2021 Non-WSU NCAA Tournament Discussion

[Woodrow]

My main point was not to knock Stansbury, although his WKU results are a little like Penny's at Memphis (really good on paper, but not as good as you would expect given the talent brought in). My main point is that it is silly to act like WSU should have a Bassey since WKU does, which was the implication of the original post.

I'm not advocating for WKU but they did beat Memphis and Alabama so I don't think their team is poorly coached necessarily. I don't know anything about Bassey other than he looked good against St Marys last night. I would like to think WSU can recruit serviceable bigs that can compete against the front lines in the AAC. Mo is the best 5 we have this year and I'm thankful we have him. I'm hoping Coach IB will sign a guy this offseason who has more size along with low post skills.

[molly jabali]

The original post literally says of Bassey "why can't we find any bigs that have that kind of size and skill." The post clearly was not simply saying that we need improvement in our post size, but questioning why we didn't have a Bassey of our own. Obviously we need to be working on post recruiting, but using Bassey as the illustration makes the opposite point because it serves as a reminder that posts of that size and skill are generally top 10 recruits in the nation.

The original post was seemingly made without any awareness of Bassey's recruitment history and so implied that if a team like WKU could get that kind of size and skill, why can't we. Anyone who knows about recruiting would tell you that big men of that size and skill and extremely rare, so if you are not landing top 10 recruits, you are either recruiting guys with that size that you hope will develop skill or recruiting undersized guys with proven skill. Sometimes you strike gold as we did with Jaime, but it's not like there is this huge pool of Bassey-like players that are there for the taking.

THIS....thank you....

[pie n eye]

I'm not advocating for WKU but they did beat Memphis and Alabama so I don't think their team is poorly coached necessarily. I don't know anything about Bassey other than he looked good against St Marys last night. I would like to think WSU can recruit serviceable bigs that can compete against the front lines in the AAC. Mo is the best 5 we have this year and I'm thankful we have him. I'm hoping Coach IB will sign a guy this offseason who has more size along with low post skills.

This is just my WAG but I think based on what they saw during his red shirt year the coaching staff expected to get more production out of Bilau this year. His off season knee injury and rocky recovery seems to have thrown those plans out the window. Injuries happen, all teams have to deal with them and adapt.

Had he been healthy I think our post rotation would have looked a lot like it did for 12 years under Marshall. One “undersized” 6’8 guy, one 6’10+ guy who is maybe a bit raw, and a third 6’9 guy all playing various minutes depending on different factors.

[Shockm]

This is just my WAG but I think based on what they saw during his red shirt year the coaching staff expected to get more production out of Bilau this year. His off season knee injury and rocky recovery seems to have thrown those plans out the window. Injuries happen, all teams have to deal with them and adapt.

Had he been healthy I think our post rotation would have looked a lot like it did for 12 years under Marshall. One “undersized” 6’8 guy