Good News / Bad News

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

So, which do you want first?

Good News
Ain't no way you will ever convince me that the 2018 Shockers were better than (or maybe even equal to) any of the last 6 Marshall led Tourney teams. KenPom has them as the worst Shocker team since 2011, and only slightly better than those NIT Champs. Yet, this team earned the 2nd best seed out of the 7. 1,4,5,7,9,10,11. This team? This team? THIS TEAM earned the 4? Folks, looking ahead, life in the American is going to mean an incredible boost to WSU's NCAA seeding moving forward. It is a massive black eye on the fairness of the system, but you know what?... At least WSU has moved up in that system. This is good news.

Bad News
The last 4 years have made it abundantly clear that 2013 and 2014 were amazing years that are going to be extremely hard to replicate. 2013's Tournament run through 4-3/4 games was great. The last quarter vs Louisville sucked. 1-2 extra breaks fall the Shockers' way and they are in the Title game, and I think we all agree they would have had an incredible shot at beating that Michigan team. 2014 was a more enjoyable ride on the way to March, and then WSU basically faced the exact same ending, only in the round of 32. Kentucky was Louisville all over again; a team playing like a National Champ. It was a terrible draw to catch them so early, and even so, dang it if that FVV shot at the end could have only gone down! The Shox wouldn't have played another game that year where they weren't favored going in. Who knows how far they could've gone.

My Point in Pairing These Comments in One Post
The American will help WSU in March. Gonna get much better seeding relative to the talent WSU brings, year-in-year out. This is a good thing. But at the same time, I just can't get over how hard it is to be "Title Contender Good" and to also then fulfill that potential in March/April. So much has to go right. Recruiting. Chemistry. Player health. Tournament Matchups. Avoiding that "whole team dribbles off their own 2 feet" feeling like we saw vs Marshall this year. SO MUCH HAS TO GO RIGHT. 2013 and 2014 were 2 amazing opportunities that will be hard to replicate.

McDuffie has shown us just how good Early was, and how hard it is to find another like him.
Nobody questions how hard it is to find more Ron Bakers and Fred VanVleets.
Tekele Cotton's defensive genius seemed replaceable until we saw that sometimes, your defensive stopper becomes a defensive "meh, just another dude” by his senior year (Zach Brown)

I'm excited for the future, but crud, Louisville and Kentucky make me mad.

[lemuel777]

Good - AAC conference seeding
Bad - Not one team made it into the Sweet 16 with all three losses within 3 points. Will this showing affect next year's seeding? I hope not.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

No, it will not. Zero. Nada.

[ShockerPrez]

The NCAA is a crap shoot to a certain extent, for sure. My theory is that your goal is to just get as many shots you can and sometimes those shots will hit something. We've done pretty good, I'd say. Sucks when you miss, but it's better than not having a shot at all.

[ShockerPrez]

The one caveat is that we need to play like our bid is precious and rare, and not take them for granted. Seems our earlier teams had that edge, this years team seemed to have, well, I don't know.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

I like our chances to replicate 2013/2014 more in the AAC than the MVC.

This is thanks to recruiting and seeding. Yeah, match ups and luck matters--no question. But so does talent, and so does seeding.

[proshox]

Maybe / Maybe not... recruiting just got a lot harder in our competitive set (Hurley and Hardaway will cause more problems in the near term).

We are a lot more likely to be third, fourth, or fifth in the AAC.... put a string of those seasons together and it becomes really difficult to keep top recruits coming to Wichita.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

this years team seemed to have, well, I don't know.

To me they seemed to have a bad case of constipation most of the year.

[jdshock]

McDuffie has shown us just how good Early was, and how hard it is to find another like him.

No joke. And that's not a knock on McDuffie. We just got really lucky with Early. I think if he doesn't go the JuCo route, he would've been getting NBA looks at any school his freshman and sophomore year of college.

I also believe the last couple of years have made me appreciate just how effective our three-headed monster with Lufile et al was that undefeated season.

[capnkirk]

And if you recall, the 2012-2013 final 4 team was limping into into the post season. If not for Baker coming back from injury we could have been sent home first round. His 3 point shooting was contagious and all of the sudden the whole team could make 3 pointers and play defense. I think that team was our best team under Marshall.

