Wichita State at Memphis Game Thread

[ABC]

we need some faster/quicker players

[WuShock16]

Wasn't there a respected player development guy, Devon Smith I think, on the staff a couple years ago and now he's gone? Player development seems to not be at the level it was at a few years ago. Staff turnover has been pretty high. Perhaps that is contributing to a break in continuity of reloading instead of rebuilding. It looks like we are in a rebuild phase for at least the third year next year.

Ummm...in the long list of reasons for the team’s struggles, Devon’s absence doesn’t make the Top 100 list.

[asiseeit]

Topshock. please find that post if it exists as I sure don't recall saying DD should be benched. I've always said our
starting line up should be JB, ES, DD, TW and JE. And as for DD's shot I mentioned at the end of the half - - were
you okay with that? If you were it speaks volumes about your BBIQ

[asiseeit]

BostonWu. I refer you to cumulative stats you can find at goshockers.com - he is clearly one of our top five all around players

[BostonWu]

BostonWu. I refer you to cumulative stats you can find at goshockers.com - he is clearly one of our top five all around players

Right now that's not saying much of anything.

[NCAABound]

What's with your love affair with ES? Seriously what has he done the past two months?

Que "passion, energy and attitude" post 1 2 3...

He has averaged 8 pts and 4 rebs since Feb 1. On this offensive terrible team it aint bad.

[Shock Top]

we need some faster/quicker players

ones that can dribble with both hands and towards the basket.

[pinstripers]

ones that can dribble with both hands and towards the basket.

I hope you mean "either hand"

[Shock Top]

I hope you mean "either hand"

Fair enough.

[Blackmag]

I thought at the first of the season the frontline would be our biggest question mark and it appears to be a big weakness. IMO. Other than Echenigue we have no one who we can really count on. Jamie is limited in what he can do but without him we really would have struggled. Because of that we’ve had to depend on our guards and perimeter shooting. Our shooting has been inconsistent at best. When we started out at 15-1, Stevenson was having his best stretch as a Shocker, Etienne was shooting 40 percent plus from 3 and Burton was playing at a much more consistent level. We were all feeling pretty good about our Shocks. Then we were exposed against Temple. Stevenson went into a nosedive, never to recover, Etienne is slumping and our point guard play is shaky. We are two or three pieces away from being what we want our team to be. Maybe we weren’t as good as we thought, when we were 15-1. Tulsa, is a must.

[BostonWu]

He has averaged 8 pts and 4 rebs since Feb 1. On this offensive terrible team it aint bad.

When you can't defend quicker guards in this league and not a PG you better be a sniper. Not impressed.

Missing a certain player who headed due south.

[asiseeit]

ES' defense isn't even close to this teams problems. Did you see GS' and TE's tonight ?

[BostonWu]

ES' defense isn't even close to this teams problems. Did you see GS' and TE's tonight ?

They all suck right now. But you single out the frosh (one of which has the only respectable 3 pt % on the team) while hanging off ES' nutsack.

[Aargh]

Where? UNC Greensboro? N.C. Central, UL Monroe? When they were fourth year guys? We're talking about there are guys on this team that are not high level D1 players, everyone that has transferred out went to smaller schools and did well.

D. Smith 21 ppg
C.J. Keyser 10.5 ppg
E. Hamilton 6.1 ppg, 4 reb

These guys weren't going to do this at Wichita State.

I certainly agree there are players on this team that have no business playing in the league we're playing in. I've pointed out for several years that there have been MAJOR holes in some of Marshall's recruiting classes. I've been chastised and ridiculed for that.

The perfect example of what I saw as recruiting problems was when VanVleet got hurt and the only backup was Ty Taylor, a Fr who had been an undersized SG in HS. That resulted in moving Baker (an AA SG) from SG to PG, where he was an all-MVC players, instead of an AA player.

When players don't perform, it's either recruiting or player development.

The PG's that Marshall has recruited are Hannah, Armstead, VanVleet, and Fernandes. That's 4 in 13 years. Other than those 4, all the potential PG's have been either HS SG's, or HS "shoot first" PG's. A "shoot first" PG is doomed in Marshall's system. Their mindset is180 degrees opposed to how they need to run games in Marshall's system.

There are 4 post players on the current team. Three of them don't seem to be competitive at the level of the conference we're playing in now. Our PF is 6'6". Our backup PF is 6'5".

It's a credit to Marshall's coaching that the team will likely win maybe 24 or 25 games with the personnel he has to work with. If the personnel he recruited and brought into the program aren't at the level they need to be for this conference, that's on Marshall. Is it possible Marshall's recruiting put some players in a position where it was unlikely they could succeed?

I would like to think that a coach making top-15 $$ with virtually unlimited resources for recruiting (private planes flying around the country) could find some bigs and PG's that would be willing to play for him in this conference, instead of finding players where WSU was probably their top offer. We fool ourselves by looking at the other schools in on our recruits. We've been "in on" and offered many recruits where we had no intention of signing them unless every other option fell through.

I'm hoping Bilau will be an exception to this pattern and that his RS year might knock off some of his rawness.

[ShockTalk]

1. TE and GS stand around too much and were absolutely dominated tonight. They are low energy. GS had a couple late
baskets but was pathetic almost the entire night. He was the biggest reason we got so far behind. Unless these two bring
some energy and ability to penetrate soon I'm ready for NF and ??.
2. Why rag on ES? At least he plays with passion and rebounds. MUCH better all around player than TE or GS.
3. No ball movement or player movement without the ball. We played lazy and not very smart.
4. Terrible shot by DD to close the half and then TE plays off Harris with a couple seconds left.
5. Seriously, if TE and GS can't play with more energy than what I witnessed tonight I'd rather see Busse.
6. GM didn't coach well tonight letting low energy players stay out there but have to give him credit for coaching this bunch
of players to 22 W's.
7. We are a much better team when ES starts and plays north of 25 minutes. He brings energy and passion that several
other players do not. If we lose him we will be in MUCH bigger trouble next year. He, JB and DD are the nucleus we
HAVE to keep !

I know that HCGM talks about having and using a motion offense. Seldom do I ever see it. Other teams must use a "double time motion offense" is the only thing I can figure.

You cannot have good ball movement without good player movement and I don't mean just one player moving. The best shot is also not after the 1st quick pass, but the 2nd. Is it that the players don't move, the players don't know where to move to, or is it the plays? In any case, the buck stops at the top.