Wichita State basketball lands a little higher than expected in season-debut NET rankings

Taylor Eldridge

The NCAA Evaluation Tool, better known as the NET rankings, made its public debut on Monday, revealing the Wichita State men’s basketball team at No. 88 in the country.

That’s a little higher than expected for the Shockers, which fell to 7-2 following Sunday’s 82-72 loss at Missouri on Sunday afternoon. WSU is currently ranked No. 103 nationally on KenPom, No. 91 on Bart Torvik, No. 82 on ESPN’s BPI and No. 83 on Haslametrics.

So far WSU has come up empty in its two chances to score Quadrant 1 or Quadrant 2 victories, losing to Liberty (No. 43 NET) on a neutral court and Missouri (No. 114 NET) on the road. WSU has two more such opportunities left in its nonconference schedule with neutral-site dates in Kansas City left against Kansas State (No. 100 NET) and Kansas (No. 16 NET).

A look at Wichita State’s team sheet in the first NET rankings of the season. NCAA/Courtesy
A look at Wichita State’s team sheet in the first NET rankings of the season. NCAA/Courtesy

The Shockers are 6-0 in Quadrant 3 and Quadrant 4 games with their two best wins coming at home over Richmond (No. 85 NET) and Lipscomb (No. 144 NET).

Around the American Athletic Conference, Florida Atlantic checked in at No. 11 in the country, followed by Tulane (No. 66), Memphis (No. 71), SMU (No. 84), WSU (No. 88), North Texas (No. 104) and Charlotte (No. 110).

It should be noted that a team’s NET ranking can change drastically over the course of a season, so Monday’s positions should only be considered a starting point.

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