WSU vs Houston Game Thread.

[Shocker85]

Willis' block #10 on top plays this morning.

That play is a perfect example of why the Shockers under Gregg Marshall are consistently so good. The guys never, ever give up on plays.

Most teams, most players concede that layup after the primary defender got beaten on the drive. Our guys say, "Nope, not here." We see if often ... chasing down break-away run-outs, loose balls, etc. Also, the opposing players keep that **** in the back of their minds, thinking "Man, my stuff is going to get swatted."

What great effort by Willis.

[WstateU]

You always look good when you shoot the ball well.

However, make no mistake, this game was about the return of Marshall defense. Zach Brown was fanflippingtastic. Those guys, that can really shoot it, had very few good looks. I'm a nightmare to sit next to during a game because I talk to myself in a running commentary but even I took notice of how many times I said "tough shot" when Houston scored. They got almost nothing easy.

The entire team played excellent D. Perimeter D was amazing. Did they get 1 really good look from 3? Maybe, but I doubt it was more than 2. Austin Reaves also was outstanding defensively. OUTSTANDING. I have to think that being ball faked has been addressed. For a long time the entire team went for way too many shot fakes trying to block shots....I saw much less of that problem the last 2 games.

One home game in and I cannot tell you how happy I am for our program to be in this league.

The 20th will be a different game I promise you. I was a lot more impressed with Houston after the game than I was before. They really missed Brady (21 and & 9 last game against Temple in only 18 minutes!) but I was impressed with their effort (they NEVER packed it in when clearly there was opportunity), they got after us, they are MUCH faster than us, plenty athletic and strong. And they were prepared. Their doubling of the post was as good or better than UNI who is great at it. Gray is super. I was also impressed with Coach Sampson, on a variety of levels. Houston is going to be a handful and then some as long as he's there. This is a great league.

Our scout was spot on. We got Conner a favorable matchup, we exploited our advantages and limited theirs. I wonder if Jans helped on a day off?

Kelly making fun of himself after the airball, then laughing it off, was a special moment.

Conner Fankamp.

Landry Shamet.

It's easy to be a good winner, but it made it extra enjoyable to see the players and coaches share the excitement after a long run of ass chewing.

Great night, great game.

IB had the scout and coach Marshall praised him during the post game radio interview.

[Shaqness]

I'm a big IB fan. Glad he's with us.

[Shaqness]

The guys were waiting on:

AM - Great opportunity for him to get some playing time. Didn't get a a chance at a post up. Set endless and often unused screens. Affected shooters well. Can't run. Can't catch. Can't rebound. Whatever league he was at before here, nobody boxed out. This kid has a long road before him.
SHJ - Still the same player. Amazing speed to the rim. Has no finishing skills once he gets there. Looks like he is attempting to run more offense. Gregg likes the kid, alot.
CJ - Should have transferred. He looked good with that one drive, though.

[asiseeit]

Agree with you on CJ although I hate seeing such athleticism go to waste.
Jones is a bit of a mystery to me. So smooth and dynamic in a couple games
and nothing in most all others. Has to be a confidence thing. AM is the one I'd take
issue with you on. Had a great help block last night although RK, I believe, was
called for a foul on the play. Don't think AM will ever be counted on to be a prolific
scorer but we have and will have plenty of guys on the team to score. He will be
needed as a rim protector and in that regard he shows great potential. His rebounding
will come with more minutes. I think he has decent hands for a freshman center and
compares favorably all around with some previous big guys who started slow and
ended strong.

[Shaqness]

I understand you comment about AM not being a prolific scorer. I agree. I think you're giving him way to much credit when you say "decent hands". Shaq could catch before he put on a WSU uniform.

[ShockingButTrue]

The Chickens could use AM on the glass right now. Hell, they could use a tight end on the glass if they had to... oh, wait...

[WstateU]

The guys were waiting on:

AM - Great opportunity for him to get some playing time. Didn't get a a chance at a post up. Set endless and often unused screens. Affected shooters well. Can't run. Can't catch. Can't rebound. Whatever league he was at before here, nobody boxed out. This kid has a long road before him.
SHJ - Still the same player. Amazing speed to the rim. Has no finishing skills once he gets there. Looks like he is attempting to run more offense. Gregg likes the kid, alot.
CJ - Should have transferred. He looked good with that one drive, though.

[Shaqness]

That's how I feel about these guys too.

[ShockingButTrue]

After last nights game I'll bet a lot of Chicken fans do too.

