Physical Wichita State Team Looks to Exceed Expectations SALT LAKE CITY - There are some unlikely N.C.A.A. tournament teams here. Southern qualifies. So does Harvard. In many ways, although less obvious ones, so does Wichita State. The Shockers made the tournament last season, their first since 2006. The year before, they seized the National Invitation Tournament title. This made them a popular upset choice, at least until they fell to Virginia Commonwealth in a close opener, 62-59. This season, Wichita State did not have the same sort of expectations. It was not favored to return. Its top five scorers graduated. It lost three of its five new starters at different points throughout the season to injury. One, guard Evan Wessel, is out for the year. Yet here Wichita State is anyway, opposite Pittsburgh, in an 8-9 game in the West region. The Shockers are here for the same reasons the Panthers are: Because both teams play a brand of basketball that more closely resembles football. Because both teams rebound and both teams defend and both teams bruise. "Everyone said it was a rebuilding year," said Cleanthony Early, a junior forward. His motto on Twitter is "Grinding Hard Now, Live Good Later." "They didn't expect us to get far," he continued. We worked every single day to make that happen. The Shockers rank seventh nationally in rebounding margin (plus-8.4) and stand 43rd in scoring defense (60.7 points a game). They look a lot, actually, like Pittsburgh, a team long known for its physical imprint. "They play extremely hard," the Pitt star Tray Woodall said. I know three years ago when we played them they had the same concept. I was impressed with the physicality. It reminded us of our style of play in the Big East.