The season conference title is a huge mountain to climb

[Rosewood]

UNI and Mo State will lose one more game AT LEAST outside of the games where we will beat them.

I get that last February was murder for the shox and I'm not penciling in anything but I'm really not worried.

[capnkirk]

MSU has been narrowly winning against everybody since they beat us. They are a good team, but not dominant and could lose a couple more.

UNI is playing with confidence and may actually be more of a threat to us.

If Ind St beats us this week, they will have wins over WSU, MSU and UNI and will be in the hunt. They would virtually have to win out. But I don't think it will happen.

[1979Shocker]

Re: The season conference title is a huge mountain to climb

We easily have the most difficult road to a season conference title, by far:

UNI
- Tough games left are: home vs WSU, home vs Indiana State
- Medium games left are: away @ Evansville and away @ Creighton
* So they get their tough games at home and their medium games away.

I don't look for UNI to beat Creighton.

You're talking about the Creighton team who's 1 game over .500 right now and has a legit shot at Thursday night.

It is Creighton's last home game (Senior night), so that could give them more emphasis.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I would remove SIU from the semi-tough category. They are a miserable basketball team.

I wouldn't argue if you want to redraw the line anywhere you want.

They are in the "medium" category only because they have already beaten UNI once this year, so it's not that they CAN'T beat a good team -- we just know they likely won't.

It's also arguable to dump Evansville. However they have beaten Indiana State twice (BAHAHAHA!!!) .. anyway .. they have a _very_ outside chance of knocking a good team off.

Yeah, you are right. I was nit picking. Sorry.

[Aargh]

The players seem hungry to win, I'm confident that we pull this out and walk away regular season champions.

There's the attitude I like to see.

I'm still sticking with 16-2 in league play. I haven't seen anything to make me believe that can't happen, and I'm sticking with that until it's proven it can't happen.

MSU looked like they were running out of gas late in the game against UNI. I think both MSU and UNI are gasping for air after the game they played in Springfield. Throw in the emotion of the way the game played out and both teams are set up for a trap game in the next week or so.

Now that WSU's front court has come to life with Durley and Blair having consistent results, I have a fair amount of confidence that WSU can take both UNI and MSU on the road.

The first time around WSU had the target on their backs and got UNI's and MSU's best shots. The tables are turned a bit in the rematches. The Shox are looking for revenge against teams that are running down a bit late in the season.

The Shox look like they're peaking at precisely the right time in the season. I think UNI and MSU may have gone past their peaks for the season. From now to the NCAA's, the Valley is Shocker territory.

[tropicalshox]

MSU has been narrowly winning against everybody since they beat us. They are a good team, but not dominant and could lose a couple more.

MSU's league victories are by an average of 7.8 points. WSU's are an average of 16.8 points. Admittedly, MSU's schedule was tougher, but I would say MSU doesn't close out their games as well as WSU. That can lead to problems. In fact, you could say it happened yesterday.

[DUShock]

As I posted in a different thread, it has been and will continue to be my mantra as the Shocks keep winning:

"Men at some time are masters of their fates;
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves..." - - Cassius to Brutus

Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 135–141

[Kung Wu]

DuShock, if you have a good Knute Rockne-esque speech NOW is the time!

You know something like ..

... sometime when the team is up against it .. and the breaks are beating the boys ... tell 'em go out there with all they got and win just one for the Shockernetters ...

[KC Shox]

If we win 2 out of 3 against UNI, MSU and Indy St and win all the other cupcake games we win the regular season title. Simple as that.

With that said, we won't beat UNI or MSU on the road and I'm hanging on by a thread with the thought tha we can beat Indy State at their place. My only hope is that we finish the season with zero bad losses, a bracketbuster win and hopefully one win against UNI or MSU. If we do this, and get to the championship game in the MVC tourney, then I think we make the NCAA's.

[BOBB]

If we win 2 out of 3 against UNI, MSU and Indy St and win all the other cupcake games we win the regular season title. Simple as that.

With that said, we won't beat UNI or MSU on the road and I'm hanging on by a thread with the thought tha we can beat Indy State at their place. My only hope is that we finish the season with zero bad losses, a bracketbuster win and hopefully one win against UNI or MSU. If we do this, and get to the championship game in the MVC tourney, then I think we make the NCAA's.

Disagree here. I like the chance to take 2 of 3. UNI is the scarier game in my book. Two more losses in conference I think sinks our regular season title hopes. I hold out hope that regular season title and either one tournament win with Bracket Buster win, or two tournament wins with Bracket Buster loss gets us there. Regular season runner up and we better break the St. Louis curse. Of course, we need to break it anyway.

[DUShock]

DuShock, if you have a good Knute Rockne-esque speech NOW is the time!

You know something like ..

... sometime when the team is up against it .. and the breaks are beating the boys ... tell 'em go out there with all they got and win just one for the Shockernetters ...

I hope it turns out better than this Gipper speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yHPTdliKmk

Go Shocks!

[jocoshock]

I'm hoping MSU is beginning to wear down and we can get them at their place or maybe InSU can take them down.

Hopefully, you are right. The Springfield newspapers account of the UNI game last night indicated that MSU shot only 28% from the field in the second half. UNI was able to slowly get tack in the game.

If the Shox can maintain their depth and intensity throughout the season, that may be our best shot at the title.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110131/SPORTS040101/101310362/Panthers-exact-revenge-against-Bears?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports

The missed shot epitomized the Bears' second half. They shot only 28 percent and had only two field goals -- both by Weems -- in the final 11 minutes as UNI rallied from eight points behind.

[_kai_]

If we win 2 out of 3 against UNI, MSU and Indy St and win all the other cupcake games we win the regular season title. Simple as that.

With that said, we won't beat UNI or MSU on the road and I'm hanging on by a thread with the thought tha we can beat Indy State at their place. My only hope is that we finish the season with zero bad losses, a bracketbuster win and hopefully one win against UNI or MSU. If we do this, and get to the championship game in the MVC tourney, then I think we make the NCAA's.

If we get swept by MSU and UNI in the regular season, like you say, and don't win the Tournament championship, there is no way in hell we make in the NCAA's as an at large. Zero top 50 RPI wins, and if we do lose those 2 to UNI and MSU, our RPI won't even be in the top 70.

I also disagree that we will lose to MSU and UNI. I think we have a very strong chance at sweeping the rest of the season, as long as our men keep up the tenacity they showed against Bradley. With that guard that Bradley has, thats a game just like UCONN where one player could single handedly beat you, and even though he was on his game at the roundhouse, we still won by 20. We could have easily caved and only won by a handful or god forbid lose that game.

I think GM has lit a fire under their asses, and made them realize its win or go home.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

baby there aint no mountain high enough.......

oh wait nevermind.

[wusphlash]

Look at it this way, very few teams perform at a high level every game of a season. Basketball teams get on rolls where everything falls into place. MSU had it early and won most the close games. UNI has it right now but this is a team that was capable of losing to Indiana State by 30. A much better UNI team lost 2 of their last 4 MVC games last year (Bradley and Evansville). I don't think their current run can last through the end of the year.

On the other hand, I don't believe we have yet had that stretch where the players, coaches, intangibles and stars were all in alignment. Wouldn't it be nice if that stretch came from now to the close of the season.