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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
PAGE 7
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"There's so much to be said about this rivalry with Kansas, but really, it's all about the fans. What better story is there for Wichita State?"
-Fred VanVleet, ESPN
FACT OF THE DAY
Wichita State is now 3-0 all-time against No. 2 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: What former Wichita State Shocker is playing for the New York Knicks?
A: Cleanthony Early
- ESPN
THE MORNING BREW
Wichita State can make deep run in NCAA Tournament again
When Selection Sunday came around, Wichita State was a projected
five seed after losing in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Tournament three weeks ago in St. Louis. Now, the Shockers are heading to the Sweet 16 as a No. 7 seed in the Midwest Regional with big wins against the Indiana Hoosiers and the Jayhawks this past weekend in Omaha, Neb.
Wichita State shocked everyone Sunday, playing Kansas for the first time in more than 20 years. Going into the matchup, the Shockers were 2-0 against No. 2 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. They got Kansas and won by 13 in great fashion. In 2013, No. 8-seed Wichita State made a Cinderella run through the West Regional, which included
knocking off Gonzaga, a No. 1 seed, during the tournament in Salt Lake City. Then Wichita State picked up wins against LaSalle and Ohio State in Los Angeles to advance to the Final Four.
Even though the Shockers lost to the eventual 2013 National Champion, Louisville, some of those players are still playing for Wichita State. Ron Baker was a redshirt freshman, Fred VanVleet was a freshman, and Evan Wessel and Tekele Cotton were sophomores.
Those players are juniors and seniors, and the
experience gives Wichita State an advantage going into the Midwest Regional, held in Cleveland. This week, Wichita State can shock the world again if the team can pick up wins against quality opponents.
First, the Shockers have to get past the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Notre Dame has struggled in the first two games of the tournament and could give Wichita State a bit of an advantage. If Wichita State can
get a win against Notre Dame, then a rematch with Kentucky is in the works if both teams advance.
Wichita State is looking for revenge if the matchup with Kentucky happens. Kentucky ended the Shockers
perfect season last year as a No. 8 seed, eventually making it into the National Championship game but lost to Connecticut.
If the Shockers can play like they did against the Jayhawks, with five players scoring in double figures, and can make shots consistently, they just might do it again in 2015.
As season ends, Terps feel 'this is just the beginning'
— Edited by Valerie Haag
Maryland's Melo Trimble fights off West Virginia's Juwan Staten in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 32 in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday. No. 5-seed West Virginia defeated Maryland, a No.4 seed, 69-59 to move on to the Sweet 16.
PAUL VERNON/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
LDON MARKUS
Tribune News Service
A year ago, the exodus was about to begin at Maryland. Five scholarship players with remaining eligibility left the program after a 17-15 season that concluded with the Terps failing to reach the postseason for the second time in Mark Turgeon's three years and the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year.
As the 2014-15 season ends, the excitement around the program is only building.
Atter Sunday's 69-59 loss to West Virginia in the third round of the NCAA tournament, the Terps (28-7) are expected to lose five scholarship players — swingman Dez Wells, forwards Evan Smotrycz and Jon Graham and guards Richaud Pack and Varun Ram.
For Turgeon, it's not so much who's leaving, but who will return, and who's coming in for next season.
Barring the departure of freshman Melo Trimble to the NBA — a move that is considered highly unlikely despite the 6-foot-3 point guard being named first-team All-Big Ten by the media — Maryland will arguably return its most talented team since winning a national championship in 2001-02.
"A year ago today, I was not in a very good place," Turgeon said in the hallway outside the locker room Sunday night at Nationwide Arena. "Today, I'm in a great place because of that group in there. I knew in June that they were going to be a good group, and they would be fun to coach. I just hate that I couldn't help them more tonight and get them to a Sweet 16. I'm really really proud of this group — 28 wins and they did a lot of great things. Great kids."
Asked if what the Terps have coming back for next season makes the loss to the Mountaineers easier to digest, Turgeon smiled.
"We set a standard. We set a standard where Maryland basketball should be at," he said. "We had great leadership in
Dez Wells. He was unbelievable this year. Our leadership standard has been set. The way we should win has been set. We have great young players coming back. We have a really good one sitting out in Robert Carter. We're going to do some things in recruiting, too.
