Vanderbilt's size a match for Wichita State's experience?

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Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings was asked about the valuable NCAA Tournament experience of senior center Josh Henderson at Monday?s First Four practice.

But Henderson, a sixth-year senior, has never played in an NCAA Tournament game. He is merely the only remaining member of the 2012 roster, which played in the Big Dance. Compare that to Wichita State, which will play in its fifth straight NCAA Tournament, including runs to the Final Four and Sweet Sixteen.

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall referenced the ?bigs? in his undersized lineup ? that is, the team?s rotation of post players, who all stand no taller than 6-foot-8. Compare that to Vanderbilt?s three 7-footers.

Experience and size are certainly relative terms when it comes to the matchup of Vanderbilt?s oversized lineup and Wichita State?s postseason veterans. Both will try to compensate for what they lack to advance to the 64-team bracket.



?Some people say that one team has an advantage, but it?s still just basketball,? sophomore forward Jeff Roberson said. ?None of that matters. All that matters is the next 40 (minutes).?

At Monday?s practices, both coaches claimed the opposing team had the better situation in the battle of size versus experience.

?There?s not much that?s more overrated than height in a basketball game,? Stallings said. ?And you know what they say about experience ? you can't teach it. So I think that?s certainly an advantage for them.?

In Marshall?s opening statement, he highlighted Vanderbilt?s size advantage at nearly every position, and then he tried to grab the underdog role as firmly as possible.

?They?re bigger. They?re more athletic. They?re longer. They shoot it better,? he said. ?So I?m trying to find our advantage.?



Away from the coach-speak, players on both teams dismissed the differences in the battle of No. 11 seeds.

Will a lack of NCAA Tournament experience bring butterflies to Vanderbilt?s belly?

?Uh, no. I?m never nervous,? guard Matthew Fisher-Davis said. ?I mean this is just basketball. The court is the same. The basket is the same.?

And will Vanderbilt?s 7-footers overpower Wichita State?s smaller lineup? All-American guard Ron Baker said he?s not worried about it.

?We haven?t (played) many 7-footers this year. (Stephen) Zimmerman from UNLV rings a bell and (Jakob) Poeltl from Utah, probably the only two that we faced this year,? Baker said. ?But we were pretty successful against them. We will just try to wear them down, get them away from the basket.?

 

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Wichita State needs to turn UD Arena into a shooter?s gym



First Four notes from Dayton


Vanderbilt?s commodore is sophomore guard

Vanderbilt?s offense starts with sophomore guard Wade Baldwin, a player whom Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said possesses some of Russell Westbrook?s flair and physical ability.

?You see guys follow or emulate certain NBA players and he?s got some of that,? Marshall said. ?He?s ultra-talented, long, can get to the rim, can shoot it deep.?

Baldwin, from Belle Mead, N.J., earned second-team All-SEC honors last week and averages 14.3 points, 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds. He shoots 41.4 percent (41 of 99) from three-point range and 79.6 percent from the line. His 152 made foul shots (191 attempts) are more than any Shocker has attempted.

SEC?s mystery team in Dayton

The Commodores started the season ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press poll and moved up to No. 16 with a 6-1 record.


Since then, they are 13-12. That inconsistency is mystifying from a team regarded as well-stocked with talent and players with NBA potential.

?They?re bigger, they?re more athletic,? Marshall said. ?They shoot it better. So I?m trying to find our advantage.?

Now that Vanderbilt is in, the Commodores are free to forget the struggles of the regular season. In early January, they lost 7 of 10 games with injuries, defensive breakdowns and turnovers playing roles. The Commodores gave up 69 or more points in six of those games and allowed five opponents to shoot better than 38 percent from three-point range. They committed 17 turnovers in losses to Baylor and LSU and 26 in a loss to Arkansas.

?There?s been, as is with any team, some positives and negatives,? forward Luke Kornet said. ?I?d say that if we just develop some momentum, we can be a very dangerous team. I think we have all the pieces to make a run in this tournament and we definitely plan on it.?

Vanderbilt lost its last two games and 12th-seeded Tennessee eliminated it from the SEC Tournament last week in a first-round game. A loss Tuesday ends a disappointing season. A win can start to fulfill some of the promise from November, when media members voted the Commodores second in the SEC preseason poll.

?We?re on full display now,? Baldwin said.

Not a priority

In Wichita, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet are celebrities of the highest order.

Not in Nashville, Tenn. Baldwin admitted he hadn?t heard of either Shocker guard until he started preparing for the game.

