 (six walks) in 11 innings and compiled a 1.64 ERA. T.J. McGreevy (2-0, 3.55 ERA) and Josh Smith (1-1, 3.75) did most of the starting work.

“What you saw last year (of Cobey Guy) was not what we recruited,” Kemnitz said. “He came in here hurt. He had no confidence. This fall guys have seen the guy we recruited. There’s no reason he can’t domino that into a great spring, because he has great stuff.”

• Freshman pitcher Tobin Mateychick, a right-hander, endured an up and down fall. Kemnitz said he possesses the greatest upside of the new pitchers. Staying focused on every pitch remains a challenge.
• Coach Gene Stephenson saw hitters who did a better job of taking the ball up the middle, going the other way and battling with two strikes.

“We’re doing a much better job of being tougher outs,” he said.

• Baez looked much more comfortable at second base. A converted catcher, he struggled with positioning and fundamentals last season. Those problems appear to in the past. “He has a lot better feel for what he’s supposed to do,” Stephenson said.
• Stephenson liked Kevin Hall’s work in center field and at the plate. WSU has a lot of outfielders to chose from. All of them did good things at times during the fall. Travis Bennett hits and realizes he needs to be better defensively. Freshman Garrett Bayliff looked good on defense and led Black with a .552 on-base percentage. Freshman Micah Green didn’t play much defense because of a shoulder injury. His hitting impressed Stephenson. Veterans Caster, Ryan Jones and Bret Bascue had their good moments.
• Freshman shortstop Erik Harbutz hit .259. He doubled four times and walked seven times. Stephenson believes he can handle third base if needed. “He’s a pretty tough out,” Stephenson said.
• Catcher Ryan Hege led Gold with a .444 batting average and .667 slugging percentage. Jones led Gold with 10 RBI. First baseman Clint McKeever hit .379.
• Stephenson expressed some concern for his defense. The teams combined for 23 errors (and some that didn’t show up in the scorebook) in seven games. There are a lot of DH candidates on this team, which is another way of saying some players need to work on their defense. The indoor practice facility should be ready later this fall, and Stephenson hopes working indoors will help smooth out defensive issues.

Play a tournament game downtown in 2011.

Sure, it’s outlandish to talk about WSU in that way. The Shockers have never played in the NCAA. They’ve never been a serious at-large contender and never won a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season or tournament title. WSU is picked ninth this season and hasn’t had a winning season since 2006.

Forget all that, because this news gives WSU the license to dream big.

In 2011, if WSU earns a spot (either at-large or automatic) it will play in downtown arena. That’s a guarantee, according to Jane Meyer, chair of the NCAA Division I women’s basketball committee.

“If you are a host and you’re in, they’re playing at home,” she said.

The NCAA just gave WSU women’s basketball a game-changing opportunity. Coach Jody Adams, starting her second season, knows it.  WSU plays in the MVC. Anything is possible. Southern Illinois, with Adams as an assistant coach, went from 1-17 in the MVC in 2005 to 16-2 in 2007.  Creighton, last place in 2006, finished second in 2009 and is the preseason favorite this season. Eighth-seeded Illinois State won the tournament in 2005. Eighth-seeded Drake won it in 2007. Ninth-seeded Evansville won it last season.

Why can’t Wichita State do something similar in 2011?

WSU knows this is a rare jewel of an opportunity. Pull this off and WSU women’s basketball elevates itself to real relevancy on the local sports scene. Thursday’s announcement presents the program with the possibility of its first profile-raising, defining moment that doesn’t involve Jackie Stiles.

The new stadium, built for the College World Series, will seat 24,000 fans. Which means around 23,000 seats will be vacant for most Creighton games. The Qwest Center move worked out well for CU basketball. I can’t blame the school for trying something similar for baseball. On paper, the move could have many benefits for scheduling and recruiting. If you can live with empty seats and little atmosphere (other than for the Nebraska game), go for it. If it helps Creighton, it helps MVC baseball. MVC baseball needs all the help it can get. Regardless of how this turns out, it’s nice to see an MVC school taking baseball seriously enough to give this a try.

As someone who went to the CWS in 1991 to see WSU and Creighton play, my first thought whenever the topic of a Creighton baseball facility comes up is – why did it take so long? Creighton missed a great opportunity to capitalize on the success of Jim Hendry’s team in the late 80s and early 90s.