"We've got a lot of momentum. Maryland's a special place. This is just the beginning of a bright future."
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Carter is expected to give the Terps an inside presence they have lacked since Alex Len left. Carter sat out this season after transferring from Georgia Tech, where he averaged 11.4 points and 8.4 rebounds as a sophomore, and he spent the past year improving his three-point shot.
Along with Carter, 6-foot-9,
210-pound forward Ivan
Bender, a former star on the
Croatian junior national team,
came to College Park in early
January sat out this season.
Jaylen Brantley, a former 4-star recruit who just finished a year of junior college, will give the Terps a second point guard they lacked in the loss to the Mountaineers.
In terms of recruiting, Maryland is one of the finalists — along with Wisconsin and Connecticut — for 6-10, 250-pound Diamond Stone, who just led his team in Milwaukee to its fourth straight state title and is ranked the No. 2 center recruit in the country and the No. 7 player overall. The Terps are also in the running with Arizona and Louisville for Yankuba Sima, a 6-11 forward from Spain who played with freshman center Michal Cekovsky last year in the Canary Islands.
According to a source familiar with Maryland's recruiting plans, Turgeon could also be in the market for a defensive-minded wing who can help ease the burden of losing the team's two best perimeter
defenders, Wells and Pack. The player could be an incoming freshman or a fifth-year senior who, like Pack, could become eligible immediately.
"We set a standard. We set a standard where Maryland basketball should be at."
MARK TURGEON
Maryland men's basketball coach
Aside from Trimble, their leading scorer, the Terps will bring back another freshman who showed his promise as a three-point shooter with a penchant for making big shots — 6-7 wing Jaren Nickens. His 12-point outburst in the first half of Friday's victory over Valparaiso was similar to contributions he made in wins against Iowa State and at
Oklahoma State. Terps legend Juan Dixon even said Nickens reminded him of himself.
"I trust Coach Turgeon and the coaching staff that they're going to bring in the right pieces for us," Nickens said. "We're going to have Rob Carter next year. We're going to spend the summer getting stronger and quicker and just getting better skillwise and adding dimensions to our game. Being that we have one year under our belt, next year we'll be very good. We'll be great."
Two other freshmen, shooting guard Dion Wiley and the 7-1 Cekovsky, also showed flashes of potential in big-game settings. Early in the season, Wiley kept the Terps competitive against Virginia in a game Wells missed with a fractured wrist. Late in the season, Cekovsky held his own against Wisconsin All-American Frank Kaminsky in a game won by the Terps at Xfinity Center. One of the biggest voids will
One of the biggest voids will
be filling the leadership provided by the seniors, Wells in particular.
Though he did not play well Sunday night — finishing with nine points and eight turnovers while playing with an upper respiratory condition he developed over the weekend — Wells will be remembered in College Park as a player who helped made the Terps relevant on a national level.
"Dez's legacy's going to be, he put Maryland back on the map," Turgeon said. "Maryland basketball had been off the map for five years. He put Maryland back on the map with his leadership, his competitive spirit. Think about what we did. We won nine out of 10 games down the stretch.
"That's so hard to do in college basketball unless you have the best players or seven pros running around, which we don't. Dez just put us on his back. His legacy going to be is that he brought Maryland basketball back to where it needs to be."
Junior forward lake Layman, who was a third-team Big Ten selection by the media, will be the only returning senior, so he will need to take the next step in his overall development as a player and become a more vocal leader, something he showed signs of doing this season despite not being as natural in that role as Wells.
"Obviously becoming a senior, definitely [I've] got to step into that leadership." Layman said. "We losing a lot of seniors. That's tough to replace. With the experience the young guys got this year, we're going to have leadership all around."
Despite the disappointing loss to end of the season, Layman said he can appreciate what the Terps accomplished over the past few months.
"I think everyone's looking at it that way," he said. "Obviously this loss hurts, but every one is looking back at this year and saying, 'Wow, we did special things when nobody really believed in us.' It's just a really special year, and it's just a pleasure to be a part of this team and this program."
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