Gal Mekel

[ShauXTyme]

When MB is bringing the ball up the court, there aren't screens being set - and MB is IN CONTROL. GM seems to not be in control, and has had enough bad passes in pressure situations for us to all get a little nervous when he takes his time. If he'd get the ball up the court a little earlier, he'd have time to make a couple of mistakes (and correct).

[SpanglerFan316]

http://www.goshockers.com/downloads1/31069.htm?ATCLID=1357765&SPSID=61179&SPID=2851&DB_OEM_ID=7500

01 Mekel, Gal.......... 1 TO, 1 A
11 Thomasson, Phillip.. 3 TO, 3 A
02 Couisnard, PJ....... 3 TO, 3 A
05 Preadom, Wendell.... 2 TO, 0 A
31 Durley, JT.......... 3 TO, 0 A

Gal played conservatively (like most of you wanted) and had one turnover. Of the 13 turnovers that the team had, one was due to Gal. I seem to recall that this was a big issue for Mekel's critics. If he doesn't have turnovers, then find something else to complain about.

WSU played a close game without two starters and against a team that just beat creighton by 13 in Omaha. We lost by 3 and we were in both the Drake and Illinois State games at the end (e.g. in the last minute). If our point guard in this game was so bad, why didn't we lose by 30?

[ShoxCO94]

Is it just me or is the crowd getting on Gal as soon as he receives the ball counter productive? Do the fans at the Chuck honestly think he doesn't know he only has 10 seconds? Why do 9,000 people need to yell at him after one 10 second call all season. Does MB bring the ball up better? YES but he's out for an undetermined amount of time, get off Gals back and be supportive. Its our HOME court remember.

[Rosewood]

Re: Gal Mekel

I was blasted on here for calling him out a couple nights ago..

Tonight, he got a 10 second violation called on him.

He scored 2 points? I believe on 2 free throws.

The offense had zero flow to it.

The crowd practically had to yell at him to get down the floor considering we needed points quickly.

I'd like to hear back from the peanut gallery on this one..

As others said, that was more on everyone else on the court. No one was there to help him.
The offense was missing a key bench player and the heart of the team in a senior leader.
The crowd was just STUPID. If I didn't mention it in the game thread, I meant to. He was getting yelled at before he even had a chance to look down the court.
Are you with those that blame him for that last turn over even though HCGM said that is an inbound pass they should know not to make?

Seriously people, get a grip.

[newshock1234]

I think I'll just say that if Gal is to remain the PG from here on out, that the Shocks will be lucky to win another basketball game. Very lucky.

I liked BM's play at the point. He wasn't flashy, just did what he had to do. I'd rather see BM at the point and making the mistakes and at least LEARNING from them.

Let's be honest, a number of players didn't play well tonight, Gal just shoulders much of the blame for poor decision making (time and time again.) :(

I guess we should put thd season in the bag them, why even play the game. Or better yet maybe you should be coaching this team instead Coach Marshall, since you dont think gal should be starting

[Rosewood]

^^ You going to update that sig at some point? (totally unrelated)

[SpanglerFan316]

Re: Gal Mekel

I was blasted on here for calling him out a couple nights ago..

Tonight, he got a 10 second violation called on him.

He scored 2 points? I believe on 2 free throws.

The offense had zero flow to it.

The crowd practically had to yell at him to get down the floor considering we needed points quickly.

I'd like to hear back from the peanut gallery on this one..

Are you asking for our opinion of your silly post?

Do you really want the crowd to coach the team? Hmm ... let's vote on the next play. Raise the red card if you want play #24, the blue card if you want play #12, etc.?

Matt often takes his time getting down the floor. Marshall does not seem to hesitate pulling a player off the court if he messes up; the fact that Gal played 34 minutes says that Marshall wanted him on the court even if you didn't.

Why all the bitterness toward Mekel? He's not perfect. Are any of our players perfect?

[JVShocker_old]

I support the Shocks, nobody can say otherwise. :goshocks:

However, looking at the players we have on the floor and the bench, I would honestly rather see Brett Michael as the starting PG. Play Gal at the 2 to start, and I'm fine with it. :D

Watching Gal play, he seems to really like to shoot the ball. And that's great, as long as you weren't the one who brought the ball up the floor against pressure, proceeding to nearly the 3 point line on the sideline and then dribbling back up at the angle from beyond the 3 ball line and taking a completely contested 3 ball without so much as even looking at another player wearing the same color jersey you wear. Maybe I just imagined it, no, wait a minute, I didn't.

I am not the coach, I don't want to be the coach, but I want to watch intelligent basketball. Sometimes it doesn't happen. Gal Mekel is not a point guard, he's a shooting guard. Trying to force a square peg into a round hole will not yield positive results, therefore, with Gal at the point, I just don't see a lot of positive things on the horizon. And I'm perfectly fine with watching it, otherwise I wouldn't have tickets to the games. I'm actually quite confident that many of the players coming in next season will assume starting roles.

