ATLANTA — Though he was wearing a bright yellow Wichita State Shockers shirt, Blake Baraban graduated from the University of Kansas.

He entered into a lottery for Final Four tickets last year when the Jayhawks went to the national championship game, expecting another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

“There really aren’t any Wichita State fans,” Baraban joked.

“No, there is,” Katie Schippers, who was with Baraban, snapped back at him.

In Centennial Olympic Park, it appeared as though there were plenty of Wichita State fans who made the trip down to Atlanta for the No. 9 seed Shockers’ first Final Four appearance since 1965. The Shockers take on Louisville at 6:09 p.m. Saturday in the Georgia Dome in its second-ever trip to the national semifinal.

Wichita State fans who traveled down to the game harped on the excitement the team has created back in Kansas, as well as the passion the city of Wichita, Kan., has for basketball.

David and Patsy May, who both live in Wichita, made the decision to go to Atlanta as soon as they saw the university was offering a travel package down to Atlanta.

“We came home from church on Sunday, we saw the deal, and we said, ‘Let’s go,’” David May said. The packages sold out in four hours, he said.

Though neither attended Wichita State, two of their children did, he said. David May also teaches dentistry at the university, and said both he and Patsy May are season ticket holders who love the team.

Basketball is huge in Wichita, much like the state of Kansas, said Sandi McInteer, a Shockers fan who traveled down to Atlanta with eight friends from Wichita.

Every place is selling T-shirts, there’s cupcakes with the Shockers logo on them, and almost every news story is about the team, she said. The city’s newspaper, The Wichita Eagle, is planning a 56-page insert about the team, McInteer said.

“Anytime they get this far, it feels pretty good,” she said.

With Kansas and Kansas State, Wichita State is “always like the third stepsister,” McInteer said, though the rest of the state is getting behind the Shockers. McInteer pulled up a picture on her iPhone of the KU Jayhawk wearing a Shockers’ shirt and hat — an image that’s been circulating online back in Kansas.

Ron Horton attended Wichita State on a football scholarship and traveled down to the city with two other alumni from his Class of 1979.

Horton said he wasn’t surprised the Shockers have made it to Atlanta. He talked about how it has been a while since the team has made it this far in the NCAA Tournament, which was part of the reason why it’s important to come out to see the team play, Horton said.

“I think it’s a duty of all alumni to come out and support their team,” Horton said. “Especially when they make it here to a Final Four event.”

Published on April 6, 2013 at 10:16 am

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum