Fans surround Shocker player Darryl Willis after Wichita State beat Illinois State in St. Louis, Missouri, to capture the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship. This would be the last time that the Shockers would ever play in St. Louis, Missouri, because of a conference switch-up.
Written by Hunter Fullhart, Photography & Social Media Editor
Wichita State basketball has officially outgrown its Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) roots and has lost the label of “mid-major” because the Shockers have finally found a new place to call home.
On Friday, April 7, the American Athletic Conference (AAC) voted unanimously to accept the Shockers into their conference since the Shockers were looking to depart from the MVC, and the AAC believes that the Shockers will be a vile part of their conference growing stronger.
So what does this mean for Wichita State? Well, it means that they will get to play better teams and get the national credibility they deserve and have been striving for. They got that attention whenever Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet were on the team, but now they’re gone.
This team, in my honest opinion, is the best team that I have ever seen in my 15 years of being a Shocker fan. This team is well-balanced, they have the numbers to compete against any team in the nation, their offense is killer and most importantly, their defense is about as constricting as a boa.
The MVC had 10 schools and the AAC has 12, which means the Shockers will play different teams they necessarily haven’t played against. The AAC houses the following schools: University of Central Florida (UCF), Cincinnati, University of Connecticut (UConn), East Carolina University, University of Houston, Memphis, University of South Florida (USF), Southern Methodist University (SMU), Temple, Tulane, Tulsa and football-only Navy. With the addition of WSU, the AAC will have 13 effective Saturday, July 1.
The Shockers are the oldest member of the MVC since they joined in 1945. During the span of 72 years in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Shocks have racked up nine All-Americans, seven-straight 25+ win seasons, 13 NCAA tournament appearances, which include the most recent five-straight appearances, two Final Fours, 10 MVC regular season championships, which includes the most recent back-to-back-to-back-to-back MVC championships.
The Shockers reached unprecedented success in the MVC, but it was time to move and this conference was the best possible move that the university could have made. Sure, it was fun sliding through the MVC with only a couple of bumps along the way, but it’s going to be ultra-exciting having some actual competitive basketball teams to play against. With this move, the Shockers are catching the attention of other schools. In fact, Wichita State made a deal with Baylor to have a two-game home-and-home series, which is a step in the right direction for the Shockers.
The fact that I get to start at Wichita State when we join this conference is more than exciting! The entire town and university are buzzing with eagerness, and they can’t wait for November to roll around to finally get to see the boys in yellow tackle this new opportunity that lies ahead.
The Shockers will be hungry, determined, anxious and more importantly, hungry. The Shocks are picked to be a pre-season top 10 team, and I believe next year’s squad will be so determined for a national championship, that this upcoming year might be the time to make a run for it. The American Athletic Conference does not know what they got themselves into.