FWIW, I also want world peace, but that doesn't mean I want to coach the world on how to do that, either. Peace! :) :goshocks:

[RoyalShock]

HCGM was complimentary of Gal in his post-game comments. He didn't seem to be as concerned as everyone else, except for the missed block-out and the one awful posession in the 2nd half where he was the only one to touch the ball before putting up an off-balance, guarded 3-ball. Marshall felt like 1 assist and 1 turnover is better than 7 assists and 7 turnovers.

The 10-second call was due to losing the ball and having to go back and get it. You could argue that he should hurry so that he can recover from such a mistake, but that doesn't happen all that often.

I just don't like the way the runs the offense with dribbling instead of passing. Other than the one shot referenced above, I thought his shot selection was pretty good.

That said, I would have no problem if Bret Michael continues to get some of Mekel's minutes.

[proshox]

Shockfever - must have been one of the two thousand girls screaming... Marshall has had our guards use 8-9 seconds to cross half court all year. The offense gets to the spots the first 7 seconds and then breaks into motion for the pass to be made as soon as the point guard crosses half court. This game must have been Shockfever's first trip out this season for he has not noticed a critical function of Marshall's offense;)

On the one particular turnover - Gal actually juked the defender for the first time all night and seemed "surprised" by the extra space. It was a mental error.

From what I could tell Gal got ripped three times:

First - he did not find a man to box-out on one of ISU's first shots of the game (this got multiple players pulled throughout the night / Marshall was not gonna accept from anybody)

Second - Gal missed the first pass I wrote about above

Third - Gal jacked a three off the dribble behind a screen after WSU had not scored on 7+ trips down the court. Poor shot selection, but maybe he was just trying to get anything going. BTW - Matt B. jacked a similar shot in the first half against Drake - guards sometimes take poor shots

All in all still a frustrating game for Gal, but Shockfever and several others are off-base. The surrounding talent as this team makes it a nightmare for almost any point guard. There is not a single player that demands attention so defenses can sit in passing lanes and know they are not going to get beat.

[wu_shizzle]

I know warm-ups don't mean a whole lot, but Bret Michael was knocking down the threes before the game.

He looks comfortable running the point, where I can't say the same about Gal.

[ShockerFever]

I'm not blaming the loss on Gal. I'm not saying Gal doesn't have talent.

It just seems at key times in games he's making costly mistakes. (TO at the end of the Drake game for example).

Spangler, no one is perfect.

As Royal and many have pointed out, Gal dribbles wayyy too much. He just tries to create too much. I'd like to have Michael at the point and move Gal over to the 2 as much as possible. Obviously with Matty out, Gal seems to be the only choice.

Since you like to defend Gal so much, list all the things he does right in games. Does it outweigh all the things he does wrong in games?

At this point Michael looks more comfortable out there than Gal. I felt less nervous ironically when he was in the game for the time he was.

[proshox]

ShockFever - you must have missed the Drake game as well. The ball was tipped before it got to Gal's hand - he was unable to catch the ball after the deflection and unsuccessfully tried to tip-toe the line.

He still has to do better, but you have to watch these games in context.


I think the bigger problem tonight was that Gal usually receives the ball as the initial offense starts. Tonight we had to use MG and other bigs and they were not as comfortable coming out and meeting the ball. We needed more confident ball handlers all the way around.

[SpanglerFan316]

I support the Shocks, nobody can say otherwise. :goshocks:

However, looking at the players we have on the floor and the bench, I would honestly rather see Brett Michael as the starting PG.

The internet is cheap. Let's say you get your wish and BM starts as point guard. Let's also suppose that WSU does much worse. It's no skin off your teeth. At worst, you can create a new name and account and forget your advice.

A number of highly critical comments of your post come to mind, some of which might be funny (e.g. Wizard of Oz - "got to get a brain"), but I shall (mostly) refrain from posting them. Let's us reason. OK? Gregg Marshall is susposed to be an outstanding coach. Remember what a coup it was when WSU hired him? Now Gregg Marshall seems to think Gal Mekel is a better point guard for the Shocks than Brett. Do you think that Gregg has some reason to start Gal and not Brett? Is it possible that Gal is a better point guard for the Shocks at this time than Brett?

If Gregg decides to start BM as point guard, then I'll trust his judgment. Until then, I am willing to believe that Gal is the best point guard we have right now.

[proshox]

A few other thoughts - besides the crowd getting nervous what where the objective negative results of Gal bringing the ball up the floor under pressure?

One turnover and one forced three pointer...

Had there been other evidence there were options for an objective proven head coach such as Marshall. Various techniques include utilizing PJ as a ball handler until the pressure changes, using a big guy to set a screen at half-court, or using another guard. None of those options were used so I have to imagine the fans, including some in this thread, had an irrational fear of Gal's ball handling abilities.