Gal Mekel

[SpanglerFan316]

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?

Gregg Marshall told Gal to be the point guard. Gregg Marshall did not tell PJ or Brett or Phil or anyone else to be the point guard. This is the only "positive" I need.

I'm not actually defending Gal; I am defending "fairness." Gal is one of our players and deserves our support. Gal and Matt usually take about the same amount of time bringing the ball across half-court. Does the crowd treat them the same? Apparently not. Does this seem fair to you? Gal is criticized for turnovers by fans and on KNSS. How do Gal, PJ and Matt compare? Gal has 35 turnovers, PJ has 32 and MB has 28. These numbers are reasonably close. If you listen to Dave talk on KNSS, you might think Gal has 100 and everybody else has only 20 or so. Does this seem fair to you? I missed the ISU game but I thought Gal's defense in the Drake game was pretty good; he made some errors but overall he did a good job in my opinion. I think Gal defense is better than Matt's defense in many games; I guess we could go through tape and compare their defensive play?? Matt is short and this can limit his defensive effectiveness in some situations.

I'm still waiting for an answer to a question I raised earlier. Why do you dislike Gal?

[fuball7]

half the time when the crowd was yelling at him to push the ball they were dead wrong. thats obviously not what marshal wants our point guards to do because matt does the same thing by barely beating the 10 second rule over the half court line. Yes there were a couple of instances where he was dribbling to much and maybe should have pushed it but not everytime the crowd yelled at him. He has to let the other players get down the court to get setup for the set play.

[wu_shizzle]

One of the reasons I think they wanted him to push the ball was that we were down and there were only a few minutes left. We didn't have the luxury of wasting time.

[boneshock]

Just a question? Do you think that people get on Gal because he is a flashy player? When Matt , and Brett tonight, bring the ball down you don't see a lot of the behind the back, between the legs, type moves. Not saying that it doesn't happen but just not as frequent. I don't know why people got bent out of shape after one 10 second call. Our point guards have been crossing at the 26-27 mark all season. I'm willing to bet that this won't be the last 10 second call we get this year.

Do you think we get on him because of the expectations we have for him?

[fuball7]

One of the reasons I think they wanted him to push the ball was that we were down and there were only a few minutes left. We didn't have the luxury of wasting time.

but at that point i believe marshal wasnt wanting him to push it too much because he was calling set plays still and i dont remember him waving at him that often to push it.

[ShockerFever]

I'm still waiting for an answer to a question I raised earlier. Why do you dislike Gal?

I don't dislike Gal or any Shocker player.. at least not personally.

Gal showed signs of brilliance his freshman year. Sure, he's being asked to do a lot more this year and I'm sure there's added pressure, but IMO he's not handling it yet. I've waited through the first two months of the season for some sort of progress. I have yet to find any.

If you think the product that Gal has put on the floor thus far this year is acceptable, then you an me have some definite differences regarding where we think this Shocker program needs to be.

[Rosewood]

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

See, stuff like this is what frustrates me more than anything else. If you had been paying attention, you would have seen that the inbounder missed another wide open player. Even if you missed that, you would have heard HCGM bring it up in the post game after Drake or you could have read about it here. The ball never should have been passed to Gal in that death corner anyways.

But go ahead and blame that "mistake" on him.

[SB Shock]

If you think the product that Gal has put on the floor thus far this year is acceptable, then you an me have some definite differences regarding where we think this Shocker program needs to be.

I still don't understand the "focus" on Gal. Has anything the Shockers put on the floor this year been acceptable for where the program needs or should to be?

Why isn't there similar posts or focus for other players who have underachieved? There seems to bigger underachievers than Gal on this team. Especially in the light that he seems coachable and is trying to get better when there are some that are refusing to play or do what they need to do be able to play more.

I personally think that expectations are too high for where some think he should be compared to what is reasonable to expect his progress should be as a sophmore (compare him to past guards in the program in their sophomore year).

[Rosewood]

If you think the product that Gal has put on the floor thus far this year is acceptable, then you an me have some definite differences regarding where we think this Shocker program needs to be.

I still don't understand the "focus" on Gal. Has anything the Shockers put on the floor this year been acceptable for where the program needs or should to be?

Defending so far has been pretty impressive, same with rebounding.

I too don't understand the Gal focus but then again I don't understand half the bitching I hear at games anyways. I just added this into all of that.

[ShockerFever]

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

See, stuff like this is what frustrates me more than anything else. If you had been paying attention, you would have seen that the inbounder missed another wide open player. Even if you missed that, you would have heard HCGM bring it up in the post game after Drake or you could have read about it here. The ball never should have been passed to Gal in that death corner anyways.

But go ahead and blame that "mistake" on him.

It probably wasn't fair for me to comment on that play, seeing how I was unable to attend the game. However, I guess you'll have to bring it up with Mike Kennedy because I got my info on how he called the play.

Maybe Gal shouldn't have went to the death corner. What else was the passer supposed ta do? Keep it for 5 seconds?

[RipEmUpShox]

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..

