How do you feel about the future now?

[FadedCrown]

Just to put things in perspective, we are 8th in the American in KenPom with one of our most inexperienced and inconsistent rosters ever, with these comments you may think we are 10th or 11th.

[pinstripers]

0-2 is 8th?

[Stickboy46]

0-2 is 8th?

Kenpom... not standings.

Kenpom has us better than Tulane, ECU, Tulsa, and USF

[1972Shocker]

As Bill Parcells liked to say you are what your record says you are.* The standings don't mean much today but by the end of the season they will provide and unequivocal answer to where we stand in the AAC this year.

[molly jabali]

We all know the 'ifs and buts' line, but it kind of is true...not as bad as we look some days...hope for the future....

[1972Shocker]

Moved to the correct post.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

The future is very much bright. After all, SHJ is a senior and we have some extremely talented freshman on this team with some horsepower coming in next year as well. And, oh ya, Teddy Buckets! Don't get too high or low this year and enjoy the ride, as bumpy as it might seem at times. In the immortal words of Gregg Marshall “I’m not worried. Are you worried? You shouldn’t be. Sleep well tonight.”

[WstateU]

"Wolves don't lose sleep over the opinions of sheep."

But once in a blue moon the sheep get your attention...


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[C0|dB|00ded]

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[1972Shocker]

My Crystal Ball is a bit more cloudy than most I guess. Will all the first year players (that includes Jaime and Ricky) who come back next year be better, stronger, smarter and more consistent? You would certainly hope so but to what degree is impossible to predict. Hopefully, we will see some of that happening over the remainder of this season and I think we will. The work ethic of these players during this next off-season will be very important.

Will Teddy Allen be a program savior. Again he will certainly help. To what degree is hard to tell but I really don't see this being a one-man salvage job. It's going to take a bunch of guys stepping up and performing.

Will Markis and Samajae moving on be addition by subtraction? Interesting question. I think there is a possibility that will be the case but it is also possible the Shocks will struggle to replace their scoring. Again very difficult to predict but like most I would certainly prefer a more balanced team effort especially on offense.

How good will Tyson, Noah and DeAntoni be and will they be able to contribute early on or will they struggle like this year's group has early on?

What other roster changes will we witness. The right moves here could have a big impact. No way to know or predict how this will shake out?

Regarding a Top 4 finish in the AAC and a 6-10 seed in the NCAA? Again not impossible but not a lot to go one at this point to support that contention. In any case, not only do you have to make a boatload of assumptions about the Shockers next year but it is also dependent on what the rest of the AAC lose, having coming back and have coming in next year. Has anyone looked at that? UCF loses Tacko so that could make a big impact on them.

I think this is an interesting topic but perhaps its a quite a bit too early to do it justice.

I think the clouds will lift and I base that primarily on the track record of Gregg Marshall. How quickly and completely the clouds disperse is pretty much a guess at this point.

As far as the rest of this year goes lets hope we see progress. The injuries to Jaime and Mo are not helpful at all.

[Shockm]

Experience DOES help win, especially big games. But often that is through leadership, and I'm not seeing this on the floor from the two seniors. They are playing with the other 3, not necessarily LEADING the other three. Not all can lead, and some leadership can be via example, but I'm not convinced they are providing the leadership the younger players need.

This is a good point and it conincides with Marshall talking about passing. We've been at our best when we have a point guard who is a floor general. Most of this points to FVV but when Landry moved to the point guard (even though not a "true" point guard), our passing picked up too. When we had a "floor general" as HCGM puts it, we are better. To go along with that, we rarely had scorers who scored more than 14-15 points a game and the scoring was spread around. Landry, who was probably our best shooter ever, only averaged 14.9 points a game. Even Cle who rarely passed, only averaged 15 points a game. We do need a "true" floor general in the worst way. I remember when we used to pass the "extra" pass. Now, when we reverse the ball, we rarely get to the "extra" pass and open jump shot or pass to the post. This is because we don't have "experience", a "true" floor general, and players who understand the game and how Marshall coaches it. Hopefully, Ricky learns and "gets it". He needs to take charge and make our offense work.

[C0|dB|00ded]

The future is very much bright. After all, SHJ is a senior and we have some extremely talented freshman on this team with some horsepower coming in next year as well. And, oh ya, Teddy Buckets! Don't get too high or low this year and enjoy the ride, as bumpy as it might seem at times. In the immortal words of Gregg Marshall “I’m not worried. Are you worried? You shouldn’t be. Sleep well tonight.”

Marshall is kinda worried. He's not sleeping well at night. That fact alone gives me hope for a turnaround. I was starting to get the impression that he was cool as a cucumber and taking things in stride. You don't get that luxury when you're at $3.6M. You've gotta produce. Unless you don't.


T


...:cool:

[Wooglin]

Might Crystal Ball is a bit more cloudy than most I guess. Will all the first year players (that includes Jaime and Ricky) who come back next year be better, stronger, smarter and more consistent? You would certainly hope so but to what degree is impossible to predict. Hopefully, we will see some of that happening over the remainder of this season and I think we will. The work ethic of this players during this next off-season will be very important.

Will Teddy Allen be a program savior. Again he will certainly help. To what degree is hard to tell but I really don't see this being a one-man salvage job. It's going to take a bunch of guys stepping up and performing.

