Cold hard truth

[shoxlax]

I'm going to sleep on my comments. Better to be rested and sober.

I’m both but calling out the shitstorm of stupidity on this board is probably something you can do more diplomatically than I so I will wait for your always on point commentary.

[rrshock]

Is there something else going on off the court with the team that is causing problems? We have all seen that happen in the past.

[proshox]

The frustration with coaching this year is lack of experimentation with what most college basketball coaches are successfully doing.

Small ball is required and timeouts matter.

We may have to be individually worse on defense to be better as a unit.

We may need to be more threatening at all five positions on offense to avoid serious droughts.

The team may need help from their coaching staff until the mojo is officially back.

[asiseeit]

We are close to being on the same page. My starting line up would be LS, CF,
AR, DW and SM. DW has proven to be a very good rebounder and his defense
has been good at times he just needs to be more consistent. On offense he has
to make quicker decisions and not let the ball get stuck in has hands. THAT is
usually when he turns it over. This line up would be a dynamic scoring offense
and force defenses to cover a lot more territory without sagging off on anyone.
If MM could just improve his outside shooting we would have and outstanding
perimeter rotation. DW and RK at the four spot and SM/RN at the five. Eight man
rotation and maybe sprinkle in ZB here and there when we need a stop.

[proshox]

I really like DW and that would be a great lineup. I just have a hunch that DW’s best moments come when he is the only five on the court.

I think your suggested lineup is probably as good as any I would come up with.

I would start with RK or MM at the four if I was trying the three guards lineup - just to make sure we have a true defender for the inevitable perimeter switching that will occur. DW as the four would be inevitable variation if I tried to keep three guards for 35+ minutes a game.

[im4wsu]

Wouldn't you roll the ball to save clock, not kill it?

Also, the Shox have been big on rolling it to save SHOT CLOCK ever since the reduction from 35 seconds. It doesn't mean they are going to take a quick shot. It simply means they want more time to run the offense, run more plays, and get a good shot, now that there is less available time to do so.

Other than that, good post SBT. *facepalm*

It also forces the other team to play defense for a couple more seconds each possession. While that may only add up to one minute during an entire game, if one defender is a bit slow in the last two seconds in a 28-second possession last in the game, it just might make a difference.

[im4wsu]

Is there something else going on off the court with the team that is causing problems? We have all seen that happen in the past.

Possibly migraines and stomach problems? We have had injuries, both those that result in missed games as well as plantar fasciitis and other nagging complaints.

[Windiwu]

I think there are a lot of variables in the results our Shockers are getting but I also think they are still a work in progress playing at the level the American requires. I am not sure how much they added to their skill in all the beatdowns last year as far as learning low to deal with adversity and/or even close fought games. They are certainly a smart bunch though and I am hoping these loses are teaching good lessons. I too believe GGG isn't getting the help he needs from his staff so I hope some of that will be addressed this off season.

[proshox]

The trend line issues that are resulting in losses started well before American Conference play. The issues started when teams elected to drag out post defenders out to the perimeter.

[wu_shizzle]

I'm switching between watching Cincinnati - UConn and Houston - UCF this morning.

We don't look like any of these teams, not even close. The length, strength and athleticism are a level above us.

If the 3 isn't falling for us, it's going to be hard for us to win a game of grit and toughness.

I have met most of the staff, and I really like those guys. But you can tell the difference with how they interact with 3G in a much different way than Heier or Jans. I think that translates to the floor during games.

[proshox]

Bull crap. Basketball athleticism always look “better” when you watch teams for a limited amount of time. It is much harder to pick-up on inherent weaknesses than a player’s upside.

There hasn’t been a single opponent more athletic than ISU was last year. Cincinnati will be the one exception.

[wsubball96]

Exposed plain and simple. Its not players its all coaching. The league change/opponents have no impact on the finished product we are seeing on the court. Marshall's supporting cast (strength behind the curtain) are coaching elsewhere. The initial game plans have been off. The in-game adjustments poor to non-existent in effectiveness and blatantly evident in the results. Rarely does an action get a positive reaction. Early in the season we saw the same trap adjustment multiple times until finally by mid-season its so predictable its not worth trying. There will be a change of 2 in the supporting coaching staff minimum (Assuming all else stays the same).

As for players nobody is leaving early for the NBA after this season and if the hyped one does it will be an early exit to oversees. I'm not knocking players I'm saying they are not ready. I haven't seen anyone better than Fred on the court the last two years to justify not fulfilling another year of the traditional commitment. Seasoning matters its not just an age game (unless you have Trae Young hype and skills), its working out very well for Fred.

