KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Michael O'Donnell is prescient and thrilled and, to be honest, a little bit miserable. Because the closer his Wichita State Shockers get to national respect, he fears, the farther they drift from making his dream a reality.
"Yeah, this will probably divide it even further," chuckles O'Donnell, the Kansas state senator from Wichita who drew headlines — and raspberries — in February when he introduced legislation that would force Kansas and Kansas State to schedule the Shockers in men's basketball. "(But Wichita) achieving a Final Four, for us to advance to the Final Four, only validates my argument to the public. Not necessarily toward Kansas and K-State, but nationally … I feel like it's getting national momentum."
Nationally? Maybe. But locally, where it counts, Bill 144 never made it out of the regionals, reportedly crashing in the committee stages.
Still, at least it got both sides of the aisle — not Republicans and Democrats, but Big 12 and Missouri Valley — talking about the idea again. Because it's a good one.
Scratch that. A great one.
K-State hasn't played Wichita in men's hoops since 2003. Kansas has been Shocker-less since 1993. Yes, the Jayhawks had won 12 of the last 14 meetings, and the scores got progressively uglier. Yes, the 1993 game at Allen Fieldhouse was a 49-point laugher. Yes, the year before, in Wichita, KU won by 30.
But any Jayhawk and Wildcat argument that it wouldn't be — ahem — competitive these days is two parts absurd and three parts delusional. The Shockers have racked up an average of 27.8 victories over the past four seasons; the Wildcats have averaged 25.2, the Jayhawks, 32.4. Wichita just appeared in its first Final Four since Lyndon Johnson was president and has reached back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 1987-88.
With Creighton leaving the Missouri Valley Conference and coach Gregg Marshall (so far) rebuffing offers from BCS-level suitors, the Shockers could well be on cusp of positioning themselves in the MVC the way Gonzaga has positioned itself in the West Coast Conference — the new standard, the baddest bully on the block.
"I am intensely excited at the success that the Shockers have had," O'Donnell says of Wichita State, which finished this season with a 30-9 record and a loss to 1-seeded Louisville in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. "And it validates my initial arguments that Wichita State would be a viable competition for both Kansas and Kansas State, that we're not some low, sub-standard team that isn't worthy of playing Kansas or Kansas State."
In fact, all three of Kansas' Division I programs have rarely had it better at the same time. K-State is coming off a share of its first Big 12 title — one it split with the rival Jayhawks — since 1977. Kansas has won nine straight league crowns.
All three of the state's coaches — Marshall, Bill Self and Bruce Weber — have now reached at least one Final Four in their careers. And for the first time since the 1965 preseason, all three programs appeared in the same Associated Press poll.
"Ultimately, (if) we keep going to Sweet 16s, Elite Eights, Final Fours, it will behoove them to play us," Marshall said late last month. "Right now, they don't have anything to gain, so the want to avoid the potential embarrassment of losing to us."
Over the last three seasons, the Jayhawks have danced with Belmont, Richmond, Valparaiso, Missouri-Kansas City and Davidson — and Self's 2012 national runner-up, last March's surprise juggernaut, actually lost to the Wildcats at Kansas City's Sprint Center, 80-74, on December 19, 2011.
Funny. The world kept on spinning.
Self isn't afraid to schedule mid-majors that might make his team work up a sweat. He just doesn't seem to want to schedule one that could use a victory over KU as a potential recruiting chip. Jayhawk star-to-be Perry Ellis hails from Wichita. So does KU signee Conner Frankamp.
"This is another reason for them to avoid it," offered Melissa Cain, Wichita State's Class of '05, one of roughly 150 Shocker alums who turned up Saturday for a watch party at the Fox and Hound Bar & Grill in suburban Overland Park, Kan. "Why do they play Pittsburg (Kan.) State? It makes their egos grow bigger than they already are."
"Their fans are just scared (of) what'll happen if we lose," countered Lainy Kinzel, a KU alum and one of Cain's pals. "I think it's just the embarrassment thing."
And while many KU and K-State fans won't engage in a serious discussion about playing the Shockers again, they sure has heck didn't waste any time voicing their opinions to O'Donnell via e-mails and phone messages.
"Just harassment," O'Donnell says, chuckling again. "It was more just friendly harassment, especially (from) people down in Wichita who are Kansas or Kansas State fans. They just think there are bigger things to focus on and had some other arguments."
True enough, but that doesn't make the man's point any less valid. Even if it is a fanboy pipe dream.
"I feel like we've been slighted by a lot of people," O'Donnell says. "They (hedge) a lot of times, in saying, ‘Well, you've got a good little program in Wichita, but it's not what we have up in Manhattan or what we have up in Lawrence.' But we're proud of that little league team down in Wichita. That's what's most stressful, being treated like a ‘bitty-ball' team, when obviously we're Final Four material."
Obviously. Ironic, isn't it? After decades of being told they weren't up to snuff, suddenly, the Shockers are too good for their own good. For the state's "Big Two," it's a classic no-win situation. They know it. Marshall knows it. Shocker fans know it. Deep down, O'Donnell knows it, too.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
