Wichita State (+1.5) at SW Missouri State - 1:00pm Pacific

The Shocker's are the preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference.  This will be their first conference game and first big test.  They return four starters and their top six scorers from last season.  Junior guard Randy Burns is solidly built and is equally adept at scoring from the outside and slashing to the basket.  Junior forward Jamar Howard is equally as versatile and is a tremendous defender (conference defensive player of the year last season).  Both are likely to be on the all conference team at the end of the season.  Senior point guard "Fridge" Holman is lightning quick with the ball and can set up easy baskets if SMS decides to play any kind of full court press.  6-10 sophomore center Paul Miller provides good size along with junior forward Rob Kampan.  There is plenty of experience and depth here.  Eight players saw more than 15 minutes of action at KSU in last game. 

 

WSU comes in at 5-2, both of their losses could easily have been wins.  They lost by 3 in Puerto Rico Paradise Jam Final vs Boston College and by 4 at Kansas State on Wednesday.  They played poorly vs KSU, it was definitely their worst offensive showing of the season as they scored only 50 points.  Howard, the teams leading scorer, sprained his knee in practice two days before the game and did not start.  He ended up playing 31 minutes and looked close to his normal self, but not quite 100%.  Shockers led by as much as 10 in the second half, but poor shot selection, poor shooting, poor rebounding (due to playing a lot of zone defense), and turnovers led to a four point loss.  They never trailed by more than four in the entire game despite not playing to their ability.  Two games back, the Shockers won on the road by 17 at Manhattan over a Jasper team that returned four starters from an NCAA tournament team.

 

SMS lost what head coach Barry Hinson called "the backbone of our team" when guard Terrance McGee graduated.  Four starters return this year, but McGee led the Bears in minutes played, scoring, 3-pointers made, free throws made, assists, and steals, all by decided margins.  The Bears are still trying to figure out the right lineups (three different starting lineups so far) and roles for its current group of players.  Coach Hinson cannot be pleased to play the conference favorite this early in the season.  SMS is coming off a 14 point road loss (as a 7 point favorite) at San Diego on Wednesday.  USD is not a good team yet they led from start to finish and won in convincing fashion.  This is despite SMS reserve guard Ahearn hitting 6 second half 3-pointers.  The Bears are 7-12 straight up the last two seasons in games played before Christmas.  SMS finished last season 1-4 ATS and are 1-3 ATS so far this season.

 

Wichita State won both meetings, home and away, vs SMS last season.  With SMS losing such a key player, WSU appears to easily be the more improved team from last year.  The Shockers did well on the road in conference play last season.  They went 5-4 straight up and 7-2 ATS in MVC road games.  Wichita State has played a much tougher schedule and have been in more competitive games than SMS this year which should do them well.  Their team continuity is far ahead that of SMS at this point in the season.  Shockers are coming off a bitter loss at Kansas State in which they played poorly but they know a win here in conference play will erase that and more.

 

Wichita State  1 UNIT