WSU vs SMU Game Thread

[ShockerPrez]

The birthday promo timing couldn’t have been worse. Talk about going a complete 180 in terms of atmosphere in about 5 seconds. All for a birthday promo that they probably made $100 on.

If there’s 8 media timeouts, they need to sell for 5 or 6 spots. They then would have variance in unleashing these series of horrible promos.

The game result sucked but I agree the in-game production is a complete abomination and makes everything even worse. It’s just not as enjoyable watching atmosphere getting killed and sitting through the same mindless drivel every timeout.

Thats what I dont get...

How do they sell a promo for a timeout that, theorhetically, may never happen?

if its a visitor TO, no promo! Seems pretty easy to solve to me.

[SHOCKvalue]

At least we didn’t play the VCU War song, although I was waiting for it to be nonsensically trotted out. Milton seemed more than happy to go to war with our Shocks. Went full Norman Schwartzkoph on our asses.

[ShockCrazy]

I agree with you on McDuffie over Brown but not about Kelly. I think we should make an effort to keep RK and ZB from being on the court at the same time except in certain situations. I think we can live with 1 offensively limited guy on the court but 2 is asking a lot.

Start LS, CF, MM, RK, & SM. That's a good offensive lineup and the only subpar offensive player is Kelly who does so many other things well.

Second 5 SHJ, AR, ZB, DW, & RN. Barring dramatic improvement I don't expect SHJ to get a lot of minutes going forward so most of the time LS or CF will be on the floor with AR, ZB, DW, & RN. Still a good offensive lineup with ZB as the only offensive black hole.

I think people are reaaaally overselling RK's offensive limitations. He may not score points but he is one of the engines that makes our offense work, his screens and passing not to mention his absurd offensive rebounding rate. Only Rauno has a better offensive efficiency of our non-guards.

[Mr. Pickle]

SMU may be one of the worst match ups for us (At least defensively) in the conference this year. I don't feel like Cincy, UCF, or Temple is as good at pick and roll offense and all seem less likely to have a guy go off on us than SMU. Houston may fall in line right after SMU. Regardless, it was a perfect storm of unconscious shooting, and the inability to get timely stops that doomed us. I am hopeful that we will be better prepared next time, and that SMU comes back down to earth.

I would love to see us drive more on offense, particularly against the zone, but Shamet (and maybe Haynes Jones, with lots of turnovers) seems to be the only one capable of that.

[BOBB]

I kept thinking, you know if we had Fred like last year we'd have a lot more steals and pressure on the ball, but then it occurred to me that we didn't have Fred last year. The weird thing this year is that it is the same damn players as last year. So our opponents and coaches are the only changes from last year. After the second or third time SMU used a ball screen for a wide open shot early in the game HCGM went and got in the face of one of the assistants (I would have to go back and rewatch as to who it was). We have always looked bad against zone when we aren't knocking down threes, but our defense this year...I just don't get it. It is either effort or coaching and neither is a good look.

[BOBB]

I get tired of watching certain players who have NBA dreams use their so-called final year to audition for The League vs Playing for the Team.
It was obvious in the Tulsa game and again tonight. I know MM has NBA-itis and it's his lifelong goal. But using games to "show his stuff" to those evaluating his talent for the next level is bullshit.

Nobody is bigger than the team or the game.
A certain person in charge needs to assert himself and make it exceptionally clear to all what the primary, secondary and only purpose of playing for this team is about.

Ok. It needed to be said and its out there. And yes, they better get more personally involved in the business at hand or Saturday will be a repeat of tonight.

That is all.

As usual you are full of bullshit. Markis made some bad offensive plays, but if you think he's showing off for scouts and not just trying to do too much to help us win after a long layoff I don't know what I can say to help you. You could use a fish slap.

[SHOCKvalue]

As usual you are full of bullshit. Markis made some bad offensive plays, but if you think he's showing off for scouts and not just trying to do too much to help us win after a long layoff I don't know what I can say to help you. You could use a fish slap.

At least when he is done dropping a proverbial load he is nice enough to let us know he’s done. All of the posts. Every time.

[SHOCKvalue]

I’m going to start telling the groan throne “that is all” every time I’m finishing up a duece. Wife may look at me funny when I exit el bano but WTF it’s all worth it.

#HardcoreAsF...

[Kung Wu]

lmao

[ShockRef]

As usual you are full of bullshit. Markis made some bad offensive plays, but if you think he's showing off for scouts and not just trying to do too much to help us win after a long layoff I don't know what I can say to help you. You could use a fish slap.

Call it what you want, but at least I know what the hell I'm talking about.
Watch him and when he has the ball. If you have paid any attention to HCGM's offensive schemes, you know what to look for.

First, put down your crack pipe so you are somewhat coherent. Pop the DVD in from the Tulsa game (it wasn't as noticeable last night) and get comfortable in your bean bag chair so you can pay attention. Watch what happens to the offense when he receives the ball. Unless you are a total moron (entirely possible), it is not hard to break down what happens to the offensive set. It's a lot of dribble, dribble and then some sort of drive to demonstrate he has the desired KD-like moves.

And a fish slap? Actually, that quip did make me smile, so kudos for that one.

That is all.

[ShockerPhi]

You must be fun at parties

[12eagle]

Two things that would have helped last night 1. Go small. Play Kelly at the 5, MM and ZB at the 4, and use whatever guard combo you like. This would have enabled us to switch every ball screen which would really have eliminated their entire offence. On offence to we have more shooters and creators on the floor. Too often ZB of MM are our 3rd best ball handlers on the floor they are both better suited playing the 4. 2. The second option would have been to stay big with two bigs in the game and try to mash the ball in side and dominate the boards. But to this you must play ZONE on defence. Willis and SM spent large parts of the night chasing around guards, not a great match up as it eliminates what they do best on the defence which is protect the rim. I don't by that SMU is just a bad match narrative. The great thing about this team is our ability to match up with any team and any style. We can go small or big depending on what the game calls for. However the frustrating thing is we don't show this flexibility game to game.

[BOBB]

"...demonstrate he has the desired KD-like moves..."

That is all.

No one is arguing that he made some bad plays outside of the offense. I think everyone, other than you, is arguing that his motivations are likely to try to help the team win. If you learned long distance mind reading in smarm school then I am willing to stand corrected.

[Dan]

So far, MM has not improved over last year, granted it's still early in his recovery. He still has shaky ball handling in traffic and still plays below the rim on his drives. Those were 2 things I was hoping to see him improve upon and it's exactly like last year.

[ShockerFever]

[Shaqness]

It's amazing how much personal attacks show up when my block list stops working. Most of the attack coming from long-standing members. I've had quite a nice experience on this thread when I've blocked a few decade long posters.