Previewing the Cincinnati/Wichita State Game Today

Cincinnati at Wichita State (-3) – Noon

The only conference with regular season games left today will be the AAC and luckily for them, their top two teams will be playing for a conference championship. Wichita State hosts Cincinnati on senior night and the winner will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. However, a win by Wichita means it will just be a share of the conference title as Cincinnati is a game up right now.

I was in person to watch these two teams play in Cincinnati and quite honestly I don’t know if I’ve ever been more impressed with a team in person than I was with Wichita State. I left that game doing a complete 180 on how I felt about them. Landry Shamet is bigger in person. Shaq Morris is bigger in person. They simply have the size and more importantly they carry themselves like they know/think they are the better team. Shamet was dancing after made threes. They didn’t panic whenever Cincinnati made a run. They didn’t let the crowd – which was extremely loud and wild – take them out of their game, especially when Cincinnati was pressing. It made me realize why so many people think they are a Final Four team. That’s nothing against Cincinnati, a Final Four type team as well, I just left that game impressed with Wichita.

I mentioned the pressing a bit earlier and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cincinnati do this again. They didn’t trap Wichita to force turnovers but rather sent a double on Shamet to get the ball out of his hands. The problem with that though is Wichita has shooters on the court that can kill you. If you let Frankamp walk into a three it’s going to go in. If you let Reaves walk into a three it’s going in. It’s what makes the pressing idea so tough. You don’t want Shamet to have the ball, but Wichita has so many other options to attack with. That’s where the biggest advantage is for Wichita over Cincinnati. Shamet is a top-10 point guard in the country while Cincinnati has question marks at the point guard spot. Cane Broome is a great offensive guard but can’t really bother Shamet defensively. Justin Jenifer doesn’t really bring a whole lot offensively but does a better job bothering Shamet defensively.

Another thing to watch is just how healthy Jacob Evans is. He sprained his ankle against Tulane and even if it’s a light ankle sprain, that’s still an injury that will linger. That’s especially true on a quick turnaround and playing the way Evans does. What Cincinnati can do though is play through Washington and Clark without having to bang it into the post. They both can step out and hit mid range shots and it keeps the floor open. The player where Cincinnati has an advantage though is Jarron Cumberland. The 6’5″ guard can take you off the bounce and can hit big shots, despite shooting just 33% from three.

I’m going to take Wichita in this game. Throw in the fact this is senior night and likely Shamet’s last game at home as well, it just seems like everything is in that favor. The biggest thing for me is the point guard battle which I discussed earlier Another key to watch – Cincinnati actually struggles rebounding the ball defensively. You can’t give up extra possessions to a team like Wichita. I’ll take the Shockers here.