The 2017–18 Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team represented Wichita State University in the

2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four in San Antonio on April 2, 2018. Practices officially began on September 2 ...

. They played their home games at Charles Koch Arena in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

and are led by 11th-year head coach

Gregg Marshall Michael Gregg Marshall (born February 27, 1963) is an American college basketball coach whose most recent position was head coach at Wichita State University. Marshall has coached his teams to appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball ...

. The season marked the Shockers' first season as members of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 25–8, 14–4 in AAC play to finish a tie for second place. As the No. 2 seed in the AAC tournament, they defeated

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in the quarterfinals before losing to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the seventh season. As the No. 4 seed in the East region, they were upset in the first round by Marshall.

Previous season

The Shockers finished the 2016–17 season 31–5, 17–1 to finish in a tie for first place in MVC play. In the MVC tournament, they beat Bradley,

Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

, and

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a Public university, public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is reco ...

to win the tournament championship. As a result, they earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 10 seed in the South region (considered by everyone to be too high), they defeated No. 7

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

in the first round before losing to No. 2

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

in the second round. The season marked the Shockers' final season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference as the school announced on April 7, 2017 that it would be joining the American Athletic Conference effective July 1, 2017.

Offseason

Returning players

It was expected that the Shockers would return all five starters and nearly all of their scholarship players from the prior season. The only two seniors on the prior season's roster, Zach Bush and John Robert Simon, were walk-ons. Two underclass players, rising junior Eric Hamilton and rising senior Daishon Smith, announced plans to transfer from Wichita State. Hamilton had been a little-used reserve; Smith had started at point guard at the beginning of the 2016–17 season, but lost his starting position to Landry Shamet and was seeing relatively little playing time by the end of the season. Two other players, Markis McDuffie and Shaquille Morris, declared for the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

, but neither hired an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

, allowing them to return to Wichita State if they withdrew from the draft within 10 days of the end of the mid-May NBA Draft Combine (specifically May 24). Both withdrew from the draft the day before the deadline.

Departures

2017 recruiting class

Source

Injuries

On July 21, 2017, point guard

Landry Shamet Landry Michael Shamet (born March 13, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers. Early life Shamet was born ...

, a potential All-American, suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and would need surgery. He was expected to miss 12–16 weeks to recover from the injury. Shamet was expected to be ready for the team's season opener on November 10, and that proved true, as he scored 17 points in only 17 minutes of action in the Shockers' 109–57 blowout of UMKC and, according to the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, "looked completely recovered". Shortly before practices began on September 29, it was announced that

Markis McDuffie Markis Derek McDuffie (born September 6, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for JDA Dijon of the LNB Pro A and the Basketball Champions League. He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers. High school career McDuf ...

would be sidelined with a stress fracture in his left foot. It was expected that he would miss a majority of the non-conference schedule, but would return some time in late December. McDuffie returned for the final non-conference game on December 22 game against Florida Gulf Coast.

Preseason

At the conference's annual media day, the Shockers were narrowly picked to finish second in the AAC, receiving five of the 12 first place votes.

was named to the preseason All-AAC first team.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style=, Non-Conference Regular season , - , - !colspan=9 style=, AAC regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, AAC tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

^Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll at the same time AP did.
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team Wichita State Shockers men's basketball seasons

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Collective noun *Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names * Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves Healthcare * Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerge ...