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Wichita State Basketball 2013-2014 (Part 1)

Leading up to Wichita State’s historic seasons in 2013 and 2014, they won the NIT Championship in 2011, beating Alabama, but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a 5v12 upset to VCU. Heading into the 2013 NCAA Tournament, they were a 9 seed having just lost to Creighton in the MVC conference tournament. Nobody really had much expectations for this team, led by Carl Hall, Cleanthony Early, Ron Baker, and a young Fred VanVleet, many people thought this team would at most only win a game then lose to the #1 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs, who only lost twice all season and went undefeated in the WCC. They were also led by future NBA player Kelly Olynyk. Wichita State would beat Pittsburgh, who was a solid 8 seed, then upset Gonzaga. 9 seeds beating 1 seeds is very rare, as only 8 have been able to do it (2 of them beat 16 seeds). They would get lucky and play LaSalle in the sweet 16, who went on a Cinderella run as a 13 seed. Then they would shock the world and knock off 2 seeded Ohio State to make it to their first Final Four since 1965 and their second ever. Although they did lose to Louisville in a heartbreaker (who later got their championship vacated by the ncaa), the future looked bright for this team as they returned most of their impactful players, only losing Carl Hall. Fred VanVleet also developed into a leading role on the team. Many people expected this team to do well in 2014, but not as well as they did. They would finish the season perfect, going 33-0 and winning their conference tournament. Many people were skeptical about how far this team could make it in the tournament however because of their strength of schedule. Playing in the MVC, you aren’t going to be playing the greatest opponents. Their best win was Tennessee, who was an 11 seed that made the sweet 16 that year. They still got the 1 seed though. I think them making the final four the year before definitely helped. They would destroy the 16 seed Cal Poly and then lose to Kentucky.

CBB