>It's hard for me to believe in Wichita State, even though they are undeniably good. They just don't play the level of competition as the teams in the big conferences. I am not even going to hazard a guess but I don't think it will be them. (Besides, my prediction history is horrible. Just listen to what I predict and bet the other way).
I agree that it's hard to place high stock in a mid-major, but Wichita State is really good.
Remember that 2 years ago, Wichita State went to the final four (and nearly beat Louisville), winning against Pittsburgh, #1 ranked Gonzaga, LaSalle, and #2 ranked Ohio state along the way.
They still have some key players from that 2013 run (Ron Baker, Tekele Cotton, Freddie VanVleet, Demetric Williams), plus one or two reserves.
They didn't exactly have a murderous schedule this year, but they did beat Tulsa this year (who is #1 in their conference), Seton Hall, and then won the Missouri Valley Conference last Saturday by beating a Northern Iowa team that was 27-2 coming into last Saturday.
Wichita State will probably get a 3 or 4 seed in their bracket and I like their chances to make a good run. If you've never seen them play, they are great to watch. They can explode on offense and they have a tenacious defense. They have a motto, "Play angry", and that describes them very well. I've seen signs from the students that read, "The Shockers are circling the tank", "The Shockers smell blood", etc. I love their environment. They punched Ohio State right in the mouth two years ago in the West Regional Finals - I was hoping they'd do it last year against Kentucky. Maybe we'll see a great run again.
There are rumors that Wichita State has tried to get a non-conference series against KU. Granted, many teams have approached KU and the Jayhawks have a long list of non-conference arrangements, but I do wonder if Bill Self is a little nervous about the prospect of playing the Shockers. The current KU team doesn't match up well against Wichita State.
As for your Wisconsin team, I heard someone predict last night that Wisconsin will beat Kentucky in the final four. I guess we'll find out soon enough!
Love this time of the year.
