Wichita State vs Temple (Conf. Tourn.) Game Thread

[WSUwatcher]

This is where the old adage "it's hard to beat a team three times" comes into play.

Well, it wasn't hard for the Shocks against ECU, and in fact it isn't hard once you've already won the first two, and you're the much better team -- as WSU clearly is vs. East Carolina (as well as a good matchup against the Pirates).

But the games against Cincy have been reasonably competitive -- in fact, more than just "reasonably" in Wichita -- and WSU is also better now than they were then. Plus, they have added incentive, whereas Cincinnati is just playing for seeding. So maybe this will indeed be one of those "third time's a charm" cases for the Shocks.

[Good News]

I'm a big believer in "don't talk to the pitcher while he's throwing a no-hitter", but quick hitters wait for no man:

1. We can play with UH. I'd need to see a complete list, but as I told a friend today, they are the least intimidating 2 loss team from a power conference that I can remember in recent memory. I know that because...

2. I was in Hofheinz or whatever they call it now, watching the Houston game. Good team, nice players. But not athletically or physically intimidating by top 25 standards, and I didn't think they exerted a particularly high BBIQ either. Not to mention...

3. The Shocker team I've seen since then bears no resemblance to the one from that part of the season. As I noted a couple weeks ago, JB/DD/ES have all played significantly more minutes than Fred did as a freshman and I think I see sophomore (at least) level play out of them. However...

4. Cincy is another matter. I still don't know who would limit/control Cumberland, and I haven't checked the rosters but they seem/look older and larger and more physical than UH. In other words...

5. From the cheap seats I could game plan UH even if it was crap. The best I can come up with for UC is "somebody bribe them to dump the Gatorade cooler on Mick Cronin like Fordham did in the Roundhouse back in '87 and get a bunch of T's at a crucial point in time". Speaking of and by the way since I'm still annoyed by it...

6. Gus Santos' jumper from elbow in OT was before the buzzer and the ref (Zecher?) raped us on that one. But I digress and fast forward three decades to...

7. One of the things I like about 10 newcomers is that they were 5 years old and playing with legos while - no matter how good the Shocks were - it was impossible to beat a conference opponent for a third time in one season during the tournament (hat tip to Joe "FU Fazekas" Dooley for starting a former team manager). The second thing I like about newcomers is that the same parts of their brains that tell them to make the worst possible turnovers at the worst possible time are also responsible for deciding whether they can win 4 games in 4 days. I like to think the answer is "WHY THE F NOT?!". Which means...

8. I don't like the UC matchup but I think we're due and the basketball gods would approve. I call it 25 percent. If we win, solid 40 percent against UH. Therefore...

9. WstateU needs to post something from Dumb and Dumber. But I'm done talking about no hitters and switching to Ernie Banks and Uncle Mo screaming...

10. LET'S PLAY TWO!!!!!!

[pie n eye]

Houston smoked Cinci by like 20 in the last game of the year @ Cinci. Gotta disagree on your assessment of Houston that but Cinci is tough too. Can anyone stop Cumberland?

[Good News]

Eye test is eye test. I've never believed in the transitive property when it comes to basketball - matchups are key. I hear you though. Not to mention that Mick might have the attention of his guys after humiliating them by saying he was going to hold open tryouts last week.

Then again, maybe there's a potential mutiny. Either way, I just don't see anybody on UH that impacts us negatively like Cumberland, and I think we are incredibly improved from that UH game. I could be wrong, but I think just JE alone was struggling and one of his first games back from the foot injury. Let alone DD emergence, JB maturity, ES... heat check 3s, SHJ confidence game winner confidence boosters, etc.

[WuDrWu]

Todd Fagan's day is not done. They've got to get Markis and Dexter into those cold therapy hyperbolicchambermcthingys and get those guys back into shape.

There's so much to cover about that game tonight but I think I'll keep it short and sweet.

I love this program and how these guys have competed since Arkansas Tech Nov 3, 2007 through tonight. You've rarely if ever been cheated.

And I love this conference. Tomorrow could and should be a blast with 4 teams ready to get into a rock fight to get a win.

We may win tomorrow, we may lose tomorrow. But we're gonna get after it.

#AmericanPower #WatchUsSurviveandAdvance

[Dave Stalwart]

I was just thinking for all the questionable officiating we’ve seen all year, do you think maybe the American front office could fix WSU-Memphis all the way to the finals and get WSU the trophy so we can get as many teams in the post season as possible? If there was ever a reason to have refs as bad as what weve been seeing, that would be it. All kinds of money to be made and Houston and Cincy are already locks. I’m just sayin. What would Doug Elgin do? WWDD!?

[molly jabali]

You would have loved tonight... except for the nonstop commentary of the experts in our section...

[ShockingButTrue]

-ahem-

[champions5]

Coach Marshall can grab career win number 500 with a W tomorrow. That would be a great way to do it.

[ShockingButTrue]

Coach Marshall can grab career win number 500 with a W tomorrow. That would be a great way to do it.

I'm putting my money on GGG. Payback's a b****.

[1972Shocker]

I'm tickled to death with the impressive win over a good Temple team. However, I do hope that we didn't wreck Coach Dunphy's swan song and Temple still gets a chance to dance.

[NCAABound]

Coach Marshall can grab career win number 500 with a W tomorrow. That would be a great way to do it.

And pass the great William Reinhart...who won 20+ games 3 times

Win % ranking is better by 20 spots

[1979Shocker]

Did Ricky Torres play in the second half? Coach Marshall could be sending a message about his playing time.

If we were still in the MVC, he'd probably be a good player, but this is the AAC.

[im4wsu]

[QUOTE=[URL="https://shockernet.net/member/1888-1979shocker"]1979Shocker[/URL] commented
41 minutes? How that work?/[QUOTE]


All the messups with with the clock. Or maybe rounding to whole numbers

[shockrah]

Stats

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/matchup?gameId=401120714

[Woodrow]

just watched the post game. GGG gave Temple and Dunphy props. Fran Dunphy is a class act. I can see why he is well liked.

[Dave Stalwart]

I know it’s the wrong metric now but rpi jumped to 69. Point being this team is hardly worse than some of our NCAA teams even if they don’t quite make it. This team is definitely not even an outlier when you look at it that way. If you are 69 without Shamet and Reeves, you were easily top 50 with them. Excellent job turning it around a finishing strong

[AndShock]

The NCAA’s random waiver decisions kept us out of the tournament this year.

[WichitaStateGuy]

Thoughts on what the line will open at for tomorrow’s game? Cinci -4.5?