People like you make me so freaking angry.
After we lost.
I was fuming mad.
and not at Gal, not at HCGM
but i knew id get on this freaking board tonight and read people blaming gal for our loss.
Its always gal.
Even though Matt takes 10 seconds every possesion to get it up court.
Even though gal has turned it over once int he last 3 games.
Its always gal.
GAL is our worst player
blah blah blah.
Maybe if he didnt have people yelling at hima bout how worthless he is every time he hodls the ball hed have more confidence.


Heres a question?
u say shoot it less?
WHO ELSE DO YOU WANT TO TAKE 7 shots.
7 compared to PJs 16.....
Matt is out
so is Ramon.

Gal misses 7 shots.
turns it over once. in a game where we led once in the first half.
Gal took one shot int he first half.


Its always gal.

Gal has told me, that he never reads the paper Gal never turns ont he news.
he never listens to the radio, and he sure as heck doesnt get on here is what he told me.

And can we blame him?

Its always Gal.
and its rediculous.

Do you ever think that its a freaking teamsport

Gal is shooting 97percent from the FT line
Gal has taken hardly any shots lately because hes focusing so hard to please you guys and not turn it over.

I knew when we lost that people would blame gal.

Open your freaking eyes.
And how bout from now one we yell at matt every posession to get it downt he court.

[dregn]

[quote="ShockerFever"]

It probably wasn't fair for me to comment on that play, seeing how I was unable to attend the game. However, I guess you'll have to bring it up with Mike Kennedy because I got my info on how he called the play.

Maybe Gal shouldn't have went to the death corner. What else was the passer supposed ta do? Keep it for 5 seconds?

The play was designed for Mantas who was wide open where the pass was supposed to go. Instead the inbounder tried to force it to Gal who was a well defended secondary option whose correct positioning put him in a tough spot to recieve the pass. That account of the play is pretty much what coach Marshall gave after the game.

[MikeShox]

All year Matt has been crossing the line with 26-27 seconds showing on the clock and I haven't heard much from the crowd. Gal does the same thing tonight and the crowd was getting on him in the first half. It's been this way with players in the past were for whatever reason the get more of the negative focus then others. Doesn't always make sense.

I agree... does Mike Jones ring a bell for anyone?

Boy you hit the nail on the head on that one. Mike, in the view of the fans, never did anything right. And yet, he was at the point of the defense that stopped Iowa flat during the 2nd half of one of the Shockers greatest and most important comebacks. He played such great defense so often for the Shockers, but the crowd just couldn't wait to boo him.

Gal Mekel will never, in my opinion, be a top flight point guard in American basketball. Just too different than what he has learned all his life and he doesn't necessarily have the right skills. However, he is the guy we have with Matt out and I for one am going to be cheering for him as much as possible. He is working hard to win. He is making mistakes, but not from lack of effort. There were several times that shooters were open for 3's last night, mostly against the zone and a couple when Gal didn't get there, but also some where other players didn't get there.

Like what was said earlier, Matt also takes most of the 10 seconds getting the ball across mid-court most of the time after made shots. On one occasion, Gal's defender managed to get his hand on the ball and Gal lost control and by the time he got it back, he went over 10 seconds. So I guess we should hang the guy for that. Note, it was his one and only turnover of the game.

Matt, and please understand that I love his play and was 100% in his corner as the point guard when so many were saying Gal would run him out of a job before the season started, on 2 occasions against Drake made long in-bound passes directly to a Drake player. I didn't see the whole arena turn on him for those mistakes. I'm thrilled that we didn't turn on him, but I believe the other players need support as well.

What I personally feel is that this is less that the team is playing so much below their talent level as it is that many fans had expectations far too high for the team this year. I recall so many posts that said that this team would contend for the MVC championship after losing the vast majority of their outside shooting threats from last year (Wilson and Ogirri) along with some other fine talent. Actually, the only hope will be that everybody gets healthy at the right time and the team comes together in time to pull some surprises in St. Louis. Not too likely but at least possible.

Even next year will be tough with so many newcomers. But I really look forward to the 2009 - 2010 season and on. Good talent is on it's way.

Relax a little and support the team.

[SB Shock]

It probably wasn't fair for me to comment on that play, seeing how I was unable to attend the game.

I am befuddled :roll: why there are some who come on to SN and continue to post stuff when they didn't even watch the game. This is not the first time anybody been taking shots and "oh, BTW and I didn't even see the game...".

And if you really had listened to the game, Coach Marshall explained the breakdown and it wasn't because of Gal. :oops:

[Smooth007]

For the most part, criticism of Gal individually is undeserved. I feel confident that our point guards are instructed to take the ball up calmly using approximately 7-9 seconds every possession.

In last night's game, our fans were screaming at him (my wife included) for taking his time in a game down 1-3 possessions (typically 2 possessions). Why would the shox purposely do this?

1) I believe the offense requires precise timing and coach gives the other four player's time to get into place set the play up as needed. If Matt, Gal or Brett runs up court then the offense will be out of sink and ineffective.

2) During most games, coach does not believe we have the firepower to score with talented squads like Illinois St. and wishes to slow the game down as much as possible.

Overall, Gal had a pretty good game for playing at his second best position. To the negative fans, maybe your time would be better focused on discussing our shooting percentage, missed layups and free-throws.