Photo courtesy of Wichita State

Cave Spring grad Gregg Marshall (center) is the Wichita State coach. The Shockers play at No. 24 Northern Iowa today.

Cave Spring graduate Gregg Marshall took Winthrop to seven NCAA tournaments.

His current school is shaping up to be a contender for the NCAA tournament this year.

Marshall is in his third season as the coach at Wichita State, which is 19-4, 8-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers beat then-No. 16 Texas Tech in December and then-No. 20 Northern Iowa last month.

If the Shockers can win tonight's rematch at Northern Iowa, currently No. 24 in The Associated Press poll, it would enhance their chances of an at-large NCAA bid should they fail to win the league tournament. Wichita State is No. 48 in the RPI, and will visit Utah State in a "BracketBusters" game on Feb. 20 on ESPN2.

"We've got the size and the talent and the athleticism to certainly compete and play in the NCAA tournament," said Marshall, whose school last made the NCAAs in 2006.

Marshall, 46, built Winthrop into the dominant program in the Big South. At Wichita State, he took over a team that already had a long Division I history. Antoine Carr, Cliff Livingston and Xavier McDaniel are among those who have played for the Shockers.

One year after steering the Shockers to the Sweet 16, Mark Turgeon exited in 2007 to become the coach at Texas A&M. Marshall left Winthrop, a Rock Hill, S.C., school with 6,600 students, to coach at a school with 14,235 students and a 10,512-seat arena. Wichita is Kansas' biggest city, with a population of more than 350,000.

"Wichita has embraced the Shockers for many years," Marshall said. "We have such great resources because our games are so well-attended. Our team flies around on charter jets. ... I recruit on private jets. The resources here ... make the job a lot easier."

Marshall, who coached Winthrop from 1998-2007, doesn't mind being in the same state as national powers Kansas and Kansas State.

"In South Carolina, football wags the tail of the dog," Marshall said. "Here in Kansas, basketball is the deal."

Wichita State is in second place behind Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley, a league that also includes the likes of Creighton, Bradley and Southern Illinois.

"It's good basketball. It is the flagship sport in the Missouri Valley Conference," Marshall said. "Every place you go, with one or two exceptions, is an event -- a packed house, huge arenas. There's tradition."

W&L men clicking

The Washington and Lee men's team could be headed for a third straight winning season.

The Generals are 12-6, 4-5 in the ODAC. Last week they won at Randolph-Macon, at the time No. 9 in Division III, for the first time since the 1958-59 season.

W&L leads the ODAC in scoring defense (61.6 ppg).

"We're pretty long," said coach Adam Hutchinson, who picked up his 100th career win last weekend. "It's probably somewhat difficult to shoot over us."

But the Generals rank last in the league in scoring offense (61.6 ppg) and field-goal percentage (41.1 percent).

Senior forward Ben Goetsch is averaging 16.5 points and ranks second in the league in rebounding (8.8 rpg).

"This year we needed more from him individually and he just stepped up and delivered," Hutchinson said.

Junior guard Jason Cimino, a first-year starter, leads the ODAC in assist-turnover ratio.

"He's just gotten so much better in terms of his maturity, his focus, his commitment," Hutchinson said.

W&L hosts Emory & Henry tonight and Guilford, the No. 1 team in the d3hoops.com poll, Saturday.

Big year for Bolton

W&L sophomore Becca Bolton is a 5-foot-9 small forward, but she averages a double-double.

Bolton ranks third in the ODAC in scoring (16.8 ppg) and second in rebounding (11.1 rpg).

"She reads the ball really well coming off the rim. She constantly moves on offense, so it makes her very difficult to box out," coach Mandy King said.

Bolton scored 31 points in a win over Guilford last week.

"Becca's really a special player," King said. "Whenever she touches it, something good's going to happen. She's either going to score or she's going to get fouled or she's going to be able to pass it to an open teammate."

The Generals are 9-8 overall and 8-5 in the ODAC.

"We're rebounding it really well defensively," King said. "We're limiting teams to one shot, and that has allowed us to have a lot of confidence.

"The belief is palpable. We set high goals for ourselves every year, but this year there's just something very different."

Bolton and teammate Felice Herman rank 1-2 in the ODAC in field-goal percentage, while Meg Ingram is averaging 11.4 points and a league-best 3.8 assists.