AAC Basketball: Preseason rankings for 2019-20 season

Gregg Marshall lost as much as almost anyone in the country between 2018 and 2019, and it should be reassuring to Shockers fans that he was able to keep the program’s head above water during a year with huge turnover. Wichita finished 10-8 in conference play last season, and knocked off Clemson and Indiana on a run to the NIT Final Four. And unlike South Florida, the Shockers improved significantly as the season progressed. They finished 9-2 in their last 11 games after being blown out by the likes of Louisiana Tech, Oklahoma and VCU during the non-conference slate, barely squeezing out victories against Jacksonville State and Southern Miss.

The Shockers will be better this year, and Gregg Marshall will have that program back to competing for titles sooner than later, but they do still lose a significant portion of their production again heading into this season. Markus McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones are gone, and they don’t return anyone who averaged in double digits last year. But promising sophomores like Dexter Dennis, Erik Stevenson, Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler and Jamarius Burton could all be significant contributors, forming an effective rotation with Jaime Echenique and West Virginia transfer Teddy Allen that could win 12 or 13 games in league play.