Wichita State

Wichita State basketball assistant coach Dana Ford is leaving the Shockers to take an assistant job at Illinois State.  Ford started as a graduate assistant under Gregg Marshall at Winthrop and Wichita State before moving on to Chipola Junior college as an assistant.  He eventually moved to Tennessee State as an assistant to another former Shocker, John Cooper. Ford spent one season with Wichita State as an assistant before making his move.  He was considered a very strong recruiter for the Shockers.

From Wichita State Sports Information WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State will travel to Florida State for Super Regional play with game one beginning on Fri., June 6. Game two will be played on Sat., June 7 and if a game three is necessary it will be played on Sun., June 8. The NCAA also announced game times and television coverage. Friday's game will begin at 2 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2, Saturday's will begin at noon (ET) on ESPN2 and Sunday's will be at 1 p.m. (ET) on ESPN.

Newcomer Ben Smith doubled his previous season high with 16 points to lead Wichita State past Evansville 91-57 in a Missouri Valley Conference opener Wednesday night. The Shockers (10-2, 1-0) had four other players score in double figures: Joe Ragland (12), J.T. Durley (12), David Kyles (11) and Toure Murry (10). Evansville (6-5) was led by Colt Ryan, who scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the second half. Wichita State's huge first-half lead dwindled to 44-35 early in the second half before the Shockers exploded.

Wichita State is number one when it comes to keeping employees happy. It just received the top spot in the "Top 10 Happiest University Employers," an online poll by CareerBliss. Employees completed surveys on the website.  WSU employees gave the school an overall ranking of 4.29.  The average of the top 10 schools is 3.946. Wichita state employees seem to be happy about the growth opporunities they have at work.  They also find there's a good work-life balance. Other schools that make the list are as follows: • Auburn University • Brigham Young University • Wayne State University • University of Southern California • Columbia University • University of Florida • University of Houston • Cleveland State University • University of Michigan See complete results of the poll .

Cleanthony Early scored 24 points to lead Wichita State over Bradley 69-63 Sunday. Early was 8 of 14 from the field. Demetric Williams added 10 points, and Ehimen Orukpe had nine rebounds for Wichita State (14-1, 3-0 Missouri Valley). Wichita State led 35-34 at halftime in a game with 12 lead changes. Wichita State closed the game on a 10-2 run. The Shockers shot 47 percent from the field for the game, while Bradley shot 46 percent. Walt Lemon Jr. and Dyricus Simms-Edwards had 15 points apiece to lead the scoring for Bradley (10-5, 2-1)

The schedule for the Wichita State-Delaware baseball series has been changed to allow fans to attend the baseball and men's basketball games on Sat., Feb. 23. The Shockers will now play a doubleheader on Fri., Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. at Eck Stadium and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sat., Feb. 23. Sunday's game remains at 1 p.m.

Cleanthony Early led all scorers with 25 points as Wichita State beat Iowa 75-63 to win the Cancun Classic. Early was 3-6 from the three-point line, 7-13 from the field and 8-9 from the free-throw line against the Hawkeyes.  Wichita State was down by two at halftime thanks to a hot shooting peformance by Josh Oglesby.  Oglesby and the Hawkeyes were 7-8 from three-point range in the first half. The Shockers are off until next Wednesday when they host Tulsa.  The Golden Hurricane are coached by former Kansas assistant, Danny Manning.

Carl Hall finished with a double-double, 16 points and 11 rebounds, as Wichita State (7-0) dominated Tulsa (2-5) 86-60 at Koch Arena.  This was a 3 point game with just under 7 minutes to play in the first half and that is when Wichita State started to pull away.  The Shockers finished the first half on a 20-12 run, taking an 11 point lead at halftime. Wichita State steadily added to its lead in the second half and never let Tulsa back in the game.  Cleanthony Early was the second leading scorer for the Shockers with 11 points.  Overall, every Shocker that took the court during the game scored at least 2 points.

Kristi Bredbenner will take over the Shocker softball program. Bredbenner, who led Emporia State for six seasons and leaves as their winningest softball coach in school history, takes over for Mike Perniciaro who was let go by the school last month. The Shockers were 20-37 this season. While with the Hornets, she took the team to the national tournament every year and made the Division II national title game in 2006 and 2008, losing both years. She was named 2007 MIAA Coach of the Year.

