Wichita State’s dominant defense starts with two players who are star stoppers, yet don’t need to guard the opposition’s top scorer.
The defensive talents of Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet are sometimes overlooked because of the totality of their contributions, and because they often don’t take on the marquee assignment. That, of course, makes WSU’s defense all the stronger. Baker and VanVleet can focus their harassment on second and third scoring options and they aren’t taxed by fatigue and fouls while chasing around the first option.
That job usually falls to WSU sophomore Zach Brown and freshman Markis McDuffie, who, after shaky starts, have grown into a tandem that is terrorizing the Missouri Valley Conference.