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Every juicy success story has its gut check.
For Wichita State, that moment came with less than eight minutes remaining in the Shockers' duel with No. 1 seed Gonzaga during the 2013 NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City. They were down by six, and for all they knew, their season was soon ending on the Energy Solutions Arena floor.
Coach Gregg Marshall saw their heads fixed to the ground, and called them over. Then, he asked them a question: If you guys knew at the start of the season that you would be down six points to the No. 1 team in the nation, would you have taken it for a chance to go to the Sweet 16?
One by one, each of them affirmed they would. Recollecting the moment earlier this week, it's clear Marshall still has great reverence for it.
"Then those guys had one of the greatest offensive displays in tournament history," he said.
The crowd of 16,060 packing in ESA was treated to 23 Wichita State points in only nine possessions, as the No. 9-seeded Shockers flipped their deficit to a seven-point lead. It took five 3-pointers, a couple of free throws, and a ton of grit. As Marshall and his team celebrated the upset in the corner with their traveling fans, the world got the message: Wichita State had arrived.
The Shockers have returned to Salt Lake City this week, preparing to take on No. 25 Utah at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night. In less than two years, Wichita State has grown from undaunted midmajor to a program that is consistently in the top 15 in the nation, and it has won 41 of its 43 games since that day and went to the Final Four that year.
The Shockers shock no one — they rarely take the floor as an underdog anymore.
That tournament game in Utah, Marshall acknowledged, could be considered the Shockers' graduation into the top tier college basketball. Even before the game, Marshall told the media he thought if his team beat Gonzaga, then the ruling class of non-power conference hoops, he could see his program "skip a couple of rungs" in its development.
"We're more at the forefront of people's minds now," he said. " We got ranked No. 11 in the preseason poll, and that doesn't happen every day. But to me, it's about how you sustain that, which is what Gonzaga did, and that's the mark of a truly great program and it's hard to do."
Fans who attended the game back in March 2013 may recall the poise of two then-freshmen: the way the ball simply flew off Ron Baker's hands into the hoop, or how Fred VanVleet's poise helped sink the Bulldogs before he plunged the dagger with two free throws with 39 seconds left.
Not many powerhouse programs can say they still have their talented guards from their Final Four run two seasons back, but the Shockers can. Baker leads the team in scoring, while VanVleet has developed a reputation for efficiency. Both were preseason award candidates.
"It's definitely a comforting feeling having those two, like a security blanket," Marshall said. "Both were dynamite as sophomores when we won 35 straight. They were just so focused and so diligent. And now they're juniors, and they're still the same way."
Larry Krystkowiak has more sour memories from that game. He was a biased fan: He was pulling for his friend Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who he had predicted would go to the Final Four that year. He didn't get much pleasure seeing Wichita State displace the Bulldogs as that season's Cinderella.
Someone close to Krystkowiak at least had a positive experience: His sons were ball boys for the tournament, and said Cleanthony Early and Baker were their favorites.
But what Krystkowiak saw then and what he sees now from Wichita State are pretty similar: The Shockers won't let their own mistakes kill them.
"They're a team that they're not going to beat themselves," he said. "You have to have some things line up in your favor and make some plays."
Added Krystkowiak: "They're no secret anymore."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
No. 8 Wichita St. at No. 25 Utah
O Jon M. Huntsman Center
Tipoff • 9 p.m.
TV • ESPN2
Radio • ESPN 700
Records • WSU (4-0); Utah (5-1)
Series history • Utah leads, 6-1
Last meeting • Dec. 21, 1991 at WSU; Utah 58, WSU 36
About the Shockers • Wichita State features two preseason All-American candidates in junior guards Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker. … The Shockers have won 41 of their last 43 games, including trips to the NCAA Tournament Final Four in 2013 and the round of 32 in 2014. … Wichita State is No. 6 nationally in fewest turnovers (42) while VanVleet is ranked No. 8 with a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
About the Utes • Utah is leading the Pac-12 in several defensive categories, including scoring defense (55.0 ppg) and shooting percentage defense (35.1 percent). … Freshman Jakob Poeltl is shooting a Pac-12-leading 75 percent from the floor and also ranks third in blocks (3 bpg) and second in offensive rebounding (4.17 rpg). … The last time Utah played a top-10 team at the Huntsman Center was in 2002 in a 51-49 win over No. 1-ranked Alabama.