[pogo]

They are OUR guys though. They were brought in by people that evaluate talent. They have talent or at least potential. Nothing I can say or post will make them a better player or person..Maybe it goes back to what my Grandma used to tell me "If you can't say something nice about someone don't say anything at all" I know its antiquated but it still holds true for me today.

[WstateU]

They are OUR guys though. They were brought in by people that evaluate talent. They have talent or at least potential. Nothing I can say or post will make them a better player or person..Maybe it goes back to what my Grandma used to tell me "If you can't say something nice about someone don't say anything at all" I know its antiquated but it still holds true for me today.

Bingo!

[WheatShock]

The guys were waiting on:

AM - Great opportunity for him to get some playing time. Didn't get a a chance at a post up. Set endless and often unused screens. Affected shooters well. Can't run. Can't catch. Can't rebound. Whatever league he was at before here, nobody boxed out. This kid has a long road before him.
SHJ - Still the same player. Amazing speed to the rim. Has no finishing skills once he gets there. Looks like he is attempting to run more offense. Gregg likes the kid, alot.
CJ - Should have transferred. He looked good with that one drive, though.

I think AM has decent hands. I believe he will be very good once the game slows down for him. Right now he seems to be trying to just make sure he is where he's supposed to be on the court and all that thinking 'where am I supposed to be' is slowing him down. Once he has the experience in the system that he can just run a play without thinking too much he will be better.

[Cdizzle]

Last night's performance put WSU back in the exclusive club of teams with Top 20 ratings in both kenpom AdjD and AdjO, joining just MichSt. and Purdue.

[wufan]

MSU is top 5 in both. Sheesh!

[Shocker85]

I hate it when posters single out individual players in an unfair or cruel manner. Let them develop. There are guys who weren't stars when entering the program but became solid contributed over time. Think about ... there are a bunch ... Even NBA players.

[ShockAzs]

You always look good when you shoot the ball well.

However, make no mistake, this game was about the return of Marshall defense. Zach Brown was fanflippingtastic. Those guys, that can really shoot it, had very few good looks. I'm a nightmare to sit next to during a game because I talk to myself in a running commentary but even I took notice of how many times I said "tough shot" when Houston scored. They got almost nothing easy.

The entire team played excellent D. Perimeter D was amazing. Did they get 1 really good look from 3? Maybe, but I doubt it was more than 2. Austin Reaves also was outstanding defensively. OUTSTANDING. I have to think that being ball faked has been addressed. For a long time the entire team went for way too many shot fakes trying to block shots....I saw much less of that problem the last 2 games.

One home game in and I cannot tell you how happy I am for our program to be in this league.

The 20th will be a different game I promise you. I was a lot more impressed with Houston after the game than I was before. They really missed Brady (21 and & 9 last game against Temple in only 18 minutes!) but I was impressed with their effort (they NEVER packed it in when clearly there was opportunity), they got after us, they are MUCH faster than us, plenty athletic and strong. And they were prepared. Their doubling of the post was as good or better than UNI who is great at it. Gray is super. I was also impressed with Coach Sampson, on a variety of levels. Houston is going to be a handful and then some as long as he's there. This is a great league.

Our scout was spot on. We got Conner a favorable matchup, we exploited our advantages and limited theirs. I wonder if Jans helped on a day off?

Kelly making fun of himself after the airball, then laughing it off, was a special moment.

Conner Fankamp.

Landry Shamet.

It's easy to be a good winner, but it made it extra enjoyable to see the players and coaches share the excitement after a long run of ass chewing.

Great night, great game.

Dr., Your commentary, as always is appreciated. McDuffie back, and with significant minutes, and all around defense much better. Coincidence?

This game was fun, really fun to watch. It looked like Shockers at 85%. And I loved seeing us get the deep bench in there. AM is going to be a beast, and I hope we can get him into the rotation more as conference season grinds on. He does so many obvious freshman things, but some things he does are beyond the scope of normal freshman - can't teach 7'0!

We are going to miss Kelly badly. He's really put it together. Remember when everybody was complaining about his shot conversions around the rim? I love how he finishes now, and his absolutely beast mentality.

I'm fine with SHJ progress. There were no silly errors like before. I think I'm middle of conference season he'll really start to put things together and be a steady force from then on.

AR is smooth and dependable, and going to be a really special player for us, especially when he truly has the time to work with KR and not have health issues.

SM - you grown ass man, lets see so much more of what you brought to this game. Incredible.

Connor is so steady and solid, but I want to see the man smile more. I think we'll get to see it.

Shamet is getting better and better, and that's incredible.

