2018-2019 Shox Offseason Predictions and Discussions

[Kel Varnsen]

[WuShock16]

YOU DONE MESSED UP, A-A-RON!

[WuShock Reaper]

"Welcome to the American, Penny Hardaway and Dan Hurley" - ESPN Sports

Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
Aug 17, 2018

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...2018-19-season

"Early AAC Power Rankings:
1. UCF
2. Houston
3. Cincinnati
4. Temple
5. Wichita State
6. UConn
7. SMU
8. Memphis
9. Tulsa
10. Tulane
11. East Carolina
12. USF

1. Is there more than one NCAA tournament team?...

2. Can UCF stay healthy?...

3. How far do Wichita State and Cincinnati fall?

Wichita State and Cincinnati have been the epitome of consistency the past several seasons. Twenty-five-plus wins, a single-digit NCAA tournament seed, a top-25 ranking. That will be tested this season. Wichita State loses its top four and six of its top seven scorers from last season, led by star guard Landry Shamet. The Shockers do bring back Markis McDuffie and welcome a deep recruiting class, but there are a lot of questions for Gregg Marshall right now. Cincinnati is in slightly better shape, as it has guards Cane Broome, Jarron Cumberland and Justin Jenifer to lean on early. The Bearcats' frontcourt is in rough shape, and Mick Cronin will need immediate help if they're to be competitive at the top of the standings again.

4. Will Penny Hardaway's recruiting successes translate to on-court wins?...

5. Will Dan Hurley bring UConn back?...

Five players to watch:
1. Jalen Adams, UConn
Many thought Adams would enter the NBA draft after last season, but he returned and is the favorite for preseason Player of the Year. He averaged 18 points and nearly five assists last season and can carry the Huskies.

2. B.J. Taylor, UCF
One of the most productive guards in the league when healthy, Taylor is the key for the Knights' championship dreams. He played in only 16 games last season but scored at least 20 points on seven occasions -- including five times in the final nine games.

3. Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati
Cumberland entered college with a scorer's reputation, but he has taken a back seat to veterans his first two seasons in the program. That won't be the case this season; Cumberland will have to shoulder most of the offensive load.

4. Markis McDuffie, Wichita State
McDuffie needs to return to form for the Shockers. He nearly won Missouri Valley Player of the Year two seasons ago, but missed 11 games last season with a stress fracture in his left foot and wasn't the same player.

5. DeJon Jarreau, Houston
A top-100 recruit coming out of high school, Jarreau showed flashes of his playmaking ability during his one season at UMass. After sitting out due to transfer rules, Jarreau will get first crack at attempting to replace Rob Gray."

[WuShock Reaper]

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...freshmen-make-kansas-jayhawks-favorite-big-12-2018-19-season

Early Big 12 Power Rankings:
1. Kansas
2. Kansas State
3. West Virginia
4. TCU
5. Texas
6. Iowa State
7. Texas Tech
8. Baylor
9. Oklahoma State
10. Oklahoma

[WuShock Reaper]

"AAC Basketball: Updated 2018-19 preseason rankings for the conference" - FanSided Sports

by Lukas Harkins
Posted: 08/23/18, 7:15pm cst

https://bustingbrackets.com/2018/08/23/aac-basketball-updated-2018-19-preseason-rankings/

"AAC basketball has been a very solid conference since its inception. Who will be the top team this time around? Will it be someone new?

2017-18 represented a very solid season for AAC basketball. Overall, three schools received bids to the NCAA Tournament: Cincinnati (No. 2 seed), Wichita State (No. 4 seed), and Houston (No. 6 seed). And while none of these teams was able to reach the second weekend of the Big Dance, it was still another successful season for the conference, which has been excellent since its inception five years ago.

To put it simply, there are not many leagues in the country that consistently place multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament. Yet, the AAC has successfully done so in every single season of existence. Because of this, it is reasonable to expect the conference could be in for a bright future with the potential rise of other programs.

Now, as we look ahead to 2018-19, it is going to be extremely difficult to rank the teams in the AAC. Unlike some years in the past, programs like Cincinnati, Wichita State, and SMU are seemingly heading into down seasons. Due to this, there is a high likelihood that we see some new programs near the top of the standings this season. This alone will make for an incredibly exciting season and the potential is there for 2018-19 to show a unique amount of parity in the conference.

