Wichita State at Furman Game Thread

[1972Shocker]

I've never had to drag a 6'11" 220 pound frame around, but it is a bit disappointing that our bigs don't have better stamina. It's great to have a 2 or 3 headed monster, but when one of them gets it going we don't have the luxury of riding them for 10 minutes because they simply can't do it. Oh well.

6'11" 220??? Jaime is 260, Asbjorn is 270 and Poor Bear is 265. Teddy Allen is 220 but not quite 6'11".

[Shocktoberfest]

Ok. Even more to my point. I was just spit balling. I know that's a lot of dude to carry. I just wish they had better stamina. I'm sure it's not for a lack of trying.

[bighouse]

I drag around 260 every day, and let me tell you its not easy.

[ArtVandalay]

Our bigs played well on offense and if our guards were better at throwing it inside, they would of had more points. My only complaint on our bigs was AM letting Rafferty back him down. AM should be strong enough to stand his ground and not be moved by a guy giving up 50 pounds. But he walked him up multiple times and the refs bailed Rafferty out a couple times.

[Shocktoberfest]

The 2 times we pushed back, though, we were whistled. When that dude ran into AM the wall and fell over and then JE pushed back a bit late in the game on a back down. Whistle both times. It's a tough balance.

[Windiwu]

Yeah, it looked kind of like the referees dictated that our bigs were too big to be allowed to /stand their ground/.

[Stickboy46]

Our bigs played well on offense and if our guards were better at throwing it inside, they would of had more points. My only complaint on our bigs was AM letting Rafferty back him down. AM should be strong enough to stand his ground and not be moved by a guy giving up 50 pounds. But he walked him up multiple times and the refs bailed Rafferty out a couple times.

He was probably gunshy of holding his ground after the refs rewarded that horrendous flop early in the game where Rafferty just literally fell over while turning around.

[WstateU]

That was one of the worst calls I've seen this season... smh!

[Bluzrover]

I was concerned about our bigs defending Rafferty and it turned out to be a problem for us. We didn’t deny him the ball at all. We shoulda had Dennis defend Rafferty and stay in his jock. Rafferty is crafty but he’s also slow. I think a smaller athletic player would be a problem for him. Our big could have just patrolled the paint area and be assigned to their worst shooter.

I found myself thinking this too. I lost count of how many times I was screaming at the screen whenever Rafferty got the ball in the lane against AM and just methodically backed him up under the rim and no defender came to help or try to take the ball away. I suppose one shouldn't argue with the result but there was a stretch there in the second half that had me worried the guy was taking over the game and we were going to be sunk.

[WstateU]

My wife and I were also 'arm-chair quarterbacking' during that stretch. After listening to Eric Stevenson (star of the game) on the post game wrap-up, he said it was a strategy they were willing to take... giving up a two versus double teaming the post and leaving one of their good shooters open for a three and giving them momentum. My wife said, "he's won 500 more games than we have." :)

[Stickboy46]

I found myself thinking this too. I lost count of how many times I was screaming at the screen whenever Rafferty got the ball in the lane against AM and just methodically backed him up under the rim and no defender came to help or try to take the ball away. I suppose one shouldn't argue with the result but there was a stretch there in the second half that had me worried the guy was taking over the game and we were going to be sunk.

The few times we did help he hit an open 3 point shooter. They reminded of 2015 UNI and the way they played with Seth Tuttle. Ran everything a 6'8 big man that could back people down and shoot mid range, but if you tried to help on him, he would kick it out to an open shooter.

[Bluzrover]

Yeah, I recognize the strategy, not necessarily at the moment it was happening (again, very happy with the result), and several of you have made that point which I totally accept. I'm sure Lou had a lot to do with that defensive game plan and, not for the first time, a bit HT to our new defensive coordinator AC! It was just hard to watch and there were a couple of times I thought Markis might have been able to stick a hand in there and swat the ball away. But the biggest take away in all of this is the maturation of AM. Holy smokes, this is not the same Dane who started the season. If this doesn't prove 3G can teach the game of basketball to not only guards, but also bigs, I'm not sure anyone is paying attention.

[WuDrWu]

NM

[Aargh]

I wasn't able to see the game, but it sounds like we were fortunate to win with this pack of inept big men, and hero seeking guards.....

These guys are who they are...ONE on the entire team would have played last year. I'll take how far they have come.

When I read this I did not see molly saying that our bigs were inept. It seemed like a commentary on the posts in the thread, not on the players in the game. That part about "wasn't able to see the game" is a pretty big clue about the source of the comment..

[Aargh]

I did not find it difficult to figure out why they weren't doubling Rafferty. Not after I saw how Furman stroked 3's. Forbes may have had some input on the strategy for defending Furman.

