Official Wichita State versus Louisiana Tech Game Thread

[shoxlax]

"Seniors":
5-24 FG
1-12 from 3
4-9 FT
Top 2 leading minute-grabbers combined for 62

Loyal or not, another game or two like that and 3G will take your advice and make them 8 and 9 in the rotation. He doesn’t really have a fondness for losing.

[WstateU]

As he often says, “the eye in the sky doesn’t lie”.

[MelvinLoudermilk]

Whatever happened behind the scenes last has taken its toll. Austin has to be chuckling. Sux

[JVShocker]

I don't think AR would give it a 2nd thought, honestly, as most on here probably don't think too often of him. Most on SN probably wish him well, but he didn't want to be a part of this. I don't think he knew too many of the guys were coming into the program, anyway, just statistics on a piece of paper if he even cared to foloow those things.

[Stickboy46]

Whatever happened behind the scenes last has taken its toll. Austin has to be chuckling. Sux

It took it's toll on the 75% of the team that wasn't even here last year?

[SHOCKvalue]

Whatever happened behind the scenes last has taken its toll. Austin has to be chuckling. Sux

Help me out, who are you again?

You have frequent flyer miles here on Kung Wu Airlines?

[pinstripers]

I have no idea who is going to rebound

[JVShocker]

I think the team will eventually rebound well "as a team", but that sadly there are no Cheese, X-Man, or Santos types on the roster. You really have to LOVE rebounding.

[ShockerFever]

Whatever happened behind the scenes last has taken its toll. Austin has to be chuckling. Sux

What does Austin have to do with anything?

[Blackmag]

Need to keep things in perspective, losing Reeves and then Shamet to the draft really hurt us at the guard position which in my opinion is the most important. Then to grant a 4-star point guard a transfer out before setting foot on the court has really taken a toll. We’re very raw and I think the new guys are a tad nervous and will take some time to adjust. As for McDuffie and SHJ, well that’s another issue, the two people you were hoping to give some calming leadership is nonexistent.

[JVShocker]

Ding ding. What he said. And considering LaTech pressed full court for much of the game I thought the ball was handled fairly well, even though the Shocks are young and need game time/experience. Still some difficulty on inbounds, which goes back to last season as well.

[bunck]

Need to keep things in perspective, losing Reeves and then Shamet to the draft really hurt us at the guard position which in my opinion is the most important. Then to grant a 4-star point guard a transfer out before setting foot on the court has really taken a toll. We’re very raw and I think the new guys are a tad nervous and will take some time to adjust. As for McDuffie and SHJ, well that’s another issue, the two people you were hoping to give some calming leadership is nonexistent.

Agree with everything you said, but pg troubles shouldn't keep us from not looking terrible on the boards.

[AZ Shocker]

Well...about what was expected out of a young bunch. Gonna take a good 10-12 games or so to see who we really are.

I really really like Burton at point guard. SJH just doesn't know how to pass. He had a couple easy alley-opps he didn't even see setting up on a couple fast breaks. Like to see him come off the bench for a change of pace when needed.

Stevenson is a player. Needs to start and become a leader...but seeing his teammates NOT help him up was somewhat concerning.

Becoming more and more obvious McDuffie benefitted from the high ranking coming out of high school solely due to who coached him there and an apparent east coast bias. Still hoping for him though...

58 points??? Yikes!

Oh well. Still only one game to a pretty good team. Gets tougher here on out but there's only one way to go!!! UP!!!!!

Go Shocks!!!!

[shockersx]

By no means am I okay with tonight’s loss, but let’s not act like the sky is falling. 3G doesn’t suck. I’m very disappointed in the way Samajae and Markis have played, but we also need to realize this is the first time either of them have been “go to” guys on a D1 basketball team. Hell, SHJ hardly even saw the floor the last month of the season last year. These are new roles for them as well and they’re both trying to figure out how to play their roles to the best of their abilities. I fully expect them to try to do too much at times. We all knew this was a young team, and it’s going to be a lengthy process until everyone figures out their part.

With that being said, I do hope the both of them can find a way to slow down and do the things we really need right now - defend, rebound, and provide some composure/leadership. Erik and Dexter should be exciting to watch for the next few years. Also would like to see more Udeze, too.

[Aargh]

I had to work tonight. I could only check the score every 20 or 30 minutes. I wasn't happy about that until about 7 minutes into the game when LaTech went on a 15 - 3 run. Pretty much all the way after that I was glad I didn't have to watch.

I was afraid I was going to take a lot of heat for predicting 3 OOC wins in the prediction thread. I'm not worried about that any more.

Those trying to be optimistic have said all we need to do is fix our rebounding and free throws and we could have won the game. Fix two critical areas and we can beat a mid-pack CUSA team at home. That's the upside of what we saw tonight?

I'm putting this game (and season) on Marshall. We used to criticize Jacobsen at UNI for having a great year from time to time whenever he was loaded up with Seniors. Then we laughed and laughed when his teams dropped off the map when all the Seniors graduated. Marshall can't make a free throws, grab a rebound, or anything else on the court. But it's his job to put people on the floor who can do that.

We've got a 4* PG coming in next year. VanVleet got here in 2012. Etienne gets here in 2019. That's 7 years without a single successful PG recruited. Shamet was not a PG in HS and is not a PG in the NBA. He was a PG at WSU because there weren't any PG's on the roster and he was able to play the position.

When half the roster is in a single class and that class graduates, there is going to be a significant drop off. That's on the coach. The players have nothing to do with ensuring there are replacements on the roster for the departing players. We've already got that problem being repeated. At least 3 of the current Fr class probably need to trfr out before they graduate.

I'm not in favor of burning a year of Allen by having him eligible this year, but that puts yet another player into the already bloated class.

There is no way to compete in the AAc with a team that doesn't have a PG or a post player.

[IndianaShocker]

Refreshingly honest take.

[captain]

nm

[ShockerExpress]

It is very hard to argue against this - Aargh makes some good points.

I will, however, point out the STRUGGLES the Shox had against Arkansas State and FGCU last year. I know it isn't the best comparison, but those were not good teams (comparable to LA Tech, TBH) and they pushed WSU at home to the max. To the point that I thought they were going to lose both those games.

Point is, I don't know about scoffing at the Shockers scraping past a high-to-mid level CUSA team, only because a 4-seed did it last year.

That being said - everything else is pretty true. This team will struggle, and struggle mightily, unless MM or SHJ can get their crap turned around. I want Burton to start at point. He seems to be the most in-control and have the best decision making on the team right now.

[molly jabali]

The rebounding thing...yikes!!! 4 big bodies, and no real positioning clue...and no VISIBLE hunger for the ball....

BUT....game 1.

Actually liked Poor Bear in his stretch....

[proshox]

Sky is falling

[Dan]

Looking forward to Taylor’s grade card for the game. I’m trying to look for the positives to see if we have pieces we can build on. I like Burton and his poise, Stevenson is a good player. Dennis has a lot of potential, he will figure it out in a few more games. I really like Echenique’s length and athleticism, he will be really good. Udeze plays smart and tough, hope his shoulder will not be an issue. Rod Brown is another guy that I think will figure it soon. He could be the next Rashard Kelly.

Overall, our young guys will eventually figure out that they have to run this team. Our seniors, unfortunately, think that running a team means taking all the shots. If these guys were freshmen or sophomores, they would have been yanked and chewed out for that play. Markis still has a place if he just relegates himself to a background player and does the little things. He doesn’t have the strength or skill to do things he’s trying to do. Other guys not mentioned are TBD. I think they could go either way, let’s see how they play out the rest of the year.