Honestly, I feel bad for the players because I feel like most are working really hard but are missing some strategic tools which are out of their control. The cost so far 3 wins and counting.

[proshox]

I can’t say we do anything from a scheme standpoint that allows Landry to demonstrate his complete skill set. We put him on the court with at least two reluctant scorers and allow teams to clog the lane with post defenders. This essentially creates a situation where the opposing defense only has to stop the three point shot.

Give Landry some space to work with and you see a dominant college basketball player.

[1979Shocker]

Some of our losses just seemed to be the result of making bad decisions, which resulted in turnovers. Using Shamet as an example, here are 3 games we lost. In the Oklahoma game, Shamet had 5 of our 10 turnovers.. In the SMU game, he had 4 of our 9 turnovers. In the Temple game, he had 6 of our 16 turnovers.

We can't have a PG making that many turnovers. Maybe he needs to play more of the SG role.

[proshox]

I would argue we lost these games early and not late due to turnovers. He does turn it over too much, but WSU could have managed a double digit lead if some timeouts would have been called and we played more three guard lineups.

[ShockTalk]

While you conveniently pick out his 3 worst games, I agree the TOs were high for a total of 15. However, he also had 22 assists those 3 games, better than 7 per game. You take those 3 games out of his totals for the year and he's at 94 assists and 32 TOs or 2.9/1 ratio.

In FVV's senior year, his 3 worst games were against Seton Hall, Bradley, and Miami. 13 assists and 14 TOs.

[Topshock]

In at least two of those three, you could just say that when the other team has a player on the floor that was better than him or anyone else on our team we lose.

[im4wsu]

Out-rebounded Houston 48-37 in the beatdown but 35-36 in our win (so much for theory that rebounding wins games)

Out-rebounded UConn 47-34.

Out-rebounded UCF 48-38.

Forty-one rebound edge in four games but we don't look like we have the "length, strength or athleticism" -- Does that mean our guys are really coached up?

What I'd really like to see is the number of loose balls we get versus the opponents.

Where we are athletically challenged is the ability to pressure the ball on defense at the guard positions. Houston really showed us up there. This seeming lack of ability has led to fewer forced turnovers and many, many fewer deflections, which go a long ways to disrupting offensive flow. On offense, our sloppiness, weak high-school passes, and maybe even commitment to receive the pass (come to the ball when pressured) are, to me, areas that need to be improved/corrected.

[Singeril]

That depends on how you define “athleticism”. Rebounding is timing, positioning, strength, and jumping...all four, in my opinion, are part of “athleticism”.

[im4wsu]

Pinstripers Do you really believe that rebounding is requires less athleticism than, say, dribbling, passing, shooting -- the other three fundamental skills in basketball? None of those three actually require any body movement other than the arms.

[pinstripers]

Yes

[Dave Stalwart]

It occurred to me today that we may have given John Robert Simon and Zach Bush less credit than they actually deserved. Everything about this year's team is the same as far as personnel goes, except for the loss of our assistants and then also our senior leaders, even though they were walk ons.

Sure, the struggles may be 100% coaching related. I can't really speak to that. But I can definitely see a case that defensive effort and mental toughness were helped by the presence of those two guys. If it's true, it really speaks to what tremendous value the behind the scenes guys can have.

Just a theory.

[AndShock]

We also lost someone who played 37% of the minutes with the team’s leading steal %. Our team steal % has dropped to 170th from 49th.

[12eagle]

It's a good thing said player got a lot of steals because he had a turnover rate 9 points higher than SHJ which was also the highest on the team among rotation players.

[AndShock]

TO rate is something you would hope would get better after a year of adjusting to D1 ball. Although that isn’t the case with Zach Brown, obviously.

[vancedave56]

New conference, much improved athletes and coaching from the opposition. There is a learning curve for everyone. We were over hyped at the beginning of the season (most likely in our own heads too - players, coaches, and fans). We are going to have to up our game. We really are once again the underdogs; we do not deserve any respect, we haven't earned it. Time to coach, play, and cheer angry. Get the idea that we are better than the opposition out of our collective heads - eat dirt and play ball!

[pinstripers]

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article198307544.html

[vancedave56]

Good article

[MadaboutWu]

I like Mark Adams's take that preparing 11 new scouts on opponents is a significant disadvantage when each of the other teams can give extra attention to the single new scout they are faced with.

[proshox]

This is part of it. It is more than the scouts... familiarity of playing against specific players helps.