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

[DUShock]

D

[ShockTalk]

We started out pretty good and fizzled out in the end. It was just a disappointing way to end the season.

By "started out" you must mean the exhibition games, UMKC, and Charleston. I still think of the 1st half of the Cal game, the 2nd half of ND, OU at home, along with Arky St, and FGCU at home. Omens of things to come.

[Dan]

You’re right, things have been shaky/questionable all year. I guess I just meant we started off with really high expectations and produced enough to stay in the national picture throughout the year but by the end of the season we just fizzled away. We were who we thought we were but didn’t want to admit it.

[another shocker]

c-

they didn't come close to acing their finals exams.

[GreatWhiteBuffalo]

C...really wanted to go D or F, but felt that may not be the most objective review. My two biggest takeaways from the season were the lack of value placed on the ball and the lack of ability to defend the perimeter and the drive. Aside from the turnovers on O, I didn't think the offense rotated nearly as well as it has in years past...hell, look at Loyola and that is what WSU looked like two years ago; hungry, hustle, movement, creating space. This year no one had to guard Kelly on the perimeter and thus there was just one extra dude hanging out in the paint.

Defensively, we all saw it...just not real sure what "it" was. There was a lack of drive and lack of general hustle to stay in good defensive relationship with their man. Didn't seem to rebound as well this year either.

Overall, I am disappointed with the season. There is no way a group of seniors, with this class's accomplishments, should have performed the way they did...and did so consistently. I fully agree with the previous post that pointed out this class didn't achieve any one of it's major goals; Maui, conference title, conference tourney, or win in the NCAA. That is a major black eye. I also agree with the poster who said these are "first world problems" because they most certainly are. Alas, this is the price of success. With success come higher expectations.

[Horn28Clem30]

I went with a D myself based on expectations and projections coming in to the season. Just shows the state of the program when fans are grading a season like this where the team was ranked all season, made the NCAA tourney and finished top 3 in a new conference a grade that low.

[Shockm]

I’m glad teachers don’t give out letter grades on the eye tests. They get criticized for grading and they probably give out 50 different grades based on point systems per semester grade. At least the criteria is pretty clear and not totally based on opinions.

[FadedCrown]

If teachers gave out grades based on eye tests I'd have straight A's

[WuShock16]

Actually in the American, we had TEN new scouting reports and they had 1.

FIFY

...unless those games against Tulsa each of the past seven seasons before this one were figments of my imagination...

[Boss1786]

I gave a C and it was not due to failing to meet high expectations. The eyes don't lie and what I consistently saw was:

1) On ball defensive failure - relied way too much on help defense. 7 guards go for 30+? C'mon man!
2) Waaay too much reliance on the 3 point shot. You establish inside-out not outside-in
3) Guards were inconsistent getting to the rim and scoring
4) Lack of intensity! This team claimed to be a pack of Hyenas? I usually only saw the intensity when they were scrambling to catch up
5) Several players showed flashes of being very good last year but...
6) For being 10 deep there was very little getting up the floor and attacking the basket. My opinion is that we should have been running and pressing the opponents into the ground.
7) Too many turnovers/bobbled passes/poor passes

My impression of this season was that they fell victim to all the hype and praise they were bombarded with since the announcement. My other impression is that defense was taken for granted and their high power offense would get them through it.

With that said, there are still a lot of great things ahead for Shocker Basketball...I am sure they are dissappointed but this REALITY check will benefit them next year. Time to lace'em up and get to work!

[whatashocker]

a D. Considering we had 6 seniors and preseason top 10,, we underachieved.

[ShockerFever]

a D. Considering we had 6 seniors and preseason top 10,, we underachieved.

I gave your mom a D and she was happy with it.

[FadedCrown]

swellafelon Must have voted for his own team.

[Stickboy46]

To be fair .. his team deserves a pretty dang good grade this year ...

[asiseeit]

No better than a D simply because the vast majority of fans were disappointed with the season
and I am sure the players / coaches were too. Next season the bar will be set much lower and
there will be opportunity to exceed expectations - - which I believe we will especially if we can
land a quality PG and/or LS stays. I believe ES and AM will both be pleasant surprises. With
AR, ES and possibly LS on the wings teams won't be able to sag on us. This is going to allow
AM and Udeze to work down low without being doubled so much.

[ShockCrazy]

Here's some perspective for the downers... Some of you are putting the, at worst, 10th or 11th best season in WSU history as a C or D(Depends on if you prefer this year or 2012)...

[FadedCrown]

You don't just base a season on how you did, you have to keep in mind preseason expectations. If you come in with the best team of all time expectations, yet get a 3 seed in the NCAA tourney and lose round 1, you have a bad grade. It is not all about just how you do.

[ShockCrazy]

Wut? "It is not all about just how you do" Huh? So... Should we give typical A students D's for scoring an 85? It's ok to be disappointed with how it turned out, but that doesn't change what this team DID. Is everyone forgetting this team has THE best regular season win of the Marshall era? Which is probably also in the top 10 of WSU regular season wins ever? Are we forgetting this team missed a conference title by a bucket in probably the toughest conference season we've seen since the MVC heydays? Get a grip folks.

[CBB_Fan]

Here's some perspective for the downers... Some of you are putting the, at worst, 10th or 11th best season in WSU history as a C or D(Depends on if you prefer this year or 2012)...

The only metric where this team achieved was rankings. I count 7 years where our program advanced further in the tournament. 2 additional years we won our conference tournament. 4 additional years we won our conference. As a team that fails to do any of those, this makes this roughly the 14th best year for the Shockers.

In the year with the highest expectations. In a year where we came in expecting to be one of the few teams competing for a national championship. We achieved nothing except for getting consistent praise from national columnists, to be brutally honest. Its the journey not the destination, but along our path we failed in the preseason, in the conference, in the conference tournament, and then finally failed in the tournament.

It is arguably the worst a Wichita State team has ever performed versus expectations, counting the collapse in Turgeon's last year or even the dark ages between Smithson and Turgeon. That is why I didn't give the team a C or D; I gave them an F. This wasn't a year where finishing 2nd in every event and flaming out of the tournament could earn a higher grade. An F is the grade typically given for "failure," and we failed to achieve all of our goals.

The same results next season would see a higher grade, because our goals next season aren't going to be the same. It is going to be about making the tournament, not winning it. Competing in the AAC, not taking 1st place. A 25 win season ending with a Top 15 ranking would be a rebuilding team achieving a lot of its goals, rather than a fully built team failing to achieve theirs.

[ShockTalk]

Having coached a lot of competitive youth sports, a player's effort is very important, injuries and recovery from injuries, team chemistry particularly when an important player is injured or having a rough spell, and most important -- what the coaching staff does or does not do to improve situations.

Since we had both "team" (players) poll and coach's poll, I separated the 2. I gave the players a C and the staff a D. I fully expected 2 losses in the non-con (C), second place in conference (C), runner-up in conference tourney (C- due to who we played in the semi), S16 in the NCAA or better (F) although the season results made my pre-season expectations for the NCAAs unlikely.

[Shox The Revenant]

In retrospect, I'll give this team a B plus. Despite having one of the worst defenses in the Marshall era, multiple injuries in the off and regular season that hampered player development and play, and upgrading the level of competition, we still won 25 games and made the tournament. Anything can happen in March Madness and in a single elimination tournament it's all about the match ups and luck. I personally feel we would have done better against West Virginia as they play a similar style of game as us. Marshall was just a bad match up. It happens, we weren't the only ones who looked bad.