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Although it sucks the Shocks have the toughest schedule, I think the scheduling shows pretty good parity. With a few exceptions, the top half of the conference plays the toughest schedule and the bottom half has it a little bit easier. It seems pretty fair to me. It all comes down to winning the games you are suppose to win, and not losing all the games you are expected to lose. I think a 4th place finish is a compliment from the coaches because it appears to me that this years conference is a 4 bid league and I expect the Shocks to have the 3rd or 4th bid. Our competition for the 4th bid might come from UConn or USF, and they scheduling as rough as we do.
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who were the creeps that had the nerve to say that ray allen was a better athlete than dexter dennis?! put down dexter dennis. you all about to get slam dunked. right in your home town. there's gonna' be bodies.Last edited by another shocker; October 14, 2019, 11:16 PM.Comment
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Man after reading these qoutes I am jacked. I think we got a Team. " They won not because of individuals contributions. They won because every man in that boat trusted his mate" Go shocks.Comment
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Busse just to the left of Stevenson? If so now looks a bit more rugged than the St Francis kid who showed up last year.Comment
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Grant Sherfield looked at his phone and saw the text from coach Gregg Marshall. It included a picture of Sherfield in a basketball uniform.
Sherfield laughed. He knew when he signed with Wichita State that Marshall would challenge him. The picture showed Sherfield a year ago at Sunrise Christian Academy and looking, well, a little less athletic. Pudgy, as Marshall tells it.
"That was . . . before I lost all that weight, and got ripped," Sherfield said. "Coach challenged me and I accepted the challenge."
Marshall's challenge came with specifics beyond muscles and cardio. He sees Sherfield, a freshman guard, as an heir to Fred VanVleet's legacy as a physical, relentless defender.
"He's cut his body up," Marshall said. "I challenged him to be a Fred VanVleet-type. Try to dictate the game from a defensive standpoint. Be in unbelievable shape to pressure the ball, get deflections. Put some fear in that ball-handler's mind. He's taken that challenge."
Sherfield (6-foot-2, 189 pounds) lived in Wichita until sixth grade. He attended high school in Fort Worth before spending his senior year at Sunrise. He signed with UCLA. After a coaching change there, he looked for another school and wanted a coaching staff that would push him.
"If you don't want a coach to be at your neck and challenge you every day to get better, I don't know why you play the game," Sherfield said. "He told me this summer, when we first got here, I needed to get in better shape. I took on that challenge and I met it. He told me to be more active on defense, and I met it. Every time he challenges me, I'm going to try to surpass it."
Marshall said Sherfield likely leads the Shockers in deflections during practices. His teammates notice the defense.
"He's picking up on our defense schemes very quickly," sophomore guard Jamarius Burton said. "He's getting his hands on a lot of balls."
Sherfield is part of a group of freshmen guards who need to help the Shockers this season and give them a strong group for the future. Marshall considers Sherfield a point guard who can also play shooting guard. Tyson Etienne's first position is shooting guard and he also can run the team. Noah Fernandes is a pure point guard.
"Those guys are very good, very competitive, very talented and they can all shoot it really well," Marshall said. "But how freshmen handle the situation, how they handle the basketball coming out of the chute will be very, very important to see."
More from media day:
Burton is the incumbent point guard for and he spent much of the summer smoothing out his shooting stroke. Defenses often dared him to shoot last season and he wants to render that strategy ineffective.
Coaches told him he pulled the ball back behind his head too far. That created a slow release and a hitch in the movement.
"I tried to get a lot of reps of keeping the ball in front and letting it be more fluid," he said. "It definitely feels better. I feel like I've gotten good results."
Burton, a sophomore, started 28 games last season and averaged 6.0 points. He made 10 of 38 three-pointers and shot 39 percent from the field.
Burton and sophomore Erik Stevenson are the experienced Shockers in the back court. Marshall likes their physical improvement.
"They've cut their bodies up," he said. "They're a little quicker, more explosive, but they haven't lost any strength. They've slimmed down from what they were last year, so in Erik's case, he's able to guard better, which was a struggle last year. These guys will hopefully be able to finish better around the basket."
Stevenson played in all 37 games and started 11 last season. He estimates he lost around 14 points and notices improved quickness. That should help on both ends of the court.
"It has made the game a lot easier for me," he said. "I worked on dribbling and shooting, but the big thing was becoming consistent on offense and defense – getting tougher, getting quicker."
The Shockers won nine of their final 11 games last season and advanced to the NIT semifinals. They expect the lessons learned over the highs and lows to carry over to this season.
Through much of the season, the Shockers played inconsistent defense and committed too many turnovers. When they corrected those deficiencies in late January, improvement came quickly.
"It just showed us how hard we've got to play each game (in order) to win," sophomore Isaiah Poor Bear Chandler said. "It took a little bit. That's why we started off with a losing record, but after (that) it just all started to kick in."
The Shockers held four of those 11 opponents under 60 points and three more under 70. They committed 10 or fewer turnovers in six of those games and 13 or fewer in nine.
"We've got to do the little things," Stevenson said. "We didn't make a whole lot of shots collectively last year. What we learned last year is that, even though you might be missing some shots, if you can defend and rebound, you can still win games."
Sophomore Dexter Dennis exemplified that improvement late in the season. He averaged 11.1 points over the final 14 games. At Indiana in the NIT, he made 5 of 7 three-pointers on his way to 17 points and blocked six shots.
He worked on improving his ball-handling and passing over the summer. He can help the offense significantly if he can make plays for teammates from the wings. He knows opponents will guard him closely because of his excellent three-point shooting (40 percent last season).
"I've just been trying to become a better player off the bounce for me and my teammates," he said. "My teammates come at me every day because they know I'm trying to be better at that."Comment
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Coach said he wishes he would've redshirted AM his freshman year. Wonder if he thinks that about any current players? I know this is always a spirited discussion.Comment
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I am expecting at least 1 redshirt. Josephat Bilau would seem to be perhaps the prime candidate. I think he could benefit greatly from a redshirt year. But we'll see., DeAntoni Gordon might also be a candidate. Josephat has the body, needs to work on his skills and feel for the game. Deantoni may be more skilled but perhaps could use a year to build up his body. I don't know that 3G would redshirt both however because we aren't really that deep at the 4. Time will tell.Originally posted by Dan View Post
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I like the way the term "he's cut up his body" seems to be a common refrain this year.Comment
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Fernandes would be my 2nd pick. Has been injured and seems to be behind a stacked set of guards.Originally posted by 1972Shocker View PostComment
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This was from the local media day held at Koch Arena yesterday:
Tyson Etienne is just a really confident and impressive freshman.
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More from the local media day at Koch Arena including 5:00 minute video of 3G:
Taylor Eldridge: Who are the leaders on WSU basketball? Marshall and the Shockers give their answers
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Marshall wasn't joking about Etienne being body-ready as a freshman.Comment
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Fernandes appears to have put on some D1 size also.Comment
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