?I didn?t know who they were until (Sunday), when they told us about their team,? he said. ?I?m not really familiar with them at all. But I will be ? I was last night. I will be a lot today.?

On a hot streak

Vanderbilt guard Matthew Fisher-Davis enters NCAA play peaking as a scorer. He reached double figures in eight of the past nine games, including a career-high 20 in a 74-62 win over Kentucky on Feb. 27.

Fisher-Davis, a sophomore, leads the SEC by making 45.7 percent of his threes (79 of 173).

?Matthew?s been putting a lot more time in the gym,? Baldwin said. ?He?s a terrific shooter. It?s definitely starting to click for him now.?

Shockers are back again

The bright lights of the NCAA Tournament don?t go on full wattage until Thursday. The First Four is more low-key, with fewer media members and a relaxed atmosphere in UD Arena compared to the main bracket sites.

So this might be a good starting point for Vanderbilt. Only sixth-year senior Josh Henderson is still around around the 2012 NCAA Tournament team and he played in eight games that season, none in the tournament, because of a stress fracture in his right foot.

Wichita State, of course, is loaded with NCAA experience while making its fifth straight trip. It owns a total of 41 tournament games on its roster, 20 of those with Baker and VanVleet. Evan Wessel took a medical hardship that season because of a broken finger.

?You know what they say about experience ? you can?t teach it,? Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. ?I think that?s certainly an advantage for them. They?ve won a bunch of games in those times that they?ve played. Our team is just going to have to settle into the game and stick to our plan.?

WSU is making a school-record fifth consecutive appearance. It has won a game in the past three tournaments, one of nine schools to do so. It is the fourth Missouri Valley Conference school with five consecutive tournaments and the first since Southern Illinois went to six from 2002-07.

Two other MVC teams won games in three or more tournaments in a row ? Cincinnati from 1959-63 and Drake from 1969-71.

538 disagrees with seed

Wichita State could point to several statistical rankings that indicate the Shockers are significantly better than a No. 11 seed. Add fivethirtyeight.com, ESPN.com?s stats-heavy arm, to that list.

Its calculation rank the Shockers No. 21 in the field, the first seed lower than a No. 7 on the list. Vanderbilt is three spots below the Shockers and followed by Gonzaga, also an 11 seed.

WSU?s probability of reaching the Final Four is 2.7 percent, second behind Gonzaga (3.2) among the 11 seeds and ahead of Vandy (2.4).

Kansas is given the great chance of reaching the Final Four (45.1) and winning the title (19.1).

Thanks, Rick and Larry

The NCAA released its seeding list from No. 1 to No. 68 on Sunday night. Wichita State appeared to get some help from problems at SMU and Louisville that took those teams out of the tournament.

WSU was seeded No. 43, second-to-last among at-large selections ahead of No. 45 Tulsa. With SMU (25-5) and Louisville (23-8) certain at-large teams, the possibility appears strong the Shockers and Tulsa might have dropped out of the pool of 36 at-large teams.

The NCAA banned SMU, and coach Larry Brown, from postseason play for violations that included academic fraud. Brown, former coach at Kansas, was suspended for nine games. Louisville self-imposed a ban earlier this season after a woman made accusations that she and other escorts were paid to dance and have sex with players and recruits from 2010-14. Coach Rick Pitino has denied knowing about those events.

Northern Iowa was seeded No. 46.

Worth noting

Wichita State is the first Missouri Valley Conference team to play in the First Four.? The Shockers are the lowest-seeded MVC regular-season champion since Northern Iowa earned a No. 12 seed in 2009. Missouri State did not make the field in 2011. ? Several coaches with connections to Wichita State are coaching in minor postseason tournaments. On Monday, East Tennessee State accepted a spot in the eight-team Vegas 16. The Bucs, coached by former WSU assistant Steve Forbes, play Louisiana Tech on Monday in Las Vegas. Matt Braeuer, a WSU player and graduate assistant, is an assistant with Sam Houston State, which is in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Former Shocker assist Dana Ford (Tennessee State) and former Marshall assistant Zach Spiker (Army) are also in the CIT. In the College Basketball Invitational, former Shocker Jake White plays for Omaha and former assistant coach Marty Gross is an assistant at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. ? Vanderbilt is making its 14th NCAA appearance, seventh under Stallings. WSU is in the NCAAs for the 13th time and is 15-13. It is an 11-seed for the third time, losing in the first round in 1985 (Georgia) and 1987 (St. John?s).

--Paul Suellentrop