2016 NCAA Tournament Bracket: Wichita State Shockers earn 11-seed in South region

Wichita State will be an 11-seed in the South region, playing in First Four in Dayton, Ohio, in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The Shockers will face off against the Vanderbilt Commordores.

Wichita State finished the season 24-8, and 16-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference. In the process they won their third straight regular season MVC title.

They were eliminated in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 57-52 loss to the eventual champions Northern Iowa Panthers.

Wichita State entered Saturday with an RPI of 46, and a Strength of Schedule of 105. The Shockers were 1-2 against the RPI Top 50. The losses came to Iowa in Hawaii -- a loss without Fred Van Vleet on the floor -- and to Seton Hall on the road. They finished 3-5 against teams 51-100 in the RPI, but all of the wins came within the Valley.

The biggest issue hanging over the Shockers was that period when Van Vleet was not available to the team. They were swept in Hawaii and missed several chances to score bigger wins that would have made their selection a no-brainer.

Wichita State was averaging between a 9- and 10-seed among the myriad of bracketologists at the Bracket Matrix heading into Sunday, but its selection was no guarantee, having been left off of nine brackets.