Shockers' shocking championship shocks the world

Mark Turgeon wins the cup! For those of you who are not from Wichita or currently residing therein (and are you missing out – it’s the Sacramento of the Midwest!), Mark Turgeon is the current head basketball coach of the Wichita University Shockers (which is officially Wichita State University, but I just unilaterally changed it – simply saying Wichita sounds much better than Wichita State, WU is better than WSU; look at Memphis – they dropped the State and went from Penny Hardaway’s stopover to a top 5 team). Turgeon is from Topeka, Kansas, and played point guard for KU as a short little white kid (which is what he is). But most importantly, my sister, the Erin Thompson, grew up modeling her basketball career on Mark Turgeon. Oh yes, while the rest of us wanted to be Danny Manning or Paul Pierce, Erin wanted to be a 5’9’’ slow backup guard.

Actually Turgeon was a solid player for Larry Brown (Erin – not so much of a solid player). At least she didn’t want to be Jeff Gueldner.

Turgeon took a laughably bad program to a Missouri Valley regular-season championship. Wichita has also locked up a tournament bid (yes, I’m calling it, even a first round loss in the Valley tournament won’t keep the Shockers out). The last time Wichita was in the NCAAs was 1988 under former Dean Smith assistant Eddie Fogler (what else happened that year in college basketball, it reminds me of something...). The following year my father bought all-session tickets to the Valley conference tournament. The first night, in their first-round game, playing at home, Wichita lost. So we spent the next two days watching thrilling match-ups like the Drake Bulldogs against the SIU Salukis! Fogler left after that year (maybe, I’m really just guessing, I was only 9), and Wichita sucked for the next 15 years.

I loved that tournament anyway for two reasons. One, I got a mini-basketball, and two, I saw a guy dunk a ball that then hit the guy in the head and went back up through the rim (which does NOT count as a field goal).

The point is that winning the title is quite an accomplishment. For the NCAAs seeding-wise I think they’re looking at a 7. Win the conference tournament, and maybe a 6, but I don’t think so. The bracketbuster loss to George Mason doesn’t look so great, as Mason ended up sharing the Colonial title with UNC-Wilmington (but don’t sleep on Wilmington either!) I like Wichita to win that first round game, but don’t be too high on the rest of the Valley teams in the Dance. And don’t believe the hype – 3 Valley teams will get invites unless a weird team wins the conference tournament. Forget this 4-5 bids crap. Northern Iowa is garbage.

The OTHER basketball team in Kansas

Good teams don’t lose games by 25 points. Oh, except on the road in conference to top 10 teams. It was ugly watching KU get blasted by Texas, but entirely predictable. Texas is big up front, and forward LeMarcus Eldridge is lottery-pick good. You don't think Texas remembered the ass-whipping KU put on them in Lawrence last do you? Now KU just needs to tank either the CU game or the K-State game to escape the dreaded 5 seed. Although I don’t think it really matters until the Sweet Sixteen, and I’m just praying they make it that far.

I don’t know that there’s really anything else to say about the Jayhawks this week. Julian Wright is good. Giles and Kaun played soft and need to get meaner on the boards. Brandon sucked, and should come back to KU next year and win the title. This is the slow week before the really fun stuff – Championship Week!

The Big East tournament is going to be unreal. I don’t think I’m going to be allowed back into my folk’s house after saying that, but it’s been sneaking up on me for a couple years. The first time was out of necessity two years ago, living in Seattle. The Big East tournament is on ESPN in its entirety, and no one carried the early rounds of the Big 12 tourney. And I found myself enjoying the games! The Horror! Then last year, you had West Virginia coming out of nowhere to win the conference and end up making a run to the Elite 8. This year you’ll have several top 25 teams, as well as some big-time schools like Cincy and Louisville playing desperate. Hopefully we’ll get the rubber match between Nova and UCONN – two schools looking very 2001 Duke-Marylandish.

OK, moving past my new found love for all things Big East – poor George Washington got BAD news with the injury of forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu (who, if he can return and lead GW deep into the tournament, could challenge God Shamgod’s 1998 performance in leading Providence to the Elite 8 for most valuable guy with a weird name). GW is still a mystery to me though. I’m thinking second round loss Gonzaga-style (won’t that be a fun flameout this year with Morrison crying over his insulin?), but a St. Joe's-style Elite 8 run is possible too.

Here’s your breakdown by league:

SEC – sucks. Florida and Tennessee way over-hyped (I know, last week I called out Tennessee as a team to beat). LSU is VERY good though (Glen Davis is no longer a mustached white guy Houston Astro – he’s a black guy averaging a double-double!).

PAC 10 – better than the SEC, but with no Final 4 threat. Go with first round wins for UCLA, CAL, Zona, and UW, but no further.

BIG 10 – Ohio State is good. The rest are not title threats, but probably better than the rest of the major conferences.

ACC – who knows? UNC is good, Duke is good, the rest not so much.

Do not pick Bucknell to win this year. They will be beaten soundly in the first round. Do pick Utah State or Air Force if they get in the field.