So, as the offseason rolls on, let’s take a look at some projected rankings for this upcoming campaign.

1. UCF (previous: 1)
2. Houston (4)
3. Cincinnati (2)
4. Memphis (3)
5. UConn (6)
6. Wichita State (5)
7. SMU (7)
8. Temple (8)
9. Tulsa (9)
10. Tulane (10)
11. East Carolina (11)
12. USF (12)

#6 - WICHITA STATE
Despite how much talent Wichita State lost this offseason, it is never a good idea to count this program out. It seems as though, regardless of graduations and transfers, head coach Gregg Marshall and company seem to always be at the very least in the NCAA Tournament at-large discussion. So, because of this, I cannot put Wichita State much lower than sixth in these preseason rankings without feeling very uneasy.

However, it would also be a mistake to not take into account the fact that Wichita State lost a whopping 11 players from last season heading into this one. With this being said, there is obviously not a whole lot of returning talent on the roster. In fact, Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones are the only two returning players who averaged more than 10 minutes per game last season.

Because of this, the Shockers will need to rely on both incoming freshmen as well as transfers. With this considered, there is a high degree of variability when it comes to ranking Wichita State heading into this season. We are going to see basically an entirely new roster take the court and that can be extremely difficult to project. Yet, despite this, it is just not a good idea to rank any team coached by Gregg Marshall outside of the top-half of the conference...."

[choida]

Top 3 in conference... And right in the mix of At large talk... Book it

[WSUwatcher]

I have enough faith in Marshall, Play Angry, and this new crop of aggressive newcomers to believe it's possible, maybe even somewhat likely -- but I don't know that I'm ready to book it at this point.

[WstateU]

Top 3 in conference... And right in the mix of At large talk... Book it

78389352.jpg

[Kel Varnsen]

[Topshock]

AM looks just like he did last year when he was rated one of the worst defensive players in the nation. When player see him under the basket their eyes light up.

[Stickboy46]

SB Shock It looks like whoever was guarding him (can't tell his number) gambled on the steal on the wing but the pass went to his man instead.

[C0|dB|00ded]

na

[AZ Shocker]

Was the Mr. Stevenson???

[Bluzrover]

Chance Moore taking it to the hoop. Not sure who provided the assist. So many new faces...

[The Mad Hatter]

The assist was from Jamarius Burton.

[WuShock Reaper]

"AAC Preview 2018-19" - Three-Man Weave

By Matt Cox
September 14, 2018

https://www.three-man-weave.com/3mw/aac-basketball-preview-2019

"Preseason Predictions


Team Previews - ...
Wichita State Outlook: The fact that many dubbed the Shockers’ 25-8 record and 2nd place finish in the AAC as a relative “disappointment” shows how high Gregg Marshall has lifted the Wichita State basketball program. The Shock instantly boosted the relevancy of a conference that has struggled to find an identity as a hybrid high-to-mid major league jockeying for national attention. But with fierce competition emerging in Houston and SMU, along with up-and-coming coaches taking over at UConn and Memphis, the days of conference domination are far in the rear view for the Shock after smacking around inferior Missouri Valley conference foes year after year.

Marshall now faces one of the toughest challenges in his near-flawless coaching career as the page turns to 2019. To keep his perennial powerhouse competitive in a rapidly improving AAC, he’ll have to patch-up a roster gutted by a mass exodus of talent and experience this summer. For the exception of Markis McDuffie, only Samajae Haynes-Jones of the returning players tallied more than 5 points a game last year. And with Penny Hardaway poaching prized recruit Alex Lomak to Memphis, Haynes-Jones will now have to take on a gargantuan offensive burden. He teased Shocker nation with brief stints of brilliance last year (see 27 and 31 point outbursts against Arkansas State and Savannah State, respectively), but didn’t see the floor from February 21st onward.

We were high on Haynes-Jones’ long-term potential when we previewed the Shock last season, but it’s a bit concerning that he was completely buried by Marshall down the stretch. Haynes-Jones is more of a point guard by trade, but I’d wager he’ll play more off-the-ball with highly touted JUCO prospect Ricky Torres joining the mix this season. An NJCAA All-American, Torres put up gaudy numbers last season at West Plains and has already gained the coaching staff’s confidence that he can step in as the lead ballhandler from the get go. Torres and Haynes-Jones must provide consistent complementary scoring as 2nd and 3rd bananas offensively to McDuffie. Rounding out the backcourt will be freshman Erik Stevenson, a long-range sharpshooter who Marshall has compared to Ron Baker. His shooting accuracy will be pivotal with the departures of both Austin Reaves and Conner Frankamp this summer.

