2020-21 Expectations for Shocker Basketball – “Way-To-Early Springtime Edition”

[im4wsu]

Would a zone defense give AM a better opportunity to be a contributing factor for the Shockers? In a zone, he wouldn't have to chase the smaller centers around the perimeter; he could continue to intimidate penetration; he wouldn't be "leaving his man" to help on defense, he'd just be doing his job.

On offense, he has a pretty decent 6-12 foot shot. With lots and lots of practice within 3 feet, maybe that wouldn't be a negative. It's difficult for me to assess his potential because he's never played enough consecutive minutes to seem to get comfortable; maybe he tries too hard to do something right away and tht leads to poor results.

Just hopin' I guess.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Just as a hypothetical, do you think we would have still had as many transfers if we had made a run to the sweet 16?

Fair question. You'd think so since winning cures all. Assuming 1-2 players staying isnt a stretch.

[MelvinLoudermilk]

Just as a hypothetical, do you think we would have still had as many transfers if we had made a run to the sweet 16?

I think a couple would of changed their minds. However it seems ES and JB made up their minds some time ago

We were 23-8 or something like that and ES and JB were a big part of that

Their choices were playing for HCGM again versus leaving with no guarantee to play next fall and possibly not getting to play college basketball for another 18 months.

That said, as soon as the portal opened they ran (more like sprinted) to get away from the coaching staff of the winning team they were a big part of.

DG - nah, he was a four star who didn’t get to play. He was probably gone unless he did something spectacular on a sweet 16 run

Noah - maybe

GS - maybe

[WstateU]

Fair question. You'd think so since winning cures all. Assuming 1-2 players staying isnt a stretch.

I think you’re right on. The end of the season was such a ‘gut punch’ for a team that had chemistry issues. It’s happening all across the country; transferitis is an epidemic... it’s the easy way out for many.

At some point, we all have doubts. Do we have the right job? Do we have the right spouse? Is the grass greener over there? Do I need a fresh start?

I’m hoping this current crisis helps bring us all together. Maybe our lives were better than we thought? Maybe I need to be a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better grandfather and a better friend. I’m going to do my best.

[Woodrow]

Would a zone defense give AM a better opportunity to be a contributing factor for the Shockers? In a zone, he wouldn't have to chase the smaller centers around the perimeter; he could continue to intimidate penetration; he wouldn't be "leaving his man" to help on defense, he'd just be doing his job.

On offense, he has a pretty decent 6-12 foot shot. With lots and lots of practice within 3 feet, maybe that wouldn't be a negative. It's difficult for me to assess his potential because he's never played enough consecutive minutes to seem to get comfortable; maybe he tries too hard to do something right away and tht leads to poor results.

Just hopin' I guess.

I've thought the same thing. Even playing man on 4 players and don't chase the 5th out of the lane. Most teams don't have 5 good shooters so it would work most of the time. When AM was in the game he was good at defensive rebounding and clogging up the middle on the defensive end. He was pretty good with his little hook shot but just didn't get the ball inside enough. If we get a point guard who can run the pnr he is good at that. Torres was successful doing it with AM several times. If we could only fill one need on the team it needs to be getting a very good point guard. If we get that done it will make a world of difference. I really liked JB but he was not a true pg. GS is not a pg. NF was probably our only true pg but was injured most of the year. AM was good in the NIT and I think he has a role to play next year.

[COS Shocker]

I'm going to combine several things in one post versus posting in a number of different threads. First of all I find myself in somewhat the middle ground on GGG. I disagree with 76 in that we should terminate him, although if GGG got an offer and wanted to leave I would let him go versus continuing to chase after him. If he were to leave my first call would be to Jans. I'm quite sure Chris and his wife would jump at the opportunity. In many ways I think Chris was to GGG as Tad Boyle was to Turgeon. I think both Tad and Chris made life alot easier for their head coaches and made them look good and covered up some of their flaws. Both head coaches are good in their own right, but neither of them have been as successful without the key assistant. Clearly GGG and Chris are at a higher lever than Mark and Tad. I think that GGG does have a lot to answer for with all of the transfers over the last 3 years, but in no way is it reason to run off our most successful coach. I do think in particular GGG needs to change his in game coaching personality and style. Practice be as hard ass as you want, but for some time players in games have not played with the confidence they should out of fear. It shows on the offensive end. Look at any number of players TC, Rashard Kelly, Zach Brown that have been productive at the pro level much more than at WSU. GGG talks about how great a shooting team we are, but yet we don't see it on the court in games. I think the tightness that players play with and the lack of confidence they feel directly relates to our offensive woes. Confidence is not as important on the defensive end as pure effort and thus we have continued to be a good defensive team. Players can't feel like they are going to be pulled for one mistake. Once on lack of effort, yes pull them, but not for mistakes. I think everyone but ES has left with class and wish them well. Personally very disappointed to see JB, NF and DG leave. The other 3 not so much. I felt DG should have been given more consistent minutes but the issues with the guards and need for minutes there forced GGG to play Dexter more minutes at 4 thus reducing DG opportunities.