I liked watching the ball movement, everybody was passing with a purpose, and Marshalls offense is a thing of beauty when that happens. Houston adjusted defensively after by pressuring the ball more, and that really bogged things down, but that will pay dividends in the future as we adjust to that.

Anyway, sorry this is long as hell, enough for now.

[WuDrWu]

No doubt our defense is better because of McDuffie's return.

I'm right with you on seeing Conner smile. I think that's just the way he is which is odd to me because his dad has a great sense of humor and is gregarious and fun to be around. I think we're thinking along the same lines....we "want" to know Conner enjoys it here, at WSU, for some very clear reasons. He's somewhere around 68-12 in his career here, mostly as a starter, has more steals than turnovers in his career and an A/TO of 4.68 and will be close to joining the 1000 point club in only 2.5 seasons. He's really, really good and I'm thrilled he's here, I would just like to see him thrilled too.

[ShockAzs]

The guys were waiting on:

AM - Great opportunity for him to get some playing time. Didn't get a a chance at a post up. Set endless and often unused screens. Affected shooters well. Can't run. Can't catch. Can't rebound. Whatever league he was at before here, nobody boxed out. This kid has a long road before him.
SHJ - Still the same player. Amazing speed to the rim. Has no finishing skills once he gets there. Looks like he is attempting to run more offense. Gregg likes the kid, alot.
CJ - Should have transferred. He looked good with that one drive, though.

AM can run, and I agree with others, in that once the game slows down for him, he'll have some really solid dub dub performances. The young man has not had any meaningful minutes yet, give him a chance. He has a great motor and tenacity that will only improve.

SHJ - it's coming together. Houston is a much tougher team than the cream puffs he lit up. I'll take a solid game from him against a quality opponents any day of the weak.

CJ - great teammate, I really hope he can put it together. He needs real game PT and I think he can be a weapon, but as of now, I'm not seeing any lockdown defense, or offensive skills that are going to earn him minutes in this rotation. Next year, however, is a completely different story, and will be his breakout year. He deserves it.

[Bluzrover]

McDuffie back, and with significant minutes, and all around defense much better. Coincidence?

AR is smooth and dependable, and going to be a really special player for us, especially when he truly has the time to work with KR and not have health issues.

Connor is so steady and solid, but I want to see the man smile more. I think we'll get to see it.

I thought MM played significant minutes as well until I saw that he only had 13 minutes. But the significance for me was his defense when he took over for ZB on Gray. That poor kid was like, "WTF?"

I love AR and agree that he will only get better. The one thing I hope he improves upon, and I know he will, is his turnovers. He telegraphs and launches some lazy passes that get picked off. Needs to clean that up.

Funny you should point out Conner's lack of smiling. I was thinking about that this morning. His demeanor and expression just never seems to change, even when the team is playing like it was in the first 30 minutes last night. So, I'm not sure we'll ever see the young smile while he's in uniform; he's got a game face that doesn't change.

[ShockCrazy]

I will post a note on CJ. He is below the offensive efficiency transfer threshold of 90. Every single scholarship player who had an o-rating below 90 has transferred out immediately following the season with that rating with one single exception, Orupke who also had the best d-rating on all those teams, regardless of minutes or years in the program. This list of players who fell below this threshold include: Hamilton, Richardson, Green, Henderson, Taylor, and Hamilton. Now in CJ's favor he has a small sample size right now due to the missed time, and he also was in the same boat last year until he got it together late and creeped just over the line. But right now he is at 77.4, work needs to be done.

[Shaqness]

Good stuff here!

[WheatShock]

I will post a note on CJ. He is below the offensive efficiency transfer threshold of 90. Every single scholarship player who had an o-rating below 90 has transferred out immediately following the season with that rating with one single exception, Orupke who also had the best d-rating on all those teams, regardless of minutes or years in the program. This list of players who fell below this threshold include: Hamilton, Richardson, Green, Henderson, Taylor, and Hamilton. Now in CJ's favor he has a small sample size right now due to the missed time, and he also was in the same boat last year until he got it together late and creeped just over the line. But right now he is at 77.4, work needs to be done.

That's an interesting statistic and certainly bears watching.

I think CJ's offence will improve with more playing time throughout the year. What concerns me is his defense. He is constantly out of position and even his elite athleticism can't help him there. I hope this also improves with time as it would be nice to see him take on a Tekele Cotton/ ZB role as our lockdown defender starting next year.

[pinstripers]

CJ must be able to play as guard, or must be able to play as a forward. Right now he can do neither. We need for CJ and AM to produce next year, not be stars next year, but get significant minutes. It's hard for me to see it even if I squint.