Not only did we play in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 31 years, but we picked up a nice upset win in the opening round. Won't this improve Marshall's recruiting prospects when it comes to basketball? Our program has shown for the first time in history that we can not only make it to the most sought-after college basketball tournament, but also WIN in the Big Dance. I truly hope that basketball prospects start giving Marshall a second look the same way our football program is respected.
Herd Basketball Recruiting Prospects
- Thread starter AmeriKenny
- Start date
Won't this improve Marshall's recruiting prospects when it comes to basketball?
AK - I HAVE to believe your query would be answered: Hell yes. This whole experience has put the Herd back in the national hoops conversation. You can't buy the kind of exposure we have received in the last 10 days....
AK - I HAVE to believe your query would be answered: Hell yes. This whole experience has put the Herd back in the national hoops conversation. You can't buy the kind of exposure we have received in the last 10 days....
The people at UMBC said their twitter account had 100K hits after their win against UVA and their bookstore had 3500 online orders; when they only had 1500 online orders for all of 2017. The exposure helps. MU student recruiting needs to take advantage of it. I am sure DD and staff will!
This is how Wichita got started, just saying. Before Greg Marshall, they were on par with a middle of the pack Big South team. We really need our conference to turn into what the Missouri Valley used to be, they sent 2 teams on average to the dance most years when they had Creighton, Wichita, Southern Illinois, Drake (probably missing a few contributors). The difference is our bottom teams suck much worse than their bottom teams did at that time. We have potential to be that with ODU, WKU, MT, UNCC (if they can get back to being what they were in the past), UAB, MU, LT. Bottom schools have to stop screwing the worthy program's RPIs.
For any Wichita, there's the likes of Chattanooga, Mercer, George Mason, etc who find tourney success and seem to disappear. The recruiting bump didn't help them return although it could also be attributed to turnover in coaching staff that is common when smaller schools find success.
Got to look at each school's circumstances. George Mason's Final 4 run was both magical and lucrative for them. Their HC was on TV in the Washington Metro Area, probably six million people or so, promoting the school, touting its then billion dollar construction boom, etc. I note that George Mason is actually the largest or second largest university, enrollment wise, in Virginia. Not UVA, not Virginia Tech. Unlike WV, the state of Virginia believes in and financially support a quality higher education system, and not just a self touting "flagship" school!
Anyway, GMU lost its coach who is now quite successful at Miami, FL. They hired a former coach at Georgia Tech (Hewitt?) but he didn't work out. Believe they have another head man now who seems to be turning them around.
As for UTC, yes they went to the Dance last year with something like 27 wins and 5 senior starters (when they beat us). This year they took a big drop, with that many losses from a very good team.
are you a blast from the past? I don't recall seeing you much lately, in any case I'm glad you still with the Herd!
You aren't wrong, BUT that run, as well as VCU's (man the CAA was killer for a few years) landed both those programs in the A10, a perceived step up and I would agree that it is, likely more money. Davidson's little run landed them in the A10 as well, big step up from the southern conference. So they did gain something from it. Mercer, Belmont etc, those are not high mid major, those are low mid majors, even though we know they are good, they lack the funds overall to do much. If you think we are terrible in regards to money, definitely don't look at a low mid major finances.
Yes I am a blast from the past. Life got in the way for a while, job changes, school changes, and I left the Huntington area about 5 years ago for work. After seeing the Herd basketball success this year, I kind of got "reactivated".
Yes I am a blast from the past. Life got in the way for a while, job changes, school changes, and I left the Huntington area about 5 years ago for work. After seeing the Herd basketball success this year, I kind of got "reactivated".
welcome back!
I don't think so. Before Gregg Marshall arrived, WSU had 4 Sweet 16s, 3 Elite 8s, and 1 Final Four. What "middle of the pack Big South team" has that kind of record?
MMM, didn't bother to list those years did ya? the program went dormant after the 80s, dropped to low mid major level in performance, while during that drop, schools like Winthrop were nearly making the tourney every year. Marshall took over in 2007 and built them back up to previous bygone eras. Army won the national championship 300 years ago, does than mean anything today on their status as a program? 2006 Wichita did good but I remember when I was at Radford from 2001-2003, they were an out of conference win for Radford and seen as on the same level during that era.
Wichita State is what Marshall would be if we'd shut down football after the plane crash.
Wichita State is almost to the level of a Creighton or a Butler. In fact you could argue that conference affiliation aside, they ARE that. So let's not get ahead of things. Great run this year, do it again next year or in the neat future and build. It doesn't happen overnight, and it certainly doesn't happen overnight for winning ONE game. A lot of mid majors win one game EVERY YEAR in the tournament. Enjoy the success this year and keep it going!
Those Sweet 16s. Elite 8s, and the Final Four I listed all occurred within my lifetime, so I don't consider those achievements to be ancient history by any means
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