Good riddance, Gregg Marshall and Shockers

[BUSongwriter]

For a lot of years I have rooted for Wichita State . . . in late March, anyway. Not so anymore.

This story makes me want to puke, with quotes like this from Gregg Marshall:

"Nothing against Peoria or Cedar Falls or Carbondale, but now we've got Orlando and Dallas and Houston and New Orleans. Cincinnati. On and on. Maybe now we can catch an NBA game when we're in town. Or have a nice steak somewhere."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/wichita-state-set-for-debut-in-american-athletic-conference/2017/10/16/bec153cc-b2af-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html?utm_term=.8ddc3999147c

Yes, some of my disgust is jealousy of their success. But most of it is just disgust.

I really like what Brian Wardle is building here. Down the road, I hope our path crosses again with the Shockers in the Big Dance, and that we make Marshall eat his words, which won't be as yummy going down as that nice steak he craves.

[Chico]

Agree with everything he says until he brings up steaks. We have great steak places here.

[Da Coach]

Funny that he did not include Wichita in his list of cities that he is suggesting are podunk.
How many NBA games are played in Wichita?

I have always said he is a moron.

[tornado]

I see a huge difference between loyalty and greed - and the Shockers & their leaders have chosen the latter...there will come a time....

Maybe they will make more money and go to bigger cities - time will tell.....
then again - just maybe the same might happen to them as happened to DePaul....

I doubt they will crash & burn like DePaul but...
DePaul was once a very powerful basketball school - perhaps the #1 or 2 strongest team in Illinois....they had SEVEN 25+ win seasons under Ray & Joey Meyer....and five in a row (1977-82)
Even as recently as 2004-2005 they were putting together back to back 20-win seasons and the big time schools came to hire their coach away...
And yet... they still occasionally were willing to play NIU, Bradley, Loyola, Northwestern and even Chicago State!

THEN they jumped to the Big East and left the smaller conferences (Great Midwest, CUSA) in the dust with eyes on the big time....
So what has happened to DePaul over the last dozen years?? In addition to losing ALL their long time rivalries, their attendance plummeted - now they draw as few as 2000 for some games and even 2/3 of those seats are empty...
Gobs of last place finishes, ZERO NCAA bids, FOUR seasons with 2 or fewer conference wins, SEVEN with four or fewer, five head coaches, and the mere name DePaul gets laughed at as the perfect example of people who have made endless bad decisions over the past 12 years.

[carter]

Wow,sounds like some bitter jealous Bradley fans to me.We can only hope we have the success that Withita St has had in past years.I always liked their program and their coach.I am happy with any coach or program that use to be part of the Valley and have success elsewhere

[tornado]

you must be young, because Bradley has had that kind of success....

First in the late 1930's
then again in the late 1940's
then again in the mid 1950's with another National runnerup finish...
then again in the late 1950's and again in the early to mid-1960's beating #1 ranked teams and winning National Tournament Championships..

and Bradley even had a significant degree of success again in the early to mid-80's with NCAA bids, National Championship titles, and National scoring leaders

and yet - despite the opportunity that DID come knocking - Bradley never jumped to a bigger or better conference like a lot of the other MVC schools have........Bradley is the epitome of loyalty to their conference...

Call it what you want but I feel no obligation to root for or like the guys who rode to success on the backs of their conference mates, then stomped on us when they needed something to complain about for their bad seeds then stabbed us in the back to go for more money...

Hey - check this out...FWIW moving to the big time isn't all gravy- especially if you don't have football...

In 2010 when Creighton was in the MVC, their Athletic budget was about $5 million but their revenue was 16.4% higher than their expenses...so they were extremely profitable!!!!

http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/18/news/companies/basketball_profits/

But now, even tho they haul in much more money ($17 million), they struggle to break even due to skyrocketing costs & other issues - so in reality they are LESS PROFITABLE!!
Go figure....

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20170225/resource-gap-how-smaller-schools-are-struggling-to-keep-up-with-colleges-big-boys

Meanwhile...
their costs skyrocket, tuition is being jacked way up, and they are jacking the price of tickets a bunch!!

https://thesunflower.com/18285/news/the-cost-of-a-degree-at-wichita-state-continues-to-climb-tuition-and-fees-increase/

https://thesunflower.com/16922/sports/wichita-state-ticket-prices-will-increase-with-aac-move/

http://www.omaha.com/news/education/higher-ed-officials-say-proposed-cuts-would-lead-to-hefty/article_c9174a1a-dd0e-11e6-9db3-039de224a4d4.html

[Dub]

I am glad that we have a coaching staff that can be relied upon to act with class. That's all I'd like to say, thanks.

[Chico]

Funny that he did not include Wichita in his list of cities that he is suggesting are podunk.
How many NBA games are played in Wichita?

I have always said he is a moron.

Probably because he was mentioning the cities they visited.

[64NIT]

and yet - despite the opportunity that DID come knocking - Bradley never jumped to a bigger or better conference like a lot of the other MVC schools have........Bradley is the epitome of loyalty to their conference...

I seem to remember that, when Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, and St. Louis all left the Valley in the 1970s, Bradley seemed to express interest in another conference but nothing came of it. I do not remember any opportunities that were courting Bradley. Can you tell what conferences were pursuing Bradley? Thanks.

[tornado]

Bradley was courted by the MCC (Midwest Cities Conference) -Butler, Marquette & Saint Louis were in the conference, and I have heard rumblings of other opportunities like CUSA when DePaul, Saint Louis & Marquette went there..
If you go way back in Bradley's glory days, there were opportunities to go in the 50's & 60's to jump to one of the bigger conferences but probably our weak football stood in the way.
In 2012, Joanne Glasser and Mike Cross went to the east coast to meet with the commissioner of the brand new Big East/Catholic-7 conference and lobbied to get in but by then JG & MC had destroyed our chances so bad by their badly fumbled moves, that the new BE kinda said - don't call us, we'll call you...

[carter]

Hey Tornado,it sounds to me like you're talking out of both sides of your mouth.Its not ok for another valley team jumps ship as you call it but if JG and MC didnt screw up the Big East deal you make it sound like Bradley should have jumped ship too.What gives!!

[Da Coach]

I think you'll find even fewer fans of Joanne Glasser or Mike Cross here than fans of Gregg Marshall.

[bigjimmy]

I think you'll find even fewer fans of Joanne Glasser or Mike Cross here than fans of Gregg Marshall.

I'm shocked, pun intended, that anyone can approach those levels. Even Marshall.

[tornado]

Hey Tornado,it sounds to me like you're talking out of both sides of your mouth.Its not ok for another valley team jumps ship as you call it but if JG and MC didnt screw up the Big East deal you make it sound like Bradley should have jumped ship too.What gives!!

Ha, JG & MC never once represented the best interests of Bradley and Bradley's fans...
I doubt you will find many fans that would have wanted to go to the Big East even if it might have meant more money...

but grabbing for more money was all that JG & MC were ever about- from the money grabbing price gouge in the lower bowl, to tripling some fans' maintenance to moving games to RenCol to save even more $$..all so they could ram raises for themselves down the throats of the gullible board...

Nope, as always, I am consistent in saying Bradley has always been loyal to the MVC notwithstanding th failed effort of the east coast mafia that took over and ran Bradley into the ground thanks to Shaheen & Glasser.

[tornado]

if you need any more reason to not like Greggg Marshall...
read this USAToday article - he takes a swipe at Bradley and mocks us...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/aac/2017/10/23/no-more-shocking-now-aac-wichita-state-has-national-title-aspirations-2017-18/779527001/