Big Dance: 14-Seed Thundering Herd Tramples Shockers

For all its faults -- and there are many -- the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee seems to make a habit of tucking a few nifty nuggets into its bracket.

It's almost as if it's daring combatants to fight through a round or two to set up a grudge match.

Thanks to another 4-13 upset -- the second in this year's Dance -- it's got one.

 

For what can only be considered as in-state snobbery, the West Virginia Mountaineers would rather have nothing to do with Marshall's Thundering Herd.

Right now, the Wichita State Shockers kinda get that after being rent asunder, 81-75, by the feisty underdogs:

 

Coach Dan D’Antoni loves to disrupt, on the court or anywhere else where he can hold court.

One unsuspecting reporter discovered this the hard way:

 

Lesson imparted.

And a separate lesson learned.

 

Now, D'Antoni gets to savor trolling the state's big fish, and he hasn't been shy about it.

The clash will offer a stark contrast in styles:

• West Virginia coach Bob Huggins' teams make onlookers realize why rugby players wear pads; while
• D'Antoni's self-proclaimed Hillbilly Ball figures you can't hit what you can't catch.

 

Meanwhile, the upset exposed the Shockers to a bit of serious trolling, too.

Illinois State coach Dan Muller is still torqued that Wichita State bolted from the Valley Conference to the American:

 

The Shockers had won the Valley title four straight years before moving, ostensibly for better payouts and a more challenging schedule.

It's enough to make one wonder what the reception will be if Big Dance darlings Gonzaga go through with their possible move to the Mountain West.

Odds are none will be wondering about the West Virgina-Marshall meeting, though. Scorched earth will reign.