Gregg Marshall wasn’t sure if it was smart at the time, but he knew he needed to do something to get Wichita State out of its rut with the Shockers headed into February with a losing record.
Marshall saw a road map in the rest of WSU’s schedule to continue its postseason streak, but it’s also unusual for him to start talking about postseason goals seven weeks beforehand. But Marshall wasn’t convinced trying to motivate players to be excited to be 12-11 or 14-13 would work, so in February he decided instead to have the Shockers zero in on the National Invitation Tournament.