By RENALDO DORSETT
Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
FOR Kadeem Coleby and the Wichita State Shockers, the groundswell of emotion that followed the team’s completion of an historic perfect regular season and senior night has quickly subsided as the No.2 ranked team in the NCAA heads into the postseason.
The Shockers defeated the Missouri State Bears 68-45 at home in the Charles Koch Arena to finish the regular season at 31-0, the first NCAA team to finish the regular season undefeated since St Joseph’s did it in 2004.
For the Shockers, it was a quick turnaround as the Missouri Valley Conference tournament began last night.
The Shockers are the top seed and have a first-round bye in the conference tournament which they have not won since 1987.
“It’s behind us already,” Coleby said in a post game interview with the Wichita Eagle newspaper. “We had one day off and then it was back to work on Monday.”
Coleby was one of several seniors on the team honoured during the game as his collegiate career on the court comes to a close.
“There were a lot of emotions, you get goose bumps being out there and everyone cheering you on. What a wonderful regular season it was and it’s just a really good feeling,” he said. “It was emotional, it was a great feeling but I had to kind of maintain myself, it’s a feeling that you can’t explain.”
The Shockers will be the first team to enter the MVC tournament unbeaten since the aforementioned 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s team.
Wichita State will play the winner of a first-round game between Drake and Evansville today as they chase a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament, March 16 on “Selection Sunday.”
“It’s a crazy feeling. It’s kind of breathtaking,” he said. “They treat us like rock stars out here, even when we go to other teams’ city to play, people are gathered by our hotel asking for pictures and autographs. A lot of people underestimated us early on, but they have witnessed our greatness and now they are starting to believe,” Coleby said. “But coach [Gregg Marshall] hasn’t made any comments about making a run in the NCAA tournament as yet. He talks about taking it one game and one day at a time.”
It is the highest national ranking for the Shockers’ programne since they reached No. 2 during the 1981-82 season.
Wichita State entered the 2013 tournament as the No. 9 seed in the West Region and advanced to the Final Four before they lost to eventual champions, the Louisville Cardinals.
Now, the Shockers have moved from the hunters to the hunted as one of the top teams in the NCAA and on pace for a regional No.1 seed.
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