Wichita State vs. West Virginia Game Thread

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks were not prepared for what WVU brought to bear in this game and they certainly did not respond well. Looked frustrated and intimidated and instead of pulling together they largely went their separate ways. WVU deserves the bulk of the credit for this.

At this point we may not have a team leader that can pull everyone together when faced with adversity. That perhaps will take a little more time to develop.

That said 3G won't let this teaching opportunity go to waste.

Going forward I am expecting Jaime will move into the starting lineup.

Was expecting a better shooting team than what we have shown. Hope that is still yet to come.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I am heartened.

We played angry for most of the SC game and about 25 mins. of the WVU game. From the jump we were running around like madmen. There was more energy and passion in that first 10 mins than all of last year. As I predicted, if we were going to lose, it would be because we shot like ****. But what I wanted to see was our ability to bear down like the old days if our offense was off. The sign of our secret sauce simmering is our ability to keep it within a couple buckets no matter how cross-eyed our shooters become until we can get it rolling again. That was the case in tonight's game for about 25 mins.

I do not think I have seen so many wild and half-assed shots from a Shocker team in my lifetime. We would go not insignificant periods without even hitting the rim. Guys would be 5 feet from the basket and just barely graze the backboard. Then I would watch as WVU would get 4 offensive rebounds in one possession. We should be down by 20. I look up at the scoreboard with dread and we're only a couple buckets away.

Marshall wasn't angry; he saw what I saw. He has some killers. We just need poise. Even FVV took half a year to settle down.

I've been sad for a long time. Ever since the Shamet teams we have lacked a toughness and a killer instinct. I got particularly sad when Buckets didn't pan out. You see, buckets was a killer (maybe literally *oops*) But I am sad no longer. I am very hopeful.

We've got swagger again and there are alpha's aplenty.


T


...

[shockerfan]

Gotta win these types of games to get to March.

I agree with you. However, luckily, we arent in the Valley anymore. So plenty more opportunities for resume building wins to come. Just have to see if this team has it in them to continue to grow.

[Aargh]

Do some posters here not realize that the Shox are still a young team. There is only 1 Jr on the roster with more than a year of experience at WSU.

There's 1 Sr, 1 Jr, and 5 So's with 1 year in the program. You have to expect that teams that young will have ups and downs. The game against SCar was a huge up. It seems that SCar wasn't a true test. They're not very good. The game against WV was a true test and that test came at a time when WSU had a down game, which isn't unexpected with a young team playing two games in two days.

Had we won out in Cancun, I think we would have started getting votes in the polls. This team isn't quite ready for that yet. This loss will help prepare them for getting there if this team has the tools to get there.

[ShockAzs]

I am heartened.

We played angry for most of the SC game and about 25 mins. of the WVU game. From the jump we were running around like madmen. There was more energy and passion in that first 10 mins than all of last year. As I predicted, if we were going to lose, it would be because we shot like ****. But what I wanted to see was our ability to bear down like the old days if our offense was off. The sign of our secret sauce simmering is our ability to keep it within a couple buckets no matter how cross-eyed our shooters become until we can get it rolling again. That was the case in tonight's game for about 25 mins.

I do not think I have seen so many wild and half-assed shots from a Shocker team in my lifetime. We would go not insignificant periods without even hitting the rim. Guys would be 5 feet from the basket and just barely graze the backboard. Then I would watch as WVU would get 4 offensive rebounds in one possession. We should be down by 20. I look up at the scoreboard with dread and we're only a couple buckets away.

Marshall wasn't angry; he saw what I saw. He has some killers. We just need poise. Even FVV took half a year to settle down.

I've been sad for a long time. Ever since the Shamet teams we have lacked a toughness and a killer instinct. I got particularly sad when Buckets didn't pan out. You see, buckets was a killer (maybe literally *oops*) But I am sad no longer. I am very hopeful.

We've got swagger again and there are alpha's aplenty.


T


...

Agreed. I saw what you saw, which is probably right around when I boldly stated we'd end up winning by 12.

I think we'll get play angry back, but we'll have the offensive tools to really make Marshalls system shine. This year is going to be good!

[TheShocktocles]

With a young team, you have to expect the team to be up and down. Tonight was a down. It happens.

Young guys haven't played two nights in a row very often either. Catching a big, physical team that probably had a come to God meeting with the coaching staff after their performance last night didn't help.

Bump

[TheShocktocles]

The Shocks were not prepared for what WVU brought to bear in this game and they certainly did not respond well. Looked frustrated and intimidated and instead of pulling together they largely went their separate ways. WVU deserves the bulk of the credit for this.

At this point we may not have a team leader that can pull everyone together when faced with adversity. That perhaps will take a little more time to develop.

That said 3G want let this teaching opportunity go to waste.

Going forward I am expecting Jaime will move into the starting lineup.

Was expecting a better shooting team than what we have shown. Hope that is still yet to come.

In the last 4 games. DD is 2 for 20 in 3 point shooting.

[WuShock16]

Only player to show up was Stevenson in both games! If I was Marshall I’d be telling the team to pack bags because we’re heading back home in the morning! Embarrassing loss but come on we played like sh*t!

Yes, because they are going to rebook international commercial flights (Gregg painstakingly mentioned this detail in SC pregame interview) for a large travel party on short notice on one of the busiest travel days of the year. That makes a ton of sense.

Last night was disappointing, sure, but it wasn’t THAT embarrassing. The Shockers just got beat by a better team.

[WuDrWu]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[proshox]

Are you saying the three previous mentioned were stone cold winners?
Really?
JE is a decent 2 year player for the program, but is a 25% success rate one to base your recruiting strategy on?
Really?
They hired a specific guy who JOB was to reel in the overseas/international stud to assist with competing with other teams bigs.

If my company only had a success rate of 25%, we would be out of business in a month.
if you were only successful 25% of the time at your job, how long would you have it?

That is all.

You are wrong on this one shockref

[proshox]

I agree with you. However, luckily, we arent in the Valley anymore. So plenty more opportunities for resume building wins to come. Just have to see if this team has it in them to continue to grow.

Or unfortunately we aren’t in the Valley... so we can’t go 0-3 in the tournament, swing and miss on the two non-conference road games of value, then dominate the valley and still get an At-Large due to a double digit winning streak as teams around the country collect wins.

Joke aside, i think this team can find a way to an At-Large. WVU is a tough game in a one off scenario. Teams have to experience it a few times before figuring out what it really takes to win.

[shoxlax]

Happy Thanksgiving indeed to all!

[pogo]

We were out played in nearly every aspect of the game. These are things that can be fixed. For whatever reason the offense is not smooth but then again we have an infusion of new players and may take time to work well No need to call it a season at this point but it would be nice to have more than one or two contributors on the offense. A rude awakening for sure but as it was pointed out we will face probably tougher competition soon so this was if nothing else a wake up call. Go Shocks

[TheShocktocles]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The same to you.

[wufan]

WSU has recruited 3 euro dudes in the last 10 years to play in the paint...EO, TW and AM. The recruiting euro bigs experiment isn't working.
My suggestion - stick to recruiting bigs who start playing basketball here in their youth and not guys when they have a growth spurt and stop playing soccer overseas at 17.

Wait, what? Orupke and Wamakota are African, which is an entirely different continent. Rauno Nurger is the other Euro big. Other foreign bigs are CJ Lufile, Echineque, Kadeem Coleby and Josaphat Bilau. Of those, only big bush was overmatched for the entirety of his career.

American born centers that have been recruited in the last decade include: Carl Hall, Shaq Morris, Darius Carter, Grady, Udeze and Chandler.

Just a strange assertion all around.