With both Echenique and Midtgaard having 4 fouls at the end of the game, the comments about being more aggressive and physical when Rafferty backed them down doesn't seem like a good basketball strategy.

[Shox The Revenant]

I did not find it difficult to figure out why they weren't doubling Rafferty. Not after I saw how Furman stroked 3's. Forbes may have had some input on the strategy for defending Furman.

With both Echenique and Midtgaard having 4 fouls at the end of the game, the comments about being more aggressive and physical when Rafferty backed them down doesn't seem like a good basketball strategy.

I couldn't watch the game. Why did these two get to 4 fouls apiece? Were the refs screwing them because Rafferty would initiate contact and these two, being so much bigger, got penalized for being physical back? I'm reading Rafferty was quite the flopper, is that how they got into foul trouble? Did Rafferty do a good job of fooling the refs?

[Dan]

yes, that's basically it. A few times they went for the block and fouled, but part of Rafferty's game is to back you down then throw his body into the post player while throwing up a junk shot and try to draw the foul.

[Aargh]

I couldn't watch the game. Why did these two get to 4 fouls apiece? Were the refs screwing them because Rafferty would initiate contact and these two, being so much bigger, got penalized for being physical back? I'm reading Rafferty was quite the flopper, is that how they got into foul trouble? Did Rafferty do a good job of fooling the refs?

There were some flaky calls, but what I've seen in college officiating is that players with great basketball skills tend to get calls made in their favor. It seems that the officiating favors the player demonstrating better skills over the course of the game. That player will get the benefit of questionable calls when something wasn't really obvious in real time. Rafferty is very skilled and has great, and decisive, footwork. The way he moves he's going to get fouled.

[Shockm]

There were multiple calls that went Rafferty's way. It may be because of Aargh's reason for it but whatever reason for it, our guys got the short end of the stick.

[wsushox1]

Y'all are a pretty rough on this years team. Having watched sparingly (but being at 2 games in Memphis in person and watching all of last nights game) I think they are right on track.

In fact, I would say the guards on the team have much, much more to improve on then the post players. Does JE need to get stronger, meet the ball, and play angry? Yes. Does AM still need to get in better shape? Yes. But man, you'd be hard pressed to not be excited for their future with the team.

The freshmen guards need to be in the gym and challenge each other every day:

-ES be stronger with the ball, better decisions, and get some confidence back in how he plays.

-Jamarius....teams are giving him 15-20 foot open jumpers off of ball screens. He has to be able to rise-up and hit that. With the post players WSU has, they are going to continue to run ball screen offense (not going to give AM/JE too many post-iso's per game) and if his defender does not respect his jump shot he's going to struggle to add much offensive value against big and athletic teams.

-Dexter Dennis....needs to work on getting to the basket under control and finishing. He needs to look at himself in the mirror and ask himself "Are there many athlete capable of matchinig up with me?" Answer: no.

All in all, the shockers are significantly better than I thought they'd be and should be able to replace the scoring they lose with MM and SHJ.

Also the frosh guards need to take a few weeks and then watch every tape from every game, take notes of when they are sped up, why they are sped up, and how open they really are. Too many of WSU's late game turnovers (that I have seen) are due to playing sped-up, passing up open shots, and then getting in late clock situations where they have to force.

[Jhook89]

Holy ****! Just listened to Bob Richey's post game press conference. Talk about leadership and charisma! After listening to that I'm moving to Greensville and devoting my free time to Furman University.

[Topshock]

This guy is the real deal.

[Shock Top]

Might have to detour that move to New Orleans

[pinstripers]

Holy ****! Just listened to Bob Richey's post game press conference. Talk about leadership and charisma! After listening to that I'm moving to Greensville and devoting my free time to Furman University.

Don't move, he'll be getting a bigger job soon

[pinstripers]

I thought maybe we'd try to feed Stevenson when he heated up

[WstateU]

You'll have to wait until next year when you'll see more sharing of the ball. Not bagging on the seniors, but the dynamics of the team will change a lot next year. Oh, without the seniors, we'd probably be lucky to have 10 wins.

[TheShocktocles]

LOL. Some of these posters on here crack me up. Two-headed monster combines for 25 points on 11/14 from the field and 20 rebounds but they are 'inept'. Lmao

Yeap. The two headed monster gave up 27 points and 9 rebounds to a skinny non athletic 6ft 8 215 pound center. And this center backed down our centers most of the game so that he could get his patent 2 ft jump hook. That's bullsht. Nope our guys were not imept but they got their butts whipped on the defense by a player that was not even full strength. I know some of you all disagree but I don't think Raferty should have been able to do that against us. Go shocks.