The funniest thing I've seen at the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament: The grounds crew using old couch cushions to soak up the water in the outfield. Talk about necessity being the mother of invention. People watching--- Wichita State Athletic Director Eric Sexton has been a constant at this event (as he is at most Shocker events); one can't help but wonder what his agenda is relative to Shocker Baseball. In what is a testimony to the stability in his department - how to handle Gene Stephenson is the first major personnel issue that he's had to deal with.

Wichita State racked up 11 runs on 17 hits on route to an 11-4 bludgeoning of Creighton on Wednesday to stay alive in the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament.  The win snaps a 4-game conference tournament losing streak dating back to 2011 for the Shockers. The Shockers scored early when Tyler Baker and Casey Gillaspie came through with back to back hits bringing in three runs.  Gillaspie tacked on another run in the third with a solo home run and Erik Harbutz added another in that frame as Wichita State took a 5-1 lead.

Southern Illinois scored 3 runs in the 4th inning and 2 more in the 9th to rally for a 5-1 victory over Wichita State on Tuesday. The Salukis were the 7th seed in the tournament while the Shockers were the 2nd seeded team. The Shockers took an early lead on the Salukis when Mikel Mucha doubled to left field to bring home Micah Green and give Wichita State a 1-0 lead.  Hits were at a premium for the Shockers after that as Southern allowed Wichita State just 7 hits on the day. Cale Elam pitched 3 scoreless innings for Wichita State but ended up giving up the 3 runs in the 4th inning to give the Salukis the lead.  Elam took the loss for the Shockers, pitching 4 innings, striking out 2 and giving up 3 runs on 8 hits.  Meanwhile, Salukis' starter Cody Forsythe recorded a complete game giving up just those 7 hits, 1 run and striking out 7 batters.

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.

When I reached the gate for a flight out of Montgomery, Alabama yesterday I was offered the use of a rocking chair. Was it just southern hospitality or a not so subtle insinuation? By the way, why, I wonder, do they have rocking chairs at the gate in Montgomery, Alabama? Tale of three teams--- I've covered three college baseball teams pretty consistently this spring and all three have similar makeups and challenges. Arkansas and Oklahoma are nationally ranked, but both are offensively challenged.

The Boston bombings have put a spotlight on student visas. An alleged accomplice of suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was allowed to re-enter the United States although his student visa had expired. Tuesday, The Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to boost security around the student visa program, ensuring federal agencies communicate with each other. FactFinder 12 looked into international students in Kansas using student visas. There are thousands of them and they bring in an estimated $23 million to the Wichita economy and more than $200 million to the state.

I'll get to call Creighton a few more times at the Missouri Valley Tournament next week, but I'm not guaranteed a Blue Jays-Shockers matchup like I had twice over the weekend. It got me to thinking how much I'll miss the Jays and not just their competitiveness, but their people too. I've always enjoyed their administrators, coaches and athletes. In many ways Creighton and Wichita State had become each other's measuring sticks, both bringing out the best in the other as rivals should do. I think Shocker fans are going to miss the school they loved to hate.

Courtesy of Wichita State - WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State scored two runs in the ninth inning but that was not enough as they could not overcome a four-run fifth inning from the Creighton Bluejays as the Shockers dropped the series opener 6-5 on Friday night at Eck Stadium. The Shockers scored the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, taking advantage of two walks and two hit batsmen from Creghton starter Tommy Strunc. Tyler Baker singled with one out before Casey Gillaspie walked, Micah Green and Erik Harbutz were hit by a pitch, and Mikel Mucha drew a walk to give Wichita State the 2-0 lead.

Both the men's and women's tennis teams from Wichita State have earned automatic bids to the 2013 NCAA tournament by winning the Missouri Valley conference tournament.  This is the women's 5th straight trip to the NCAA tournament while the men's team is making its first trip since 2010. The men's selection show was first on Tuesday afternoon. Wichita State will make the short trip to Norman, Oklahoma to face the Sooners in the first round of the tournament starting on May 10th.