As we are now just under weeks away from the 2020-21 college basketball season, more media outlets and conferences are releasing their preseason predictions and polls. 

Here is how Wichita State has fared in these preseason predictions in the recent seasons. 

American Athletic Conference Coaches Poll

On Oct. 28, the AAC released its annual coaches poll which saw the Shockers ranked as the seventh-best team in the conference. 

In previous years, the coaches have been accurate with the Shockers’ place in the conference. Since joining the conference in 2017, the coaches have nailed the prediction in two out of the three years and have only had the prediction wrong for the 2018-19 season. That season, the coaches predicted the Shockers to finish in eighth place while they ended up in sixth place. 

This season’s prediction of a seventh-place finish is the second-lowest since 2017. Similarly to the 2018-19 season, the Shockers have a sizable overhaul to the roster which could be a result of the lower prediction. 

KenPom

The popular analytics website released its preseason rankings with the Shockers coming in at No. 74 in the country and fifth overall in the AAC. 

In two of the past three seasons, the Shockers have been consistent in improving on their preseason rankings. Last year saw the biggest jump from the preseason to the end of the year, as WSU jumped up 23 spots. 

The only time WSU performed worse than its preseason ranking was back in the 2017-18 season. KenPom projected the Shockers at No. 4 but they ended the season in the No. 21 spot.

ESPN Conference Rankings

Prior to the 2019-20 season, ESPN debuted conference predictions for each conference in Division-I college basketball. Although a small sample size to this point, ESPN has been very accurate in predicting WSU’s season. 

Last year, the consensus of the three ESPN analysts — John Gasaway, Jeff Borzello, Myron Medcalf — was a fourth-place finish which is where the Shockers ended up finishing. This year, they project WSU finishing in fifth place, two spots higher than where the AAC coaches had the Shockers. 

Matt Norlander’s 1-357 Preseason Rankings

Prior to every season, CBS Sports’s Matt Norlander ranks every Division-I college basketball program. This year, Norlander put the Shockers in the No. 86 spot but he said that depends on which coach is roaming the sidelines this upcoming season. 

“The Shockers are a team whose ranking could fluctuate by 40 points depending on whether or not Gregg Marshall is the coach by the time the season begins,” Norlander said in his prediction. “With no news on that front yet, the Shockers are ranked as though Marshall will be on the sideline.”

In the previous two years, Norlander has put the Shockers in the No. 99  (2018-19) and the No. 47 (2020-21) spots respectively. Although it is difficult to judge Norlander’s rankings, WSU flew under the radar two years ago including a trip to the NIT semifinals. Last year, his prediction of WSU was accurate as the program was on the cusp of a NCAA Tournament birth prior to the cancellation of the season.