Wichita State at SMU Game Thread

[WSUwatcher]

For those posters calling for McDuffie to be benched...

...Have you noticed who replaces McDuffie when he takes a seat? McDuffie needs to be on the court for a LOT of minutes, regardless of the game he's having.

I don't want McDuffie to be benched, but I'd love for him to play fewer minutes. I think it would serve him well, and would serve the team well. Judging by his recent shot selection, Duff is starting to "lead" by trying too hard to take over and launching poor shots in the process; plus, he seems to be starting to wear down a bit, which may also be affecting his shot -- not a good parlay.

JV's 41-137 stat for McDuffie and Samajae the last five games is telling: that's 29.9 %, which is not winning basketball from your two most frequent shooters. It's a real sign of progress, as Doc correctly hashtagged, that WSU has managed to win three of those five games, especially considering that one of the losses was a giveaway caused by seemingly a collective brain freeze.

[Blackmag]

Agree with that whole heartily. The younger players are playing a bigger role. Dennis, Burton and I’ll throw Echenigue in that group. These guys need more touches, they’ve earned the confidence of the coach and SHJ and Mcduffie need to fall in line. Mcduffie forcing things really looked silly at times, off balance falling to the floor. We don’t need that. And SHJ hits a few then he feels like it’s up to him to take over, not needed we have freshmen and others who are now stepping up. We need to finish this year on a high note, team ball extrodinar. And set this league on fire. They won’t know what happened. Night out you all

[Aargh]

Midtgaard seems to be getting noticeably better from game to game. I thought he was dominating when he was in today. He's started going straight at defenders and not worrying about whether he hurts them, which is a change from the beginning of the year. He had foul problems which limited his minutes today, but with 3 post players, he can afford to give some fouls while he's improving his technique,

I thought he was better than Echenique today. I think he's ahead of the ball handlers right now. AM is better at getting open looks than the distributors are used to seeing . They aren't always looking for him because they're not used to him getting the type of positioning he's getting.

AM is likely to always have mobility issues, and he's unlikely to ever have a respectable vertical, but he's starting to look like a player who can hurt opponents if he gets the ball close to the basket or if an opponent tries to go to the hoop on him. I'm talking about physical pain. He's always been this really big guy who wanted to make sure he didn't hurt smaller people. He's starting to realize that's not an issue in a basketball game.

[Topshock]

On his present trajectory he will help this program the next two years. He obviously has defensive deficiencies, but if he didn’t have some he wouldn’t be here the next two years.

[WuDrWu]

He's learning what he cannot do, as well as what he can do. I love his sprint down the middle of the court and sit his butt down in the circle and demand the ball. Just try and stop that on the break.....the BBIQ of this team has grown a lot in the last 4 weeks, and that always makes them more fun to watch.

[ShockerFever]

I like it too. The problem is we don't seem to give him a chance to do anything because a lot of the time post entry passes are completely absent.

[1972Shocker]

Was not able to watch or listen to the SMU game. Could follow intermittently on live stats. Some ugly numbers from the seniors. As others have pointed out, the fact we are winning some games when Markis and/or Samajae are not on their games does show some growth and development by young guys. Although SMU was very short-handed. At least Markis contributed 9 rebounds to the cause.

I think the Shocks assist numbers (17 on 25 baskets) and turnover numbers (10) against SMU continue to show a positive improvement for this team.

Hopefully, Markis and Samajae have that out of their systems because not sure we can get away with that against the majority of AAC teams and I my expectations are that Markis and Samajae will keep firing away regardless of how they are shooting. However, with Jaime and Asbjorn going 6-8 perhaps 3G could suggest that getting these guys 12-15 combined shots a game might not be a bad idea and perhaps make good opportunities for the perimeter players easier to come by. Of course, match ups have a lot to do with that.

Nice to see Dexter get back on track with another solid game (and only 1 foul). Has Dexter become this team's best all-around player down the stretch?

Sure can't complain about the stat line Jamarius contributed in the SMU game: 10 points on 4-7 (1-1) from the field and 1-1 from the line, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 5 assists vs only 1 turnover.

Erik's 6 assists in only 16 minutes was an impressive number as well.

Hopefully, senior night on Tuesday will prove to be a good one for Markis and Samajae. These next two games would seem to me to be a great opportunity for Markis and Samajae to lead this team in blending into a total team concept heading into the AAC Tournament. Too much to ask?

[Dan]

Nice to see Dexter get back on track with another solid game (and only 1 foul). Has Dexter become this team's best all-around players down the stretch?

yes. As my objectively viewing wife said, "that Dennis Dexter guy is really the best player on the team. He's gonna be a good one"

[1972Shocker]

I don't know how anyone could challenge that observation.

[IndianaShocker]

I would challenge him being the best freshman. JB is every bit as valuable this season. While I think both will get better, DD does have a higher ceiling. JB has made me thankful Alo took his talents to Memphis. Do others not recognize we traded Alo for his big brother? JB is a bigger, stronger version of Alex and has the higher ceiling. He's already an above average D1 pg and will be a very good one when all is said and done.

All this talk about our new recruits. Whose minutes they taking? Not JB's. Not DD's. ES? ES will improve his defensive IQ and lateral quickness this summer. I suspect he's in the rotation all four years. RT?

A lot of people sleep on Ricky, but he has absolutely ELITE vision. His issues are shooting from 3 and lateral quickness/strength. I'll offer a theory...go back and watch his JUCO highlights. His stride was much smoother than we've seen - am I the only one who has noticed how at times he puts his head down and forces himself to run as if he were an out of shape middle aged man trying to finish the last 100 meters of a mile run? He also isn't wearing any lower leg sleeves or braces in those videos. I wonder if he has some nagging knee/lower leg issue, i.e. tendonitis, shin splints, etc. ? If he indeed is in pain and is able to fix that issue over the summer while adding strength, he will be very good player his senior season.

[1972Shocker]

Two Shocker Guards Pick up Weekly Honors

Jamarius Burton and Samajae Haynes-Jones helped the Shockers to two victories last week and helped themselves to weekly honors from the American Athletic Conference office.

Burton was named Freshman of the Week for the second time this year. He's the third Shocker in the past five weeks to win the award. Haynes-Jones earned Honor Roll status

Burton – a 6-foot-4 guard from Charlotte, N.C. – averaged 10.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in victories over UConn and SMU. He finished with a 5.00-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Burton is the league's freshman leader in assists (3.3) and A:TO ratio (1.79). The latter would be the highest ever by a Shocker true freshman (min. 3 APG). Burton has banked at least five assists in four-straight games and scored in double-figures in three-straight.

Haynes-Jones scored 20 points, including a game-winning buzzer-beater, in Thursday's 65-63 win over UConn. He dribbled the length of the floor in the final six seconds and unleashed an off-balance, 15-foot jumper from the right baseline as time expired. It was his second last-second game-winner in four weeks and was No. 1 on SportsCenter's Top-10 Plays.

[pie n eye]

Good win against an undermanned SMU team. Any road win is nice, especially by double digits.

I hope we can take care of business the next two (and then three) because I’d love to see us play at least one more good team (UCF) and would really be fun to get another shot at one of two first place teams.

[Dan]

DD and JB both should make all freshman team

[kcshocker11]

Solid road win! Getting fun again!

[TheShocktocles]

Do you all think JE will make the all newcomer team? Last I read he was second in block shots in the league.