University of Kansas basketball fans and coach Bill Self won’t like hearing this contention: For the last two years Wichita State University has gotten as much if not more deserved national acclaim than the Jayhawks.
The Shockers have a 65-10 record over two years, a Final Four appearance in 2013 and had an NCAA-record 35-0 start to this season before losing a hard-fought contest to talented Kentucky on Sunday.
In fact, Wichita State’s game with Kentucky helped prove what a great team the Shockers had this year.
As a result of the last two years’ worth of results, Wichita State fans could argue they have taken over as the best college team in Kansas (KU is 56-16 in that same span).
As a KU alum, I’ll quickly point out that the Jayhawks have a helluva lot better record over their lifetime than the Shockers, with many more NCAA wins and league championships. And playing in the Big 12 is a lot tougher than in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Still, the modern-day KU team didn’t help its cause as boasting it’s even the best team in Kansas on Sunday, suffering a 60-57 upset loss to Stanford.
That wiped the Jayhawks out of the NCAA tournament a year after they made it to the Sweet 16.
So that brings us back to the raging controversy at Wichita State and even sometimes in the Kansas Legislature:
When will KU ever play the Shockers?
It might all go back to whether Kansas forgives Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall for reportedly calling the Jayhawks “chickenhawks.”
Self and many other KU fans don’t appear ready to want to get on the same court with the Shockers.
But the excuses are starting to wear thin.
This would be a great game for residents throughout the state to watch.
University of Kansas fans like to say they don’t have anything to gain by watching their Jayhawks play Wichita State.
Yet the national attention Wichita State has received would guarantee this would be a marquee game if played in the next year or two.
KU ought to give Wichita State a shot at playing in front of a capacity crowd somewhere (Sprint Center, anyone?).
And when KU wins, we can all go back to ignoring Wichita State, right?
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