[jdshock]

I think that team was our best team under Marshall.

That Final Four team was good, but the undefeated team was even better.

[proshox]

Second best seed, but worst team... That is an interesting conclusion I happen to agree with.

Is there any chance we would have been a better team by year-end in the valley? I think the defense became very negative in it's approach as the year went on... Playing weaker competition may have helped the team remain aggressive and confident on defense which could have carried over to the NCAA tournament.

Related -

It will be interesting to see how non-conference scheduling looks going forward. This year's team never had opportunities to develop new-comers. The schedule assumed a weak valley slate paired with strong non-con slate. Unfortunately, it was a great non-con paired with a challenging conference schedule.

Still bouncing around in my brain -

WSU's best year's during my fandom have occurred when the MVC was weakest. I still think there is counter-intuitive relationship (nobody else will admit to) that we will not benefit from going forward...

Good news -

The conference schedule next year will be very interesting!

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

The MVC was super horrid in 2006.

[proshox]

So we had one outlier.. What is your point? The 2005 team was good as well, but couldn't string enough wins together in a tough valley to make a run at the dance. The 2006 team was culmination years of development leading to one great team (the UNI model).

WSU's run of Gonzaga-like dominance began and was maintained during a weak MVC....

Being the top dog (first, second, and third place consistently) in the AAC is going to be much harder than it was to be the Gonzaga of the MVC.

The MVC allowed WSU to become the alpha dog and well polished machine it takes to make deep runs. The AAC hasn't had time to prove itself one way or the other... but the MVC track record of providing WSU momentum and the ability to perform in the NCAA is hard to ignore.

[OregonShocker]

I believe the seeding this year was a definite reflection of our performance in the AAC, but also due to a general lack of clear superiority by other teams that COULD have ranked ahead of us. This was a pretty even year for CBB, and I believe the tourney results reflect this.

[ShockerFever]

Those 2013 and 2014 years we also had massive length and shot blockers preventing dribble drive garb from amounting to anything. Coleby, Lufile, and EO weren’t gifted offensively by any means but they shut down the paint. We need some more of that.

[BostonWu]

No joke. And that's not a knock on McDuffie. We just got really lucky with Early. I think if he doesn't go the JuCo route, he would've been getting NBA looks at any school his freshman and sophomore year of college.

I also believe the last couple of years have made me appreciate just how effective our three-headed monster with Lufile et al was that undefeated season.

He's got one final season to prove his not just a poor man's Early

[ShockerPrez]

Perhaps a Valley schedule this would have prepped us better for Marshall...

Maybe going forward, our toughest games will be against the underdog teams with shooters. 1st round NCAA, but if we can advance to play the power conference teams, things actually get easier...

[OregonShocker]

I believe we had our toughest games in the REGULAR SEASON against shooters. The great equalizer for underdogs is the outside shot; hard to defend and can make up a lot of ground quickly. But if our toughest games in the tourney continue to be underdogs, it means we have continued to be a high seed, and that's a good thing.

[jdshock]

He's got one final season to prove his not just a poor man's Early

To be fair to MM, a "poor man's Early" still has an excellent chance of leading the team in scoring and rebounding next year. MM is really good.

He's just not yet capable of that DUNK Early had against Kentucky.

[BostonWu]

To be fair to MM, a "poor man's Early" still has an excellent chance of leading the team in scoring and rebounding next year. MM is really good.

He's just not yet capable of that DUNK Early had against Kentucky.

I guess my point is after his fabulous sophomore season everyone assumed his ceiling and WSU career was greater than Cle's. As we sit here today that has come nowhere close to fruition. I just hope when all is said and done a year from now we don't look back at his WSU career as untapped potential...because I have the utmost respect for his raw talents but he is nowhere near realizing it to this point. I don't believe the same can be said of Cle's short WSU career.

[ShockerPrez]

I have confidence that a healthy MM will be great next year. He may have to do more than Cle ever had to in his senior year, which could lead to some huge numbers. Something Shocker players really dont do under GM, aside from Cle