NCAA Tournament - WSU vs Drake Pre-Game Predictions and Discussions

[Stickboy46]

5:27 tip on TBS

[pie n eye]

I’m glad we made it in and I’m excited for this matchup. I love that we get to face an old Valley foe. I’ve only seen Drake once this year, in the Arch Madness champ game, but they looked very good to me and that was without two of their best players.

Call me crazy but I do think WSU has the talent to get to the second weekend. I don’t think it’s likely because of our lack of consistency, uncanny ability to bring out the best in our opponents, and tendency to let up when things are going well.

If we win one game I’ll be ecstatic.

[ShockingButTrue]

Repeating the words of former WSU star Cliff "good news" Levingston: "All the way to thr NC2A!!! Bring on them Bulldawgs.

Yep. What a great Shocker he was back in the day. A Blast from the Valley's past...

He did the single greatest dunk I've ever seen in person, or on television. The player guarding him just happened to be non other than X himself (it was a pick-up game at the Roundhouse). To say the competition was "fierce" is an understatement (X pissed him off for sure). For our younger posters who think that was too long ago to match up to today's athletes here is a sample of what Good News was capable of:

Here is some footage from later in his career when he played overseas:

Dominique Wilkins had nothing on Good News!

[ShockerFever]

Shockers win the play-in game and come up short against USC!!

Eastern Washington beats KU 57-46.

[ShockerFever]

According to some posters this should be an easy victory based on the trash talking of Drake all year.

It's a game we should win if we don't play like a bunch of NBA'ers. Drake could be good but nobody really knows because they literally played trash all year. And I'm not just talking about the Valley either.

[ShockingButTrue]

I've watched Drake many times this year, and not just in the Valley tournament. With Hemphill and Penn available anybody taking the time to watch could see that they were pretty damn good irregardless of the competition, just like when WSU was in the Valley. When they lost Hemphill they were still good because they weren't, and aren't, a one man team. Losing Penn was a major blow, but, now they get Hemphill back just in time for the Shocks.

If the Shocks can keep up with their cutters and screeners it's doable. And hopefully we can make them try to keep up with ours, which we obviously didn't do against Cincy. We just plain weren't too hard to guard Saturday.

[Blackmag]

You name gilbert as playing hero ball, but don't leave out TE. He was guilty of several poor shots as well.
I called miss or make on each one of his long shots just as he went into shooting motion. I was wrong twice. He missed all but one when his toes weren't point toward the basket, and he made all but one when they were pointed to the basket. You would think he would know that his twisting and/or side jumping shots almost never fall and are no different than a turnover, most of the time.

. Agree totally with this, I mentioned this several games ago. When he squares up he’s money but the twisting, coming off screens and shooting 30 footers is the same as a turnover. If AG and Etienne play under control and Wade shows up and a few minutes from POORBEAR would be a good recipe for success...

[proshox]

. Agree totally with this, I mentioned this several games ago. When he squares up he’s money but the twisting, coming off screens and shooting 30 footers is the same as a turnover. If AG and Etienne play under control and Wade shows up and a few minutes from POORBEAR would be a good recipe for success...

I was at the games... none of the other players were squaring up to shoot. I don’t like bad shots, but someone has to be willing to shoot.

[shockersx]

It's a game we should win if we don't play like a bunch of NBA'ers. Drake could be good but nobody really knows because they literally played trash all year. And I'm not just talking about the Valley either.

If we played like NBA’ers we’d win every game, those dudes are the best players in the world lol.

But I also get what you’re alluding to and I agree. Less iso ball possessions, quick shots, etc. Guys gotta know at this point the value of each possession and getting great shots. Too often we settle for okay shots early in the shot clock. Or really bad, forced, out of control shots.

[wichshock65]

Looking ahead just a bit, but.....

[Kel Varnsen]

Looking ahead just a bit, but.....

I never read too much into stuff like this. Coaches are usually in a whirlwind on Selection Sunday so I don't take offense to this. The players can (and probably will) if we beat Drake.

I just question if Enfield has been living under a rock for the past ten years. And he has a former assistant who is now an assistant at Drake! Which is pretty egregious.

[ShockerPrez]

My fear with Drake is that they will actually run a decent offense that will produce easy baskets for them. We play a lot of teams that drive and play a lot of one on one ball.

We will need to adjust to that.

[Woodrow]

Drake's strength seems to be their guard play. Our guards should be able to match up well with them. They are not the long athletic guards like Memphis has. What we really need is for Dex to show back up in this game. For whatever reason he tends to disappear at times. Against Cincinnati he had 6 points 2 rebounds and 2 turnovers. He has to give us more than that for us to consistently win. He is capable of being our best rebounder when his head is into it.

[Veritas]

Looking ahead just a bit, but.....

The Twitter replies are pretty funny and spot on.

[Shocker Mama]

Let’s see. What I know about USC — O.J., wealthy parents can bribe coaches/officials to get their kids (who are too dumb to get in on their own merit) admitted, Pioneer Woman, Timothy Olyphant, and the initials really stand for University for Spoiled Children.