Wichita State at Houston Slaughter Thread

[ShockerFever]

This is the most frustrating part. We are about 30 seconds away from that. Whole season could be flipped with better execution for 30 freaking seconds.

You could also say we were 30 seconds from having no postseason at all last year if we don't get the last second shots to fall against SMU, UConn, and Tulane. Wins are wins and losses are losses. They are what they are.

[Topshock]

Regarding Marshall changing. Weren't things quite a bit different during the first year of the AAC? Our offense was quite a bit better and our defense was not our normal defense. It seemed to me to be a conscious decision on GM''s part, maybe because of personnel.

That team was more talented at that point in those players careers, but it was one of the most underachieving teams I have ever seen. A lot of the reason for that was the coaching staff would not play to their strength, which was that they were a tremendous shooting team.

[ShockerFever]

Just looked at the Houston Box score for the 1st time. I did no realize that Dexter was the only Shocker to make more than 2 field goal. He was 4-11. The other 10 guys who played combined to make 10 baskets. Only 4 assists on those 14 baskets as well.

The Shocks have not been playing well lately but even with that said I am praying that this Houston game was just an aberration where a far better team imposed their will on the Shocks and once the snowball got rolling downhill it was over. Maybe this is the wake up call this team needs.

The wake up call stuff is getting a little tiresome. That should've happened 6 games ago. They really haven't looked great offensively (minus the UCF game) since the Memphis game. This isn't an aberration. This is what this team is now. It's its identity. No more hiding W's behind crappy opponents anymore.

[ShockerFever]

What happened to Burton? I feel like he disappeared.

He has disappeared. He's not playing against low-major competition anymore. But is he adjusting to that? Is coaching adjusting to that? Nope. Just keep doing the same thing over and over and throw up airball after airball, get stuffed like a turkey, or lose the ball on the way to the hole. One of those 3 things happens 90% of the time now. He's one of the guys to me that is just looking to get his. He never looks to pass. When he gets the ball, he is gonna be the last one to touch it, usually resulting in minimal success.

When you don't adjust, you disappear.

[Topshock]

Dexter is averaging 10 points and 6 boards in conference. Shooting 38% from 3. 2 pt percentage needs work yes, but he's drastically better in conference season so far.

And that is against better competition than the non-conference was. Just another terrible player evaluation by asiseeit. Sadly I do see a trend on what players he likes and doesn't like.

[Dan]

I think we can all agree we need roster help. We have 1 senior and 1 scolly accounted for with Jadun - a guy I think we're all excited about. We have help coming down low with Bilau, but he will be young, as will Jadun. So what do we do about next year? We need an experienced PG. I don't think bringing in another freshman PG will do anything for us. I also don't think we can hope that Sherfield and/or JB become the jitterbug, passing, playmakers just by being a year older. Is Noah gonna become that guy? Does 3G have the cajones to end the AM experiment before his senior season and on the eve of the European tour? 3G has some tough decisions to make and he makes the big bucks. Let's see how he handles it int he offseason.

[asiseeit]

terrible player evaluation?? I gave you the full body of work and you only gave conference. Lots of folks ragging on ES but
compare ALL, I say ALL of the stats compared to DD's. ES' are much better and not just shooting % look at assists and
turnovers which count a lot. I totally agree that as of late DD is coming on and ES has struggled. I want them BOTH to
play well starting Thursday. I think the real improvement has to start with our ZERO assist PG's who are not running the
offense well, dribbling too much, shooting poorly themselves and falling asleep on defense. It all starts with them on
offense. Back to AAC level players JE is it right now. I am hoping for much better performances from ALL our players not
just a few who I like a little more. I want W's and don't care who the leading scorer is and I will defend ANY player who I
feel has been unfairly judged. And btw, when did 38% shooting become a good AAC games stat?

[BOBB]

I’m fully in the proof is in the pudding camp on recruits. We don’t have athletes like the top programs in our conference. Either are evaluation of talent is lacking, or we aren’t able to attract the kind of talent we need. Either is disappointing. I don’t expect Kentucky level athletes, but Houston and Cincinnati level athletes .

