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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014
PAGE 7B
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MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Wichita State basketball team celebrates beating Missouri State 68-45 to end a perfect 31-0 season Saturday in Wichita.
Shockers bring unbeaten record into Valley tourney
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — The last school to go unbeaten in the regular season, St. Joseph's in 2004, lost its first game in the Atlantic 10 tournament by 20 points to Xavier.
Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall plans on throwing that factoid at his players before the Missouri Valley Tournament. The reminder: No one's invincible.
It's also not the end of the world if the Shockers lose. After dropping that tournament opener following a nine-day layoff, top-seeded St. Joseph's advanced to the East Regional final in 2004 before losing to Oklahoma State by two measly points.
"They know they have to play well, and I probably will mention it," Marshall said. "I'm very upfront with them. Yeah, I'll let them know that."
Indiana State (21-9, 12-
6), Northern Iowa (16-14,
10-8) and Missouri State
(19-11, 9-9) are the Nos. 2.
3 and 4 seeds in a field with
one marquee entrant playing
for a potential No. 1 NCAA
tournament seed and the rest
needing to win out to earn
the Valley's automatic bid.
The second-ranked Shockers were 18-0 in conference play, beating every team twice. They're the No.1 seed for the second time in three years and will play the winner of the Drake-Evansville game on Friday.
have won the tourney.
Northern Iowa has won three in a row and sixth seed Southern Illinois has won three of four. They're not worried about what happened a decade ago, just looking to get that hot hand in a tournament that's often wide open. In 23 years in St. Louis, just seven top seeds
Indiana State has its best seed since the 2000 team was No.1, but the Sycamores have lost three in a row. Missouri State has won two of three but lost in the regular-season finale by 23 at Wichita State.
"Indiana State, they're good enough to win the whole thing." Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said.
Even the four play-in schools, with nary a winning record among them and with history against them, don't think it's a lost cause. Since the tournament expanded to all 10 teams in 1997, playin winners are 1-32 in the quarterfinals.
SOFTBALL
Kansas gears up for tournament in Florida
AMIE JUST sports@kansan.com
Junior pitcher Alicia Pile pitches during the softball game against the UMKC Roos. Kansas defeated the Roos 4-0 on April 24, 2013.
Kansas (11-6) is on the road once more before they host its home opener next week. This weekend, Kansas heads to Tampa, Fla., to partake in South Florida's Under Armour Classic.
First up for Kansas is Northwestern (11-4) on Friday. The last time the Jayhawks and the Wildcats met was in 2009 at the Kajikawa Classic. Kansas won the high scoring affair 8-7. Unlike Kansas, Northwestern has met several ranked opponents this season. Northwestern has played Stanford, LSU, South Alabama, Washington, Baylor and defending national champions Oklahoma. All four of their losses come from ranked opponents (Stanford, LSU, Oklahoma and Baylor). Northwestern is just outside of the top 25, sitting 29th in the country.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
In the second game of the tournament, Kansas faces host team South Florida (16-5). The last time the Bulls and the Jayhawks played each other was in 1999 at the South Florida Gladstone Tournament. South Florida won the game 2-0. South Florida has also played ranked opponents. They've played against Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, Louisiana-Lafayette and Stanford. Like Northwestern, South Florida also sits just outside the top 25; South Florida would be ranked 30th nationally.
On the second day of competition, Kansas faces St. John's (5-9). Kansas and
St. John's haven't played one another in at least the past ten years. Before taking on Kansas, St. John's plays the Dutch National Team in an exhibition game. The Dutch are the defending European Champions.
Following the St. John's matchup, Kansas takes on Utah (7-5). The Utes and the Jayhawks last faced off in 2004, with the Jayhawks winning the game 2-1. The Utes will be coming off of a short rest
period, due to their home opener tournament drawing to a close on Wednesday.
Kansas plays one game on the third day of competition. Kansas faces LIU Brooklyn (6-13). The Jayhawks were slated to play the Blackbirds in the first tournament of the season, but was rained out.
First pitch for Kansas takes place on Friday at 10:45 a.m. against Northwestern.
Edited by Brook Barnes