Official Wichita State vs Henderson State Game Thread (Exhibition)

[another shocker]

for the out-of-towners that may have missed the game: samajae haynes-jones= the real deal. at temple? at houston? etc. .. no problem. that guy is a winner, through and through. bank it. you will like his game.. a whole lot.

[wufan]

I didn’t realize Shaq had 16 points in 17 minutes. He’s just so quick and has so much size.

Kelly also had a quiet 10. He did a nice job playing the three for extended time.

Once everyone is healthy, I think we have a pretty clear 10 man rotation. Landry, Conner and Samajae will get the vast majority of guard minutes. Zach, Markis, Rashard, and Darrell get virtually all the wing time. Shaq and Rauno with a little Willis sprinkled in will play the post. Austin is the 10th man and will primarily back up Conner.

Rod, CJ, and Asbjorn will see situational minutes this year I would imagine.

The top 10 gives us pretty good size, athleticism, and skill for 40 minutes across all five positions. It will be difficult for the American teams to create any mismatches (Tako Fall excluded).

[Dan]

Redshirts for Rod and Mitgaard?

[AZ Shocker]

for the out-of-towners that may have missed the game: samajae haynes-jones= the real deal. at temple? at houston? etc. .. no problem. that guy is a winner, through and through. bank it. you will like his game.. a whole lot.

Awesome! Can't wait to see him on tv!!!! Thanks!!!

[asiseeit]

Hard to tell a lot from game last night. Need to see SMJ against quality teams before I get giddy.
I think RB has some rough edges and considering amount of minutes he is likely to play against
good teams a RS seems likely to me. I think AM could have real value THIS season and play in
meaningful minutes in some games. I like having those five fouls in the bank to use as needed.
Second half was very sloppy and unfocused offensively last night. Poor ball movement, poor
interior passing and court vision the second half on offense. Defense always good.

[im4wsu]

Felt like a MVC game. Glad we are out of the MVC.

Nah, the MVC teams struggled to get 20 by halftime.

[jdshock]

Just like we retire numbers, we need to retire initials. Not sure I'm going to read RB correctly even once in the next four years.

[WuDrWu]

Hats off to Henderson State, those kids played hard to the end and without fear. They should be proud of themselves.

Shaq was outstanding in almost every way. Just shows how high the young man's ceiling really is. I hope he has the fantastic senior season he deserves.

Conner was even better. He and Shaq could have each had 50 last night if they wanted. I cannot get over how much he's improved, and he wasn't exactly bad to start. Happy for him that he gets to play on THE best team in the state, if not the country.

Kelly and Brown may be the best 2 glue guys ever. They just bust tail and do the little things day in and day out with little fanfare.

Willis appears to have made some nice progress which he needed to, but I'll reserve too many pats on the back until he's done it against someone he doesn't have a 20"+ reach advantage.

Rauno just needs to be Rauno, but we all don't need to be shown the Hannah love young man. Keep those shorts up! Tough game for he and AM.

I want to forget Austin's game. I just want him to be healthy and stay healthy. I cringe every time he takes a charge. He's too good to be that bad.

Thanks to Kaelen, Brett, Brycen and Jacob for doing what you do. Working hard and being great teammates. I know you won't get to play much but you all are appreciated.

Newcomers

Samajae Haynes-Jones - Well he's ready. Before it was generally known that we were changing conferences, one of the coaches told me SHJ was going to destroy people this season, the assertion being that our conference mates wouldn't be able to handle his athleticism. I honestly cannot even imagine another Valley schedule. I don't think beatings like that are even fun for the players after awhile. This guy's the real deal. Little slow on the jumper, especially considering how blazing fast he is, but man can he go.

I liked what I saw from Rod Brown. Good motor and some skills too. Also took (what I'm certain is) his daily dose of verbal abuse from HCGM like a man and took it as instructive. Important, because there is little doubt that abuse will continue for the freshman. If we're going to be healthy, he probably redshirts and is a very good piece of the puzzle next season, but it appears we're not going to be healthy.