[Stickboy46]

terrible player evaluation?? I gave you the full body of work and you only gave conference. Lots of folks ragging on ES but
compare ALL, I say ALL of the stats compared to DD's. ES' are much better and not just shooting % look at assists and
turnovers which count a lot. I totally agree that as of late DD is coming on and ES has struggled. I want them BOTH to
play well starting Thursday. I think the real improvement has to start with our ZERO assist PG's who are not running the
offense well, dribbling too much, shooting poorly themselves and falling asleep on defense. It all starts with them on
offense. Back to AAC level players JE is it right now. I am hoping for much better performances from ALL our players not
just a few who I like a little more. I want W's and don't care who the leading scorer is and I will defend ANY player who I
feel has been unfairly judged. And btw, when did 38% shooting become a good AAC games stat?

The reason I used conference is you keep throwing out "AAC level players" .. well using only conference stats (you know .. against AAC level players) seems to make sense to do that evaluation.

Also .. when did shooting 38% FROM THREE become not a good stat?

[Slalomshocker]

Fev hit on it. I know several others have mentioned it. Coach needs to make some adjustments. He recruited these players, he bought the ingredients, sometimes you have to change it up and make a different main dish than you originally anticipated. Coaches have to put their players in the best position to succeed. Right now, GGG has to figure out what that is. Because I'm not buying the free fall from 17-1 and a clear path to a 4/5 seed down to whatever the heck this is now as all being "young" and "i don't know, I need to coach better". Coach called out the fans early on, then makes the comment after UCONN "we have some things to work on, but that's why I'm gainfully employed". Time to back up your talk coach. You don't even have to win every game, just show that your are trying.

[asiseeit]

DD is 30% overall and from the perimeter. He has more turnovers than assists. Those are the facts. I'm rooting
for all the guys to do better, much better. Starts with ball movement, players moving without the ball, and PG's who
findf them. A lot pf players standing around on the perimeter watching the PG's dribble the clock out. When we
start getting at least 1. 5 assists to turnovers a game we will start winning again.

[1972Shocker]

The wake up call stuff is getting a little tiresome. That should've happened 6 games ago. They really haven't looked great offensively (minus the UCF game) since the Memphis game. This isn't an aberration. This is what this team is now. It's its identity. No more hiding W's behind crappy opponents anymore.

As I said in my post the Shocks have not be playing well for a while now. However, against Houston they totally imploded with a performance that I hopefully they are totally embarrassed about. If this doesn't wake them up then nothing will. Hopefully, the Houston game is not what we have become.

[ShockingButTrue]

Say what you want about DD and make excuses but the guy is shooting 30% this season. Are you telling me that is
AAC level? With all his athleticism he can't get to the rim and if he does get that far is intimidated and seldom finishes.
In his defense, and ES' for that matter, they are playing with guards and an offense that lacks ball movement. As a player
you get tired and frustrated watching a couple others dribble dribble dribble so you start standing around rather than
making sharp moves without the ball cause you know the ball handler is dribbling to create something for himself. JB and
GS had ZERO assists yesterday. ZERO. Those are the guys that are suppose to be creating good shots for others.
Move the darn ball. Our assists should at least be 1.5 times our turnovers or better. Start there for improvement.

Have to agree. If the Shocks have an apparent short coming at the 2, and Dennis is clearly the answer, why on God's green Earth would GGG not put him there... Stevenson supposedly is weak to the left, but DD isn't? DD ain't a guard in any estimation.

[Singeril]

really?

Really, really.

[AZ Shocker]

I'm just gonna go back to what coach said a couple months ago about being a "dinosaur" regarding our offensive sets.

If since joining the AAC we've recruited on paper higher level players (a paper-stat I just don't see)...perhaps these type of players are frustrated by the dinosaur playbook.

The system has proven to work in the past but maybe it is just too systematic and clearly easy to defend in the AAC. Maybe with Kentucky level players it could still work in this league...but a lot of the talent in the AAC is just a notch below a lot of the good P-5 programs.

It just seems with the length and athleticism we see in the AAC...our offensive philosophy becomes a juggernaut making it uber difficult to score points.

Coach is a smart man and a very good coach. I'm quite confident he'll make some adjustments in an attempt to salvage what started off as a very good season.

GO SHOCKS!!!!!