Unlike the backcourt, which appears to have some degree of certainty around who will be the primary contributors, the frontcourt is a total toss up at this juncture. Outside of Danish 7-footer Asbjorn Midtgaard, who got some scrub time last year, anyone of the newcomers could blossom into a high-usage starter. Jaime Echenique enters the fold as a top-50 ranked JUCO prospect who will have an experience edge over the likes of Isiaah “Poor Bear” Chandler and Morris Udeze for run at the 5 spot. Redshirt freshman Rod Brown and fringe 4-star freshman Chance Moore will likely eat up some significant minutes with their versatility as hybrid wing / forwards capable of guarding multiple positions defensively. The lesser known Dexter Dennis and Jamarius Burton are also viable contenders to crack the core rotation and failing to mention their names would be foolish given how consistently Marshall has developed 'diamond-in-the-rough' prospects into bonafide studs…

Bottom Line: An untimely stress fracture threw a wrench in Markis McDuffie’s junior season, which was marred by both volatile production and inconsistent playing time (which are likely correlated). McDuffie was a critical cog in the Shockers’ top-15 nationally ranked offense two seasons ago when he posted a hyper-efficient 118 O-Rating and tallied more minutes played than any other player on the team. If he can regain that sophomore year swagger with renewed health and confidence, it will move mountains for an offense in jeopardy of a significant regression in 2019.

Who will put points on the board is an obvious question mark for the Shock, but the top priority on Marshall’s offseason agenda is restoring the defensive steel curtain that became softer than a tissue last year. Despite having essentially the same roster and core rotation as the year prior, the Shockers’ overall defensive efficiency rank plummeted from 13th to 111th nationally – Marshall’s worst defensive unit since 2009. While roster continuity is usually a key ingredient for sustaining defensive success, perhaps overhauling the roster could be a good thing for the Shockers and give Marshall a fresh slate to work with. His resume of churning out elite defensive teams is too long for me to remain bearish on the Shocker’s defensive outlook, which why I’m betting on a drastic improvement on this side of the ball in 2019. Look for Wichita to come out angry this year and remind folks that this program’s foundation is just too sturdy to fade into irrelevancy – well, as long as Marshall is pacing the sidelines...."

[WstateU]

It's Lomax or maybe we call him Nomax.

[shockrah]

And....We are not "the Shock"....
Idiot.

[choida]

It's well written for the most part...he forgot to mention Teddy Allen and the new assistant coaches that were brought in.. But overall decent assessment

[Bluzrover]

I doubt anybody, especially nationally, is going to mention Teddy as long as he hasn't received a waiver to play this season. What a shame we won't get to see him this year but it will be nice to have three newcomers next season I suppose. Sigh

[AZ Shocker]

Will the national narrative on TV be like "Teddy Allen with a nice shot." "Yeah Bob he's got some good moves the transfer from West Virginia". Lol

Sorry...just always seemed weird when the TV guys would say "Conner Frankamp!!!" after he made a 3 pointer...and then follow with "the Kansas transfer". I got it the first season he transferred but not by the time he was a Senior at Wichita St.

[choida]

Transfer tag just sticks with you... It's part of your story book... But I see what you mean by always mentioning it.

[Aargh]

Is Kellen on to something? He's probably more familiar with what's happening at practices and pickup games than we are.

https://twitter.com/KelMoney24/status/1042095815454543872

[Shockm]

I don’t know more than what you have found but I’ve always said not to count out SHJ. Inch for inch and pound for pound, he is no doubt the fastest and most athletic player on the team. We need difference makers this year and he has the athletic ability and experience in our offense to perhaps be a difference maker. He just has to figure out how to unharnessed that talent.

[ShockingButTrue]

Clearly the kid has talent. I'm also pulling for him because he's a local kid.

[choida]

Well he's got competition breathing down his back... And that can only be a good thing for a young team like this...

[Mr. Obvious]

Will be interesting to say the least. Never good being a senior on a squad that’s rebuilding. But it’s not rebuilding unless the losses start piling up. Looking forward to a entertaining year.