Shocker Madness

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Pretty sloppy as it has been said before. Hall will be okay, a lot like Gabe Blair. Wessel and White looked pretty good. Tekele Cotton surprised me, better than thought. Williams looked the same, as did Orukpe (Has not improved to me). Stutz looked good, Ben Smith. Anacreon did not impress at all, in fact, I think White will play more than Anacreon in relieving Hall. Mitchell took care of the ball, but that's all. Murry and Kyles looked okay. Baker and Egharevba should redshirt, IMO.

Great review... which game were you watching again?

[Ta Town Shocker]

By far the most impressive performance was by Stutz. He looked very comfortable in the post and I don't think he missed a shot down low. Orupke will be able to give us some minutes in the post, he wasn't very good offensively tonight though.

[wu_shizzle]

Hard to redshirt many of the freshman after watching them tonight. Baker, Cotton and Wessel are obviously physically ready and seemed to look comfortable on both ends of the court. Jake White looks like he's starting to put on some weight and we need him now at the 4. I can't see him sitting behind Anacreon very much with the late start he's had.

In any normal year I would have no doubt that Ede plays minutes as a true freshman, but I think with his upside and our depth on the wing you redshirt him. He could very well be a 4 year starter after a redshirt year. Baker probably fits this description as well...

[wusphlash]

My take on the newbies.
Carl Hall is the real deal. Different type of player than Gabe and Aaron. He's a banger.
Jake White will need to get stronger but shows real skill. He'll get minutes this year.
Ron Baker knows how to play. Will be a big contributor down the line. Dunked on Kyles.
Ditto for Evan Wessel. Showed an outside shot tonight with a couple threes.
Tekele Cotton was very solid. Didn't try to impress, just played good basketball. Well built kid.
Ede Egharevba is very athletic but will need to time to learn D1 BB.
Joe Mitchell is quick but will need to improve if he wants minutes.
Forgot James Anacreon. Out of sync. Gets a pass because of the late arrival but will have to greatly improve if he wants minutes this year.

[wu_shizzle]

Carl Hall looks like the kind of Southern Illinois forward that used to wear us out, he will do damage this year.

[wufan]

Carl Hall looks like the kind of Southern Illinois forward that used to wear us out, he will do damage this year.

Jermaine Dearman?

[shockerofandover0943]

Sulley - Carl Hall scored 11 points and had 12 rebounds. Ben Smith scored 13 and Garrett Stutz 11 in a 35-33 win for Black.

[shock]

Tatum and Faulker

[shockerofandover0943]

Sulley - Joe Ragland didn't participate in Shocker Madness as punishment for missing class. "He's got to go to class a little more regularly," coach Gregg Marshall said. "I want to see him eligible next semester and ultimately get a college degree. That's more important than tonight."

Malcolm Armstead sat out with a lower back injury. Toure Murry has bruised ribs, perhaps, and will be evaluated later. Marshall didn't think any ribs were broken.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Murry: + Was confident on the ball, leading the new guys, and was VERY aggressive (Great drive with strong finish)

Kyles: = Took bad shot right away. Wasn't really going after it.

Stutz: + Was very strong in the post. Did miss a couple tough turn arounds, but overall much improved especially on defense.

Smith: + Had 3 strong takes to the basket and converted all 3. Hit several 3's as well. Will be a match up problem this year.

Ragland: - Wasn't in the building, nuff said.

Armstead: ? Seemed to be working and listening to the coaching staff. Was expressly told many things by Coach Marshall.

Williams: = Played more in control, but didn't seem to be looking to shoot. Made 1 3-pt that I remember.

Anacreon: - Doesn't seem to have it yet. Athletic, and has a nice stroke. The other players definitely respected his 3 shot.

Mitchell: ? Very strong on the ball, didn't shoot much, seemed to be deferring a bit.

Orukpe: = Won position, caught the ball, and made nice moves toward the basket. Committed 4 fouls in 5 mins at one point.

Hall: + Played very strong, solid, knew where to be, and where ball was. His game is on the glass and will be better than Falker next year.

Wessel: - Was lost at times, lost sight of ball that found him on bench numerous times. Hit 2 3's, but could be liability on D.

