Missouri State

For What it's Worth---March 8 -- Another reason to like Wichita State hoops Coach Gregg Marshall, for me anyway-- I walk into his press conference yesterday afternoon with my 14 year old son and he stops in mid-answer to say hello to him---from the podium. It made Jake's day. Missouri State is next--- I liked Wichita State regardless the opponent today, but I like their matchup with Missouri State better with Missouri State than I do Southern Illinois. The Bears play a more conventional game that SIU which, outsized, takes everything to the rim off the dribble.

The Wichita State baseball team has been voted third in the annual Missouri Valley Conference baseball preseason coaches poll, announced Feb. 1 by the league office.   The Shockers accumulated 47 points in the poll.  Missouri State was picked first in the poll with 60 points and five first-place votes, while Creighton was picked second with 53 points and three first-place votes.   The Shockers open play on Fri., Feb. 17 against Louisiana-Lafayette at the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Texas.

J.T. Durley, Toure Murry and Ben Smith all earned honors today from the Missouri Valley Conference.  Durley, a senior forward for Wichita State, was the lone Shocker to make the first time All-Valley. Murry made the second team while Smith was named the Valley's 6th man of the year.  Durley placed third in the Player of the Year voting, behind Kwadzo Ahelegbe of Northern Iowa and the winner Kyle Weems of Missouri State. The all-bench and most-improved units have been selected by the league’s beat writers and will be announced Wednesday (March 2)

Wichita State earned its fifth-straight MVC men's golf championship with an 18-stroke victory at the 2012 State Farm MVC Men's Golf Championship, played at the par-71, 6,731-yard layout at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.  Wichita State has been first or second in the final MVC team standings every season since 1996 and have won a league best 17 men's golf titles.   The Shockers fired a three-round total of 288-293-296--877 to outdistance second-place Missouri State's 300-299-296--895.

The Shockers are in St.Louis preparing for their first game in this years Missouri Valley Conference.  They will play Friday at 6 p.m. against the winner of tonights game between Missouri State and Southern Illinois. The tournament is hosting a pre-tournament press conference.  Click here to watch live press conference from St. Louis Bruce Haertl is in St. Louis with the Shockers.  He'll have coverage of the team through the weekend.

Missouri State pulled off another close win at home to tie the Shockers atop the Valley standings.  Both the Bears and Shockers are 11-3 in conference play after Missouri State beat Bradley tonight and Wichita State fell at home to Southern Illinois on Tuesday. Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall was very candid after Tuesday night's loss, saying there really isn't much for the Shockers to do except get over it.  "You just have to try to get better for tomorrow, and you gotta try to find a way to beat Northern Iowa on Saturday and move forward.

Wichita State is the 2012-13 Missouri Valley Conference all-sports champion. It marks the seventh crown in the past 10 years for Wichita State, which has a league best 19 all-time. WSU finished second in the all-sports trophy race in 2011-12. Wichita State finished in the Top 3 in 14 of the 15 sports it sponsors (with softball the lone exception). The Shockers won four team championships (women's basketball, women's indoor track & field, men's golf, and women's tennis) and finished second in eight others.

If you think the Wildcats didn't remember playing UCLA at the Rose Bowl last season, you'd be fooling yourself. K-State wanted to finish strong in Manhattan to prove that they could win. And when UCLA marched down the field and scored a quick touchdown to get within two, all they needed was a little reminder from Coach Snyder about last season's game. "I also brought to their attention, that we kind of faded into the wordwork so to speak. We didn't play poorly but didn't play as well as we needed to win the football game," said K-State head coach Bill Snyder.

Wichita State sophomore Dayne Parker singled to center field in the bottom of the 11th inning to score Tyler Baker for a 2-1 win against Oklahoma State Tuesday at Eck Stadium. Parker and freshman Mikel Mucha led the Shockers with two hits each and pitcher Cale Elam (4-3) got the win on the mound for Wichita State. The Shockers improved to 23-17 overall this season and Oklahoma State dropped to 18-17 overall. The visiting Cowboys had six hits and Wichita State collected eight hits.