The Official Shocks vs. Temple Game Thread - Puerto Rican Style

[moshock]

Do we have another opportunity to play a #15th ranked team on our schedule aside from Bama?

Well actually, we will play Creighton twice this year. There is a good chance that they will be ranked when we play. Those will be games that will be counted as good wins.

[SubGod22]

I'm not sure UNLV, USU or UAB are as good as Temple. USU and UAB sure aren't looking like that caliber of team right now. Not sure what UNLV has done this year.

We need to continue playing in the biggest and best MTE's as possible.

[_kai_]

So, using your logic, we shouldn't play in the Valley tournament either.

Yep. Just forfeit the whole season....

Lol what a joke of a reply.

[Shock-Til-U-Drop]

Do we have another opportunity to play a #15th ranked team on our schedule aside from Bama? No. Do we have another chance to beat a team comparable to Temple? You bet. UNLV, Utah State, UAB all should be similar to Temple. So aside from Bama, we didn't play anyone we couldn't have played later in the season.

I'm not saying we shouldn't play good teams, I'm saying we wait to play them when we've worked out some of the kinks. You can't tell me that we haven't had horrible showings in all of our early season tournaments.

Are we the only team in the country that has "kinks" to work out this early in the season? Those teams had just as much time to prepare as we did....well maybe not even as much with the Brazil trip.

I bet CGM will be working on kinks by this evening. It's gonna be a good year!

[ShockTalk]

Do we have another opportunity to play a #15th ranked team on our schedule aside from Bama? No. Do we have another chance to beat a team comparable to Temple? You bet. UNLV, Utah State, UAB all should be similar to Temple. So aside from Bama, we didn't play anyone we couldn't have played later in the season.

I'm not saying we shouldn't play good teams, I'm saying we wait to play them when we've worked out some of the kinks. You can't tell me that we haven't had horrible showings in all of our early season tournaments.

So are you saying that we are different than every other team in these tournaments? They don't have kinks to work out? How many of the teams at PR got to practice early and play like we did in Brazil to work those kinks out?

You play the worthwhile tournaments when they are available to be played and feel lucky to be invited. The better ones may not be available later. Not that long ago, a young Shocker team beat a very good Siena, and scared the heck out of Georgetown and Michigan St. The next year we lost to a very, very good Pitt team and beat Iowa. Last year, we lost to UConn (later to be National Champions), didn't get the draw we'd like and had to play Chaminade (a win) and beat Virginia. This tourney was probably our worst performance from an experienced team.

[_kai_]

So why do we always do poorly in these tournaments? Someone answer me that question.

[wusphlash]

Good things:
Toure' all-around game
Garrett getting good minute 2 of 3 games and rebounding
Cotton, a much better player than we thought
Hall is for effort
EO is not a liability

Bad things:

Shooting, period.
Decision making on both ends. (Why leave Fernandez open when you are up by 3 with under a minute?)
Inconsistency of DK, JR and DW.

Biggest point of concern:

Players comments about lack of teamwork and cohesiveness. Let's work through the early part of this season and get better.

Reason for optimism:

We played three very mediocre games and lost two. Small improvements in any of several areas and everyone is happy.

[ShockerGorilla]

Yep. Just forfeit the whole season....

Lol what a joke of a reply.

Your original post was just as much of a joke. I felt it deserved a reply like that.

[_kai_]

Your original post was just as much of a joke. I felt it deserved a reply like that.

Awesome.

[Kung Wu]

So why do we always do poorly in these tournaments? Someone answer me that question.

Maybe we remember things differently because my brain shorts out after a few months -- but last year we looked pretty dang good against UConn until one referee had to protect his wagers, and then took care of business after that loss. I thought we were good in last year's tournament?

[pinstripers]

The fact that we are a team with a Senior backcourt, with worlds of experience on the perimeter, was supposed to be our strength. That it was the inverse, is what is most troubling.

[tropicalshox]

Maybe we remember things differently because my brain shorts out after a few months -- but last year we looked pretty dang good against UConn until one referee had to protect his wagers, and then took care of business after that loss. I thought we were good in last year's tournament?

We passed the eye test last year. We got a D at best this year. The eye test did not get us anything but some hope. We can always hope.

[SHOXAAC]

We tend to look bad early in the season. Maybe we need to stop playing in these tournaments because it's obviously not helping our cause anymore. It's not like our 2 losses were BAD losses, but they're still losses all the same. If we can't capitalize on these tournaments, I don't see the point.

Because I myself have had posts that were less than stellar, I can honestly say this post isn't one of your finer moments. To quote Larry the Cable Guy "It's like wiping your butt before you poop...it just doesn't make sense."

Give me the chance to bat with runners in scoring position any time, than not. It is better to play with the chance to beat Bama and Temple than to play UMKC or Alabama A&M, which is about what WSU would have to schedule without tourny's like PR.

[KC Shox]

Maybe we remember things differently because my brain shorts out after a few months -- but last year we looked pretty dang good against UConn until one referee had to protect his wagers, and then took care of business after that loss. I thought we were good in last year's tournament?

Bad officiating happens all the damn time. Even if credit is given in the loss to UCONN, one stinkin' game doesn't mean jack ****. Consistency is what this team is lacking year-end and year-out in these early pre-season tournaments.

Given the fact that the Shox cannot schedule mid-high to high tier D1 programs to do a non-con series with us, in addition to how badly the Valley has been, it is a must that the Shox cash in on their opportunities. I did some checking for the past decade. Essentially, all the wins the Shox earned in pre-season tournaments were against non BCS opponents.

2000-2001 did not participate
2001-2002 did not participate
2002-2003 did not participate
2003-2004 we went 2 and 1 in the Virgin Island Tourney and lost to Boston College
2004-2005 did not participate
2005-2006 we went 1 and 2 in the S. Padre Tourney losing to Illinois
2006-2007 we went 2 and 4 in the Holiday Classic Tourney losing to New Mexico and USC
2007-2008 we went 1 and 2 in the Paradise Jam and lost to Baylor
2008-2009 we went 1 and 2 in the Old Spice Classic and lost to Georgetown and Michigan St.
2009-2010 we went 3 and 1 in the CBE and lost to PITT
2010-2011 we went 2 and 1 in the Maui Classic and lost to UCONN

Since 2000, the Shox have gone 12 and 12 in early season tournaments with two of these twelve wins coming against BCS programs in Iowa and Virginia (who were unranked and had poor seasons later that year). 2 and 8 against BCS programs overall.

This is a trend. It places the Shox, when we are having a good season, having to play catch up and pretty much have to play perfect basketball in the MVC and rely on other teams for help at the end of the year in order for us to be considered for an at-large. It's frustrating not to see early success for the Shox and then being placed on the back burner.

[shockerofandover0943]

nvm