What letter grade do you give the 2017-18 team this year?

[ShockerFever]

We won against a bunch of average teams and had one good win at Cincy. Other than that we were over rated by the media and did just enough to stay relevant. When the seedings came out, we should have been a 6 in all honesty. Fizzled at them end which was fitting for this group.

Houston?

[ShockTalk]

I didn't have high expectations due to all the pre-season hype. I wasn't buying NC talk without seeing the product on the floor. I did, however, have high expectations from having 6 seniors and a potential 1st round draft RS sophomore. These players should have know each others tendencies inside out. How do you regress that much on D with basically the same players? Why does it look like were somewhat lost on offense, but manage to score a lot mostly on talent and athleticism anyway? Except against some lower end teams, we struggle to put a complete game together.

I believe HCGM recruits quality young men who represents WSU very well and we are all proud to have them. Because of these qualities, there is no way I don't believe they worked hard and did the very best they could.

For several years, we were blessed by certain players who were coaches on the floor. I still believe we were hurt by both CJ and GH leaving. So what else is left? We all know where the buck stops. It's time for some soul searching on why certain things were missing on this very experienced team. After all, we've got a very exciting group of recruits coming in.

[60Shock]

The expectation fault mostly lies with us Shockernet fans (me included) and many sportscasters, who got caught up in the hype that we returned basically the same entire experienced laden team that made it to the NCAAT last year, and which surely would be even better this year.

Based on this notion, heights were set (even before the fist shot of the season was fired off until even the end of today's game), which forecasted moderate to high likelihood of Final 4 and NC.

Based on these exaggerated expectations, and the way the team has executed over the last several games, I would have rated a B for Sweet 16, a C for winning today's game, and a D- for losing.

[Rlh04d]

I disagree with the statement that we had exaggerated expectations. We were the #8 KenPom team last year -- #13 on both offense and defense -- and returned everyone of relevance. If I told anyone coming into this season we'd improve on offense from 13 to 5, everyone would predict a Final Four run. Even assuming we stayed exactly the same and remained #13 on both, you'd assume a team able to make a deep tournament run. Who could have possibly predicted an absolute collapse to #110 on defense?

We had accurate and informed expectations, and the team failed to live up to its own standards, for whatever reason. The only possible argument for exaggerated expectations was on not taking into account the importance of losing assistants.

[capnkirk]

I would say B-, not because of losing today but because the same problems plagued us all year and were never successfully corrected. But after thinking about it, a lot of it falls on the coaching staff.

[bunck]

I went with a C and I think that may be generous after I think about the fact that this is Marshall's worst defensive team since a few years before he even came here. The last Marshall team that finished worse on D than our current #110 on Kenpom was when I think Reaves was in kindergarten.

[ShockingButTrue]

C. Overcame sub par guard play.

[ShoxRoxMySox]

I am willing to be the sole F. This team achieved little to none of its goals. They didn't win in Maui. They didn't win the AAC. They didn't win the conference tournament. They didn't win a game in the NCAA.

On the whole, the RPI and general accomplishments were fine but I grade on a curve based on expectations. A similar season next year, getting a good RPI, competing for an AAC title, and going to the NCAA tournament would get a B.

This team started the year with national title expectations. They ended, well, losing to Marshall. Because of that difference, I will not hold back on my criticism. It could be worse of course, but both a 59 and a 19 are failing grades. I'd we had one even one game in the tournament I'd consider giving a C- to D+.

I wanted to point and call you negative... but then I realized agreed with everything. Lovely.

[DanielBryan]

an F.

national championship expectation.

if we lose in the 1st round of ncaa next year, I'd give them a B.

[twister17e]

For WSU standards, I voted a D. I'm not saying we should have won the championship. We generally played to other teams level. We had 6 seniors and 1 potential NBA player. Our defense was down considerably, and at times seemed to struggle with fundamentals. If a game went down to the wire, we generally choked. Do we miss Jans?

[Singeril]

Extremely disappointing season...and not just because so many thought we would had a chance at the Final Four. Yes, there was a lot of hype...from the press, from the fans, and even from Coach. The pre-season expectations were enormous. But what earns them lower grades is that there were very few times that the Shocks strung together quality minutes. How does that happen with a senior dominated team? A group of players that played better last year than this year (except for Shaq)? The Shockers had ONE good game--vs. Cincy the first time around. Folks like to point out our win against Houston....we only had a good first half. The second half, loaded with bench players, was pretty awful to watch at times. We didn't execute in pressure situations, had so many turnovers, very cold shooting nights, and just didn't play with any MTXE most of the time. "Play Angry" was a distant memory much of the year. Yup, I'm very disappointed in the season...there were very few highs and so many lows. We all expected more...and I am guessing the team did as well. Yes, it's time to move on...but, let's hope something was learned as well.

[kcshocker11]

B

[Singeril]

In addition, ever since the post game show following the lost to Notre Dame, I’ve waited to see things happen for the better with this team. Coach said for all of the fans and everyone else to not be down and not to worry. The Shockers would learn from that and would be winning those kinds of games later in the season. Over the year, we’ve heard so many clichés. People could see that there was something just not right on the floor. Things just didn’t improve. I got tired of people trying to sugarcoat things. A season that, on paper, looked so promising ended up being something that will taste bad for awhile.

[BAShocker]

Whatever grade is “below expectations”...that’s the grade I will give them, especially the coaching staff.

[ShockerPhi]

I had to go with a C, based on expectations. Just a weird, inconsistent year. Played down to competition, played up to competition. One possession away from winning in Maui, one possession away from splitting the Conference Title. But got worse from there and didn't play well in Orlando, and played even worse today. It's like we never found our identity. It also didn't help that so many players regressed or didn't get better. Zach Brown, Markis McDuffie, Rauno Nurger all regressed. Darryl didn't get any better (refused to use his right hand, even when on the right side of the basket). Austin, Landry, and Conner were just inconsistent throughout the year. New guy SMJ was a non-factor. It was just weird.

I'll miss the seniors for all the memories they gave us over the years. But maybe a fresh team next year might be what we need. Who knows.

[Shockers5150]

Truth is, they were 1 basket, FT from winning in Maui. 1 basket from winning the AAC Regular season (and beating Cincy twice), 1 basket from getting to the valley title game, and a basket away from tying it up today possibly, even though R, McD, S we're 0-14 from 3.
But close doesn't cut it.