Wichita State vs UCF Game Thread

[SHOXAAC]

You will never see a guy try harder at playing in your face defense than after SHJ failed on the "splitting the Tacko" play. I think he knew his goose was cooked. Pretty funny!

I thought exactly the same thing!

[Shocktoberfest]

You will never see a guy try harder at playing in your face defense than after SHJ failed on the "splitting the Tacko" play. I think he knew his goose was cooked. Pretty funny!

[Shocktoberfest]

And it's not close.

[pie n eye]

How good could this team be defensively if they realize their potential?

Taylor Eldridge is calling Dexter our best on ball defender since Tekele. To even be mentioned in the same sentence as Tekele is lofty praise. I thought Dexter did a great job moving his feet on defense against UCF. Can he bring that effort every single night? That was one of Tekele’s greatest abilities, among many.

I liked what I saw from Burton too.

I’ve seen more of the Fr, So McDuffie defense lately, back when I thought he was one of our better defenders due to his length, quickness, and tenacity.

Samaje has quietly been a tough on ball defender all year. He held Shizz Alston in check the first half while we were in man to man.

Echinique is is an eraser when he can stay on the court.

I’m almost scared to say this but I think Big Midt moves better than some give him credit for and is *maybe* catching up mentally to the speed of the game.

Rod Brown has the size and athleticism to be disruptive and his arrow seems to be pointing up.

I think the pieces are there for us to be a nasty defense down the stretch. Will it all come together?

[WstateU]

Just watched it again on a larger screen. Very well done... they should show it 10 minutes before the Cincy game. Good music, excellent video and a little eye-opener at the 0:37 mark. :)

[ShockBand]

A nicely done highlight vid from the game.

The music and production for that video is better than the current video before player intros, IMHO.

[asiseeit]

Once again, I would ask Mr. Topshock, how on earth can you declare AM as not " serviceable" based on
such limited data? If you look at how defensive efficiency is computed it is based on at least 100
possessions. How many has AM had and provide some concrete evidence to back up your unserviceable
claim. I would suggest that you personally along with a couple others on here simply don't think he can play
and are grasping at straws to justify. You might want to look at offensive efficiency, as well ! Now, in the
end you might be right but, as of right now, you just don't have the supporting evidence. Myself and many
others would like to see quite a few more possessions before jumping to the conclusion you have.

[ShockCrazy]

Wait are we talking about sophomore AM, or sophomore Paul Miller?



If by "he is no Paul Miller", you mean AM's freshman season was BETTER than Miller's, you'd be correct. AM beat PM in nearly every statistical category except for total points per game when you compare their freshman seasons.

AM hasn't played enough his sophomore year to make a good comparison, but with what little data we have, there is reason to believe he would have as strong as a sophomore season as PM had as well.

Here's the problem, and I want AM to succeed as much as possible, but.... We are in a different era of basketball, slow footed centers are not something you can compete with at a high level unless they are truly elite shot blockers and offensively on the block. Modern centers need to be able to guard the PnR, need to be able to quickly rotate to help, and need to be able to defend a face up from 15 feet. I have seen little evidence of AM being able to any of these things, and hey I hope the UCF is a turning point and proves me wrong. Also not only did PM get to play in a different style of basketball, but he also got to do it in the Valley, which while pretty salty in those days, it wasn't known for high level centers, the AAC is definitely a step up.

[Kung Wu]

Yes AM had a nice game last night. You may have noticed that he only played when TFall was in the game. That is the only time he can play at this point in he career. When the opposition has a big slow center that can't shoot or drive. When the man he is guarding can he can't guard him and he can't protect the rim in a zone. His defensive efficiency rating coming into the game was 18% compared to all NCAA players. That is not serviceable.

Wait are we talking about sophomore AM, or sophomore Paul Miller?

I watched them both and he is no Paul Miller.

If by "he is no Paul Miller", you mean AM's freshman season was BETTER than Miller's, you'd be correct. AM beat PM in nearly every statistical category except for total points per game when you compare their freshman seasons.

AM hasn't played enough his sophomore year to make a good comparison, but with what little data we have, there is reason to believe he would have as strong as a sophomore season as PM had as well.

[ShockTalk]

There was also a big change in M O. The short mid-range game finally appeared in full force. When you're only shooting 3s (and not well), drive all the way to the basket, and pass from the outside to the post, you're much easier to defend. Taking those mid-range shots can also open up passes to the corners and dump offs to open posts.

[1972Shocker]

My opinion that it was some of both. To what degree from each is debatable and hard to say for sure. As they say, it takes two to tango.

[im4wsu]

I'm not convinced that it is MM and SHJ that need to be comfortable including others in the offense as it is "others" being comfortable being part of the offense. We have seen DD become comfortable at times and Wednesday JB decided to be part of the offense beyond just a couple of driving layups. Erik was 2-2 and looked good taking what came to him. Rod looks awkward to me, but he can get to the line and do damage there. AM found the "perfect storm," playing against a bigger guy not interested in following him outside of four feet from the basket -- that is unlikely to happen again.

The "others" seemed to be in the right places at the right times more often this game than previous games. That, by itself, makes the offense look better and makes for better available shots. I'm hoping that Fall's being glued to the block/charge circle wasn't the entire reason for the resulting better offense; I hope it was maturation of the "others."

[ShockerPrez]

I think if the bad shots can be limited to late in the shot clock, we all will be content.

At least I will be. Sometimes the bad shots fall.... if they fall with 1 second on the shot clock, they magically turn into great shots.

[Aargh]

Two things happened in this game that needed to happen.

MM and SHJ suddenly had much improved BBIQ.

Perimeter players (primarily Burton and Dennis, the starters) had much better games.

I think those are totally connected. When MeDuffie, SHJ, and especially Burton and Dennis, start having more confidence in DD and JB, then it's easier for McDuffie and SHJ to want to include them in the offense.

When MM and SHJ are comfortable including DD and JB in the offense, it's easier for JB and DD to have more confidence in their games.

Those things all have to happen at the same time, and it's not easy to get all those attitudes and responses on the same wavelength at the same time. It took some time, and there will certainly be setbacks where all those things don't occur.

There's hope for SHJ and MM to pass up a bad shot and have something good happen. Sometimes taking a bad shot can appear to be the best available option. Don't take the bad shot and make the extra pass to get a worse chance to score has to be considered part of the problem early in the season.

[ShockAzs]

Lol I must admit, I have laughed at every single post Joerg has made.

Especially the last one, where he posted using initials "SHJ"