Asbjorn Midtgaard. Have to wait to see more. The game was way too fast for him yesterday, but then he's never going to be asked to play guys that much smaller and quicker than he is. But my first take was that he's not going to help this year. But man is he large.

Landry looks fantastic. I hope he's 100%. I don't like seeing Markis on crutches. Not sure what to think of CJ, but it's all bad.

Pretty sure that healthy, and all other things being equal, Shamet, Morris, McDuffie, Frankamp, Willis, Brown, Kelly, Haynes-Jones, Nurger led by HCGM are combined the best team in the country right now. Great combination of talent, size, athleticism, effort, dedication and coaching nine deep. Would love Reaves to make it 10.

[Topshock]

Frankamp-Reminded me of North High Conner tonight. More of that.
SHJ-How did this kid only average 16 a game at Hutch? Super fast and seems in control for a guy brand new to D1 and the Marshall system.
Reaves-I don't think Reaves has played much basketball between the shoulder, pneumonia and the sore foot. He needs to knock the rust off and I have no doubt he will in due time.
Shaq-Not sure about the three three-point attempts. He was a man amongst boys in the paint, though.
Rauno-Gotta love nurks.
Darral-Seems much quicker this year. He's going to put up 20 in a couple of games this year and could be a matchup nightmare for some teams.
God Bear-Gosh I want this kid to succeed so badly. He didn't have a great night. I still think he's going to be a tremendous player.
Rod Brown-There was some good and some bad. I'd prefer him redshirt.
Keyser-Really disappointed he didn't get to play. I'm really hoping he isn't the player that can never get on the court or out of coach's doghouse.

When this team gets LS & MM back, oh my....

This is all you need to know ^^^^^^^

On God Bear, while I hope the above comes to pass there may be a reason we have recruited two more centers.

[Play Angry]

For those able to attend, how was Darral's defense?

[Shockm]

Hard to tell a lot from game last night. Need to see SMJ against quality teams before I get giddy.

I agree that analysis on last night's game needs to be sound and grounded. I do like the athleticism SMJ exhibited, and more importantly, he exhibited that he will run his game through the offense. He is not a one on one "ball hog" and clone of Tyrone Taylor imo. The first half was especially good in these areas.

[wufan]

WuDrWu, totally agree.

[1972Shocker]

This is all you need to know ^^^^^^^

On God Bear, while I hope the above comes to pass there may be a reason we have recruited two more centers.

My impression was we recruited two more centers, one a Juco transfer, because we have Shaq and Rauno (and Darral for that matter) walking out the door at the end of the season. I think 3G has ground fond a having a 3-headed monster at the 5 spot.

I think the best comparison to use in measuring Asbjorn is Garrett Stutz. I think Asbjorn stack up very well against Garrett when comparing them at the same point in their careers. Not sure what, if anything, Asbjorn will give us this year but I am optimistic he will have a good Shocker career.

[wufan]

For those able to attend, how was Darral's defense?

From the TV it looked really good, but he was bigger, stronger, faster, and more skilled than any opponent he defended.

[Topshock]

My impression was we recruited two more centers, one a Juco transfer, because we have Shaq and Rauno (and Darral for that matter) walking out the door at the end of the season. I think 3G has ground fond a having a 3-headed monster at the 5 spot.

I think the best comparison to use in measuring Asbjorn is Garrett Stutz. I think Asbjorn stack up very well against Garrett when comparing them at the same point in their careers. Not sure what, if anything, Asbjorn will give us this year but I am optimistic he will have a good Shocker career.

The game has changed and centers have to be able to go out on the floor and guard smaller players on switches or at the very least be a great rim protector. I didn't see either of those attributes. At least for now, it seems the day of the methodical huge center has passed mainly due to the three point line I think.

Actually we have recruited 3 center at this point although one may possibly be able to play 4.