With regards to next year, my expectations will be dependent on what we do with the PG spot. I think we have 2-4 positions covered pretty well. I see the following as a possible minutes distribution 2- TE - 30; DD - 10; 3 - DD 22: JM - 10; TW - 8: 4- TW-20; JB - 20. AM and PBC can handle 20+ min at the 5. We need a couple of PGs and 1 Big we can count on. I agree with playing more zone and it will allow AM to play more minutes and be more than serviceable. It will also help with some offensive struggles and allow TE, DD and TW to play more minutes. Bottom line if we find a couple of point guards and one big, and we make these adjustments we can be top 4 again in the conference next year and go to the Dance.

Finally had we not had the season cut short and we would have had some success in the conference tournament and win at least a game in the NCAA we may have retained one or two of the transfers. Biggest priority is a Juco or Grad PG. I would love someone in the vain of Joe Ragland and/or Malcum Armstead and a solid FR point guard to learn. If we get that we will be good.

[Bluzrover]

I have zero expectations for this team. I think Coach will need/deserve a couple of seasons to right this mess, and that is going to take a season or two. I feel like by then, he will know whether he wants to coach kids of today's nature, or go into broadcasting or something else. My expectation is that this season is going to shed a lot of light on the state of college basketball, not just at Hillside and 21st, but across the nation.

I tend to give Gregg a bit more credit. I know this seems to be a controversial subject on SN these past few days but I firmly believe 3G is capable of righting the ship and I think this team can be competitive next year. Win the conference good? No. Win 20 games? Quite possibly. He has a chance now to build better balance across his roster and the lure of immediate playing time at a top tier D1 program is going to be pretty inticing for a few good athletes. And I think he’ll adjust his selection process to ensure he brings in some guys who understand their role on the team.

[asiseeit]

Back in early December I was advocating more minutes for PB&AM and tinkering with two bigs at a time...…..also playing a 3-2
zone with two bigs on the floor. The premise was to prepare for dancing with bigger teams giving us an alternative to playing
small should we HAVE to in March. GM did it but just a very limited amount of time. All the feedback I got was negative. Have
to wait to see who we recruit for next season but I agree that zone suits AM much more and probably PB, as well. I hope we can
sign Grill as a CG and a lighting quick pure PG. Bileu should be able to give minutes at both 4/5 depending on game match ups.

[Shockm]

Back in early December I was advocating more minutes for PB&AM and tinkering with two bigs at a time...…..also playing a 3-2
zone with two bigs on the floor. The premise was to prepare for dancing with bigger teams giving us an alternative to playing
small should we HAVE to in March. GM did it but just a very limited amount of time. All the feedback I got was negative. Have
to wait to see who we recruit for next season but I agree that zone suits AM much more and probably PB, as well. I hope we can
sign Grill as a CG and a lighting quick pure PG. Bileu should be able to give minutes at both 4/5 depending on game match ups.

We aren’t going to play a Whole LOT of 3-2 zone or 2-3 zone. Zone defense doesn’t match GM at all. In fact it is 5he opposite of what he believes. Your fantasies for lots of zone defense is going to go no where. Stop fantasizing. Their may be small changes but not major changes.

[asiseeit]

I think I gave you the wrong impression. I know very well we won't be a largely zone team under GM but I did think we
needed to be better prepared for top 25 teams in post season that played really large front lines. I thought the December
schedule gave us some opportunities to experiment. I fully realize AM has limitations guarding smaller centers. Still think
a zone is best suited for HIM individually. We were playing more zone towards the end of this season. Much will depend
on who we sign.

[Shockm]

I agree with you in some ways. It did work against SMU. Maybe you’re right and we will zone more. It probably does fit A.M. more against smaller Centers. I wouldn’t think much more but anything could happen.