Will Markis and Samajae moving on be addition by subtraction? Interesting question. I think there is a possibility that will be the case but it is also possible the Shocks will struggle to replace their scoring. Again very difficult to predict but like most i would certainly prefer a more balanced team effort especially on offense.

How good will Tyson, Noah and DeAntoni be and will they be able to contribute early on or will they struggle like this year's group has early on?

What other roster changes will we witness. The right moves here could have a big impact. No way to know or predict how this will shake out?

Regarding a Top 4 finish in the AAC and a 6-10 seed in the NCAA? Again not impossible but not a lot to go one at this point to support that contention. In any case, not only do you have to make a boatload of assumptions about the Shockers next year but it is also dependent on what the rest of the AAC lose, having coming back and have coming in next year. Has anyone looked at that? UCF loses Tacko so that could make a big impact on them.

I think this is an interesting topic but perhaps its a quite a bit too early to do it justice.

I think the clouds will lift and I base that primarily on the track record of Gregg Marshall. How quickly and completely the clouds disperse is pretty much a guess at this point.

As far as the rest of this year goes lets hope we see progress. The injuries to Jaime and Mo are not helpful at all.

We always get logical and rational posts from you! Keep it up!

[1972Shocker]

Thanks for the complement but to be honest always is most assuredly an overstatement.

[im4wsu]

This is a good point and it conincides with Marshall talking about passing. We've been at our best when we have a point guard who is a floor general. Most of this points to FVV but when Landry moved to the point guard (even though not a "true" point guard), our passing picked up too. When we had a "floor general" as HCGM puts it, we are better. To go along with that, we rarely had scorers who scored more than 14-15 points a game and the scoring was spread around. Landry, who was probably our best shooter ever, only averaged 14.9 points a game. Even Cle who rarely passed, only averaged 15 points a game. We do need a "true" floor general in the worst way. I remember when we used to pass the "extra" pass. Now, when we reverse the ball, we rarely get to the "extra" pass and open jump shot or pass to the post. This is because we don't have "experience", a "true" floor general, and players who understand the game and how Marshall coaches it. Hopefully, Ricky learns and "gets it". He needs to take charge and make our offense work.

Floor general is definitely a must. But even FVV might have trouble getting three freshmen to get in the right spots, move in the right direction AT THE RIGHT TIME so that the offense can flow, with crisp passing and good spacing. It just takes one guy to go in the wrong direction in a sequence that prevents proper execution and have the ball end up in the hands of SHJ for a last second thriller.

I love to have 4-6 guys with double digit scoring, rather than 2 guys with 18-22. I would like to see two or three set plays for JB, ES, DD, RT every game. Every game. We need to make our BLOB opportunities count more often. SLOB are more difficult, but those are scripted plays we can practice that don't require as much in-play decisionmaking.

I've watched practice in previous years where a player was allowed only one bounce, then shoot or pass. But crisp, quick passing cannot happen routinely unless the other players are in the right positions at the right time.

Feeding the post, I can accept a turnover if the pass to the post is quick and immediate, but cannot stomach a turnover feeding the post when the feeder looks at the receiver for 2, 3 , 4 or 5 seconds and then throws a weak pass.

These are not new concepts to GGG. The players should be able to work on proper player movement on their own, with the help of the managers.

[ShockerFever]

Experience DOES help win, especially big games. But often that is through leadership, and I'm not seeing this on the floor from the two seniors. They are playing with the other 3, not necessarily LEADING the other three. Not all can lead, and some leadership can be via example, but I'm not convinced they are providing the leadership the younger players need.

Yep. That's a huge difference. These guys are all about the points. Yes, I know the points are important but there's more to the game than just scoring. Huge void in assist numbers this year too. It does set the tone. I hope the young guys don't lead by example with these two. On second thought, maybe they shouldn't be leading anyway..

[ShockerFever]

I agree with FadedCrown on his comment regarding McDuffie and SHJ, I believe they are sending the wrong messages to our young crew. You cannot win games without getting the TEAM involved.

This.

The chemistry on our team between the seniors and everybody else is meh, specifically MM. Little to no high-fives, no helping each other up off the floor, etc. It's kinda lame.

[Walker]

I’m glad I’m not the only one irritated by this stuff. helping teammates up, having good body language, etc. would go a long way in helping team cohesion.

[molly jabali]

Sometimes your role in athletics and on a team is to be the bridge between eras....it may not bring YOU a title or long run in the tourney but gains you the better thing....the lasting admiration of a grateful fan base....that could be ESPECIALLY Markus....

[WuShock16]

This.

The chemistry on our team between the seniors and everybody else is meh, specifically MM. Little to no high-fives, no helping each other up off the floor, etc. It's kinda lame.

I'll pay attention for this when I go to the games next week, but this made me think of being in college. My college coach once pointed out on film when someone went to the floor and nobody helped him up. Coach got pretty mad about it. "Your teammates will be some of the guys standing up with you at your wedding...and you're not going to help them up?"

[Aargh]

I'll be more confident about the future when I see two PG's on the roster. Not SG's who "can play" PG. One PG to take the minutes and a second to give him breathers and take over when the first guy graduates.