Egharvba: - Definitely out of sync with system tonight. Very athletic but not hard nosed. Work ethic is there.

Vautravers: + Outplayed Wessel and Egharvba at the 3. I would play him over both if we had game tomorrow (and I'm not alone)

Baker: + Nerves definitely played big part early, but settled late with couple nice jumpers, strong take and dunk on break. Stud.

Cotton: + Strong, poised, plays within system. Nice stroke, hit couple jumpers. Will be key player next year.

White: + Strong offensive game, knack for finding ball, knack for losing offensive player on defense. Will be a stud.

[shoxlax]

Ede needs to redshirt. The rest of the freshmen could all be contributors. Anacreon showed potential but looks light years behind Hall, who should be on the all Valley newcomer team. He has some of the good qualities of both Blair and Ellis.

Baker is going to be a fan favorite for the next, well, five years.

Ben Smith is going to be hard to keep out of the starting lineup.

[SHOXAAC]

What impressed me about Hall is that his post move is quick, strong and decisive. Wessel, Baker, Cotton and White, although not perfect, showed why the present and future is bright in Shocker Nation. Just hope Toure' is ok. I was hoping to at least see him sit on the bench in the second half.

[Aargh]

I'm going to write this before I read any other reviews. That way, I can be wrong in total ignorance.

Defense is WAY ahead of the offense.

Stutz is faster, quicker, stronger, and more athletic. Virtually unstoppable on the block with a single defender. Once that was established, they ran other sets. Garrett showed a sweet left-hand jump hook in the lane.

Orukpe can probably get 10 or 15 minutes before he fouls out. His game is a lot better than last year, but he reaches a lot. Had 6 fouls in 18 minutes of "real" time. Probably 12 "game" minutes. He didn't have any fouls in the second 20 minutes, but he was doing different things in the second 20 minutes.

Hall is probably the most physical player we've had in a long time. Might go back to before Howard. I expect Valley refs won't allow that. It looks like Hall can cover the rebounding we lost at PF, but his scoring was mainly right at the hoop.

I expect Jake White will get some minutes. He looked a lot closer to ready than some of the older players. Stutz got a loose ball once, but didn't secure it next to his body and White picked him. That got Marshall throwing a towel and Garrett got some "coaching" - soe pretty loud "coaching". White >> Anacreon.

Wessel will be challenging for PT backing up Smith at the 3. Sweet shot and good shooting range. Looks like a smart, hustle plyer with some skills.

I'll give Baker the benefit of the doubt and assume he had the yips playing in front of a couple thousand people. He seemed to get better as the scrimmage went on. Early in the game he was - well, ineffective is the polite term.

Cotton's got some game. With what's in front of him and the possibility that Wessel and White will need to be on the court, Cotton is probably the most likely RS candidate. If he gets a shirt, I think it will be to preserve eligibility rather than to develop game.

Kyles looks better in street ball pickup Shocker Madness events than in organized scrimmages. I mentioned to Marshall (in the autograph line) that it was good to see something resembling a game instead of seeing street ball. Marshall turned to Kyles and said, "See - what did I say".

DWill's most noticeable stuff was when he tried too much and ended up out of control.

Not ready for prime time players includes:
Anacreon, Egharvba

Best news I saw: Jake White. It better be, because the other potential backups at PF were the biggest disappointment.

Based on what I saw, here's how I'd expect the rotation to go if the season started tomorrow.

C - Stutz - Orukpe
PF - Hall - White
SF - Smith - Wessel
SG - Murry - Kyles
PG - Rags - DWill

[The Mad Hatter]

The fact that Anacreon wasn't on the Brazil trip showed. He's clearly behind the other post players in terms of understanding the offense and defense. That said, I like his aggressiveness, especially on defense. If he can figure out his positioning on D, he is going to be a terror in the passing lanes. In that regard, at least, the comparisons to Ramone are well founded IMHO.

[RoyalShock]

What impressed me about Hall is that his post move is quick, strong and decisive. Wessel, Baker, Cotton and White, although not perfect, showed why the present and future is bright in Shocker Nation. Just hope Toure' is ok. I was hoping to at least see him sit on the bench in the second half.

He came back out half-way through the 2nd half and sat behind the "Yellow" bench.