The Wichita State men’s basketball team has been seeing increased ranking in preseason polls since their Final Four run last March. Monday the Associated Press named WSU forward Cleanthony Early as an honorable mention for their All-American team.

Early is a 6-foot-8 senior from Middletown, NY and one of the teams key players.

This is the newest poll that has named Wichita State as one of the top contenders in the country going into the basketball season.

Another poll by AP released last Thursday ranked WSU 16th in the country, just behind Gonzaga, who the Shockers beat last year 76-70 in their NCAA Tournament matchup.

Early went six for eleven in that game with four three-pointers and seven rebounds.

Preseason polls don’t tell the whole story, but every team that The Shockers bested last year in the NCAA tournament was either ranked ahead of them in polls or is not in the top 25.

Ohio State was ranked No. 11, WSU beat them to get into the Final Four. In the Final Four game, WSU lost to Louisville 68-72. Louisville ranked No. 3 in the poll.

Sometimes these polls say about as much as an angsty teen’s cryptic Facebook status. The big takeaway is that the team is on people’s radars more than it has been in some previous years.

In their first exhibition game of the season on Saturday, Wichita State beat the Oklahoma Baptists 73-29, holding the Bison to just one basket in the first half. Early nailed three shots in the game with seven rebounds.

Oklahoma Baptist might not be an elite team, but getting the win was a good start to the season for the Shockers.

Although the team and some of its players may be ranked a little lower than some would like, the Shockers were a bracket-buster last year during the NCAA tournament, leaving bookies in Vegas dumfounded and gamblers weeping.

But nobody is saying Marshall and the boys can’t do it again, least of all a preseason poll.