The streets of St. Louis turned black and yellow over the weekend.

One Wichita State fan recalled being stopped by a couple of tourists who asked “What is a Shocker?”

“They said, ‘We wondered — we saw so much gold and black it was unbelievable,’” Kay Hole remembered. “And I don’t know how many fans we had here yesterday, but I think we had more fans than any of the other teams.”

Shocker fans walked the streets of St. Louis and, during WSU games, filled nearly half of the Scottrade Center, the host of this year’s Missouri Valley Conference, where 10 teams competed for the MVC championship. Illinois State knocked out WSU 65-62 in the semifinal round Saturday.

“After the team lost, I was disappointed and shocked,” sophomore Riley Rathbun said. “I thought for sure we’d win.”

Although the Shockers held a lead in the first half, ISU rallied for a comeback in the second — and they got it.

“Illinois State played a great game, and they deserve to win,” Jeff Craddock said. “They played their best game, and we played well. But they beat us.”

Shocker faithful didn’t get down, though.

“It’s a good wake up call for the NCAA tournament,” Sandy Nahrendore said. “They’re going to come out hard and angry.”

The WSU Alumni Association coordinated six buses to travel to St. Louis, filled with students, alumnae and other fans. Junior guard Evan Wessel’s grandmother celebrated a birthday over the weekend — Hole said fans sang her “Happy Birthday” at least twice. Several Scott City residents made the trip from theirs and junior guard Ron Baker’s hometown, too, and were socialites on the bus.

“The bus is a little camaraderie,” Hole said.

Fans traveled far and wide to make it to the tournament. At a pep rally Friday morning before WSU played Southern Illinois, Alumni Association president Courtney Marshall pointed out that fans traveled from Palm Springs to Missouri to cheer on the Shockers.

“They’re the best in the world,” Craddock said of WSU fans. “You can’t find better than Shocker fans. If you noticed, they cheered just as loud when we lost as when we win.”

At the championship game Sunday between UNI and ISU, some Shocker fans stuck around.

“Even with these two teams playing, you’re going to see a lot of black and gold,” Richard Rico said.

Jason Unruh and his family have been to the MVC tournament two years in a row. They sat among Northern Iowa fans in the championship game on Sunday.

“We love it,” he said. “It’s good experience for the kids and for the family. It’s always a good time here.”

Now that conference play has ended, WSU is looking to the NCAA tournament. Brackets will be determined this weekend in Selection Sunday, and fans of the Valley are hoping for a triple MVC appearance in the tournament — Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Illinois State.

“It means you can have good representation from the Valley in there,” Unruh said. “Open the discussion for more change outside of the major conferences, is better.”

Still, Shocker fans were hoping for consecutive MVC championships. For Nahrendore, what made the loss even more heartbreaking is that the WSU team is “the classiest group of guys.”

“My mom is disabled, and when they go to home games, it never fails that if you want an autograph, they never say no,” she said. “They’re so classy. And Gregg Marshall is the best. I just love him.

“He genuinely cares, and the whole team reflects his personality.”