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

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

SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 16: The Wichita State Shockers mascot gestures in the second half against the Marshall Thundering Herd during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 16, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

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WICHITA, KS – FEBRUARY 06: Jaime Echenique #21 of the Wichita State Shockers (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images) /

Evaluating The Season

It’s kind of difficult to evaluate this Wichita State basketball season. By most standards, it was absolutely a success. The Shockers put themselves in position to make the NCAA tournament field and obviously improved from last season when they needed a late surge to secure a spot in the NIT. However, I can’t help but feel like this team fell short of what they should have achieved.

We saw the impressive potential of the Shockers in the first half of the season. Their only loss in the first 16 games was a competitive loss to a strong West Virginia team. During that time they took out South Carolina on the road, VCU, Oklahoma, and Memphis. That win over Memphis made the Shockers look like a real contender to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, things took a bad turn from there.

Starting with the loss at Temple, the Shockers looked like a different team. The offense looked completely disjointed in most of their games for the rest of the season, the defense wasn’t as consistently strong, and it always just seemed like the team was struggling to come together. It led to quite a few disappointing results and a major drop in Wichita State’s projected place in the NCAA tournament.

I would still call the season a success, but it really feels like we should have gotten more out of this Shocker squad.