Wichita State-Kansas is not a rivalry. That much was made clear in the days leading up to this matchup between in-state foes on Sunday in Omaha. But there was something more to this game, at least for one side. You could see it on Wichita State guard Evan Wessel's face following his team's convincing 78-65 win over the Jayhawks.
Wichita State-Kansas is not a rivalry, but it gave the Shockers the moment they deserved
It was a special opportunity in Omaha for both teams, but especially special for one.
When the final buzzer sounded, Wessel and teammate Ron Baker — both Kansans who were not recruited by Kansas — ran over to the Shocker cheering section to give a salute, as if to say "we got 'em." Wessel, his teammates and coach Gregg Marshall had spent the entire week downplaying the emotions of this game, but after the game, Wessel admitted that this one was something special.
“I have to say it, maybe it was,” he said.
It was emotional, and it was special. But a rivalry? Not quite. And after the first meeting between these teams in 20 years — a game everyone was ready to crown as the new beginning of this series between two top programs — it’s no closer to becoming one.
The hordes of Kansas and Wichita State fans that had descended upon Omaha mingled together, sharing just friendly conversation, no words of aggression. And from tipoff until the time the final buzzer sounded on Wichita State’s convincing win over Kansas, there were no on-court antics like the ones we’ve become accustomed to seeing in the most intense of college basketball rivalries. If anything, there was more vitriol directed at the officials than the opposing teams.
This was, for a more apt comparison, a slightly tense game among friends. But there was one team playing with an edge. To one, it meant a little bit more, rivalry or not.
This was Wichita State’s day, and it was the Shockers’ moment. And if this matchup is only going to happen once every 20 years, then it’s best that this was the way it went down.
★★★
There’s one series involving Kansas that, if ever renewed, will feature hostility worthy of the colorful adjectives journalists wish they could apply to this one. But unlike Kansas-Missouri — which was cancelled because of conference realignment and bruised egos and had a fiery ending, that never happened in this series, and the main reason Kansas and Wichita State no longer play each other is that nobody really cared to keep the series going.
The Jayhawks won the final game before Sunday in 1993, 103-54, and won the last five games by an average of 32 points. The series was lopsided by the early 1990s, and now that Roy Williams’ friend from North Carolina, Eddie Fogler, was no longer the Shockers’ coach, the familiarity was gone, as well. Any tension left from those days is gone, and as Wichita State has improved, it hasn’t followed.
Even on the message boards, the pockets of the most extreme fandom, there was no real vitriol to be found. Up until Friday morning, there was no KU hate — nothing even about gaining respect — on the ShockerNet.net basketball forum, and the only real hatred came from a KU fan, who hoped Wichita State fans were ready for the “whoopin” the Jayhawks were going to put on their “sorry ass program.” That incited some bickering, but the reaction was more of a surprised, “uhh ... what?”
Generally, Kansas fans don’t hate Wichita. In a basketball-crazy state, they’re always looking for good basketball and for a team to mildly support out of state pride. This isn’t the “big brother-little brother” dynamic of two big-time state schools. It’s just two good teams and good fan bases that happen to be in close proximity to each other. Just because we’re tempted to call that a rivalry, doesn’t mean it is one.
“I don’t know if big brother, little brother is accurate,” Kansas fan and Rock Chalk Talk writer Steve Fetch — would-be big brother — said. “I think a lot of Kansas fans tend to root for the Shockers as well, but I don’t get the sense that the inverse is true. So maybe that’s like a cousin-cousin rather than big brother-little brother.”
It might not be a rivalry, but it meant a bit more to one group of fans at the CenturyLink Center, and that was obvious as the time wound down. For Kansas fans, it was a disappointing early exit from the NCAA Tournament. For Wichita State fans, it was a trip to the Sweet 16 — plus a win over the big boy from in-state.
“Tremendous respect for their programs, tremendous respect for Bill and what he’s achieved there, but it was just the next game in this tournament, and we wanted to continue to play,” Marshall said. “But Indiana and Kansas in one weekend is pretty special.”
It’s the same for the players. In other rivalries, even players from out of state learn to hate their in-state rivals. It’s not that way with the Shockers or the Jayhawks, who have a lot of ties, but seemingly no bad blood. From the Kansas City Star:
Last year, each team had a Wiggins brother. (Brannen) Greene worked a summer camp with Wichita star Ron Baker. KU's Perry Ellis and Wichita State's Evan Wessel played together at Wichita Heights High. Conner Frankamp transferred from KU to Wichita State. KU's Frank Mason and Wichita's Rashard Kelly played together growing up in Virginia. They like each other. They text often.
The hatred might not be there, but that doesn’t mean the extra motivation isn’t there for the Shockers, all of whom people did not thing were good enough to play for Kansas when their careers started. That’s how it’s goes for most of the Jayhawks’ opponents, but the familiarity here makes it a little bit different.
“We knew,” Jayhawks forward Perry Ellis said of Wichita State’s extra motivation.
This game isn’t Kansas-Missouri. There’s mutual respect and there’s friendliness for all but the 40 minutes the teams play on the court. It’s not a rivalry in the conventional way, but this game was a treat, even if it doesn’t happen again for another 20 years.
★★★
What this epic, 22-years-in-the-making grudge match lacked in hatred and everything else typically associated with heated rivalries, it made up for in, well, everything else.
Kansas is Kansas, and even in a down game, the Jayhawks showed their strength with a strong start. But this was a showcase for Wichita State's backcourt, which is arguably the best in the nation. Between Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker, Evan Wessel and Tekele Cotton, the Shockers' best players were dominant, finishing with all but 18 of their team's 78 points.
Most of the nation knows about that backcourt by now, thanks to the undefeated run last year, but there was still something personal to prove for these players, and that was obvious judging by the emotion exuded by the Shockers, compared to the emotion coming from the Jayhawks.
Baker wasn’t close to getting a Kansas offer coming out of high school, but Sunday night, he got to show his home- state Jayhawks that they messed up. Wessel, who watched Bill Self recruit his teammate Ellis in high school, was the one Self singled out to call a “stud” after the game.
There is a roughly zero percent chance another Kansas kid will get the chance Wessel and Baker just got in the near future. There is no upside for KU to schedule the Shockers, and that’s just as obvious after Sunday night.
There is never going to be a traditional rivalry between these two teams, and that’d a damn shame, but it’s best that this is how it happens. Every 20 years or so, Wichita State deserves this moment. And this one is going to last for a long time.
“The series is good with me right now,” Marshall said.
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