In a way, this season for the Wichita State men’s basketball team has been a rewarding one to coach Gregg Marshall. In another, his most challenging.
No one in the program, Marshall especially, was used to or tolerated losing. But at one point, the Shockers went nearly six weeks with a lone victory to celebrate. WSU lost six of its first seven games in the American Athletic Conference, punctuated by demoralizing blowout losses on the road to South Florida and Connecticut.
Losing takes a toll on any team, but it could have easily broken a Shockers team with eight of 11 players new to the Division I level and the three others adjusting to significantly expanded roles.