[WuShock Reaper]

Check out the complete opening odds to win next year's Big Dance - CBS Sports

by David Cobb
posted: 03/25/20, 11:30am cst

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-odds-kentucky-duke-kansas-gonzaga-open-as-favorites-to-win-the-2021-ncaa-tournament/

"It looks like there will be plenty of contenders to win the 2021 NCAA Tournament with four teams opening as co-favorites according to opening odds to win the college basketball national championship by William Hill Sportsbook...."

Houston 50-1
Memphis 150-1
Cincinnati 150-1
Wichita State 250-1
Tulsa 300-1
SMU 300-1
Temple 500-1
UCF 750-1
South Florida 750-1
Tulane 3000-1

[N Crestway]

The season will begin on time. The virus will weaken this summer and we will have successfull drug regimens soon.

I think by next fall the drugs that have an anecdotal history of fighting viruses will be readily available...lopinavir/ritonavir designed for HIV, remdesivir for MERS and Ebola, and Chloroquine which is used for Malaria. Tamiflu might even be helpful. At the moment physicians are shotgunning cocktails of these drugs with positive effect. Treatment should be more refined by this fall.

[WuShock Reaper]

So, three weeks ago things were looking rather precarious to me,but after today, I'm upgrading from "All Stop (Someone get down to the engine room to see what just happened)" where I voted last time, to "Port of Call Needed (Change in scheduled Itinerary to board new passengers)".

So climb aboard new Shockers as we carry on...

[Shockadaisical]

I'm going to combine several things in one post versus posting in a number of different threads. First of all I find myself in somewhat the middle ground on GGG. I disagree with 76 in that we should terminate him, although if GGG got an offer and wanted to leave I would let him go versus continuing to chase after him. If he were to leave my first call would be to Jans. I'm quite sure Chris and his wife would jump at the opportunity. In many ways I think Chris was to GGG as Tad Boyle was to Turgeon. I think both Tad and Chris made life alot easier for their head coaches and made them look good and covered up some of their flaws. Both head coaches are good in their own right, but neither of them have been as successful without the key assistant. Clearly GGG and Chris are at a higher lever than Mark and Tad. I think that GGG does have a lot to answer for with all of the transfers over the last 3 years, but in no way is it reason to run off our most successful coach. I do think in particular GGG needs to change his in game coaching personality and style. Practice be as hard ass as you want, but for some time players in games have not played with the confidence they should out of fear. It shows on the offensive end. Look at any number of players TC, Rashard Kelly, Zach Brown that have been productive at the pro level much more than at WSU. GGG talks about how great a shooting team we are, but yet we don't see it on the court in games. I think the tightness that players play with and the lack of confidence they feel directly relates to our offensive woes. Confidence is not as important on the defensive end as pure effort and thus we have continued to be a good defensive team. Players can't feel like they are going to be pulled for one mistake. Once on lack of effort, yes pull them, but not for mistakes. I think everyone but ES has left with class and wish them well. Personally very disappointed to see JB, NF and DG leave. The other 3 not so much. I felt DG should have been given more consistent minutes but the issues with the guards and need for minutes there forced GGG to play Dexter more minutes at 4 thus reducing DG opportunities.

With regards to next year, my expectations will be dependent on what we do with the PG spot. I think we have 2-4 positions covered pretty well. I see the following as a possible minutes distribution 2- TE - 30; DD - 10; 3 - DD 22: JM - 10; TW - 8: 4- TW-20; JB - 20. AM and PBC can handle 20+ min at the 5. We need a couple of PGs and 1 Big we can count on. I agree with playing more zone and it will allow AM to play more minutes and be more than serviceable. It will also help with some offensive struggles and allow TE, DD and TW to play more minutes. Bottom line if we find a couple of point guards and one big, and we make these adjustments we can be top 4 again in the conference next year and go to the Dance.

Finally had we not had the season cut short and we would have had some success in the conference tournament and win at least a game in the NCAA we may have retained one or two of the transfers. Biggest priority is a Juco or Grad PG. I would love someone in the vain of Joe Ragland and/or Malcum Armstead and a solid FR point guard to learn. If we get that we will be good.

I think that you have a pretty good take here. The one thing I agree with most is the quick trigger on pulling guys. I think this has become Marshall's biggest weakness. Young players need to feel they have the confidence of the coach. His quick trigger also destroys establishing any kind of flow that often comes with a group of players being on the court together for several minutes at the same time.