Wichita State Basketball: 2019-20 season overview of the Shockers

This Wichita State basketball season was a tale of two teams. What’s to make of the Shockers overall in 2019-20?

The first half of the year for Wichita State Basketball went exactly according to plan. The Shockers went 11-1 in November and December, with the only loss coming against West Virginia. Then they won their first four games in January, including three in conference, to run that record to 15-1. They looked like a team prepared to win their conference en route to an NCAA tournament run. Then things started to go south for them.

They dropped their first conference game at Temple, which by itself wasn’t too much to worry about because of the way that many top teams were struggling to win on the road. Then they returned home and were dismantled by Houston. Those two losses were the start of a 2-5 run that dropped them way down in the AAC standings and in the seedings of bracketologists everywhere.

They closed the season winning 5 of their last 8 to keep their NCAA hopes alive and get themselves the 4th seed in an AAC tournament that never ended up happening.

If the NCAA tournament had been played, we likely would have seen the Shockers make an early exit. They looked set to earn an 11 seed, and probably would have gotten a tough 6 seed as their opponent. In the Busting Brackets NCAA Tournament, that opponent was Virginia, who was picked to advance past the Shockers. If the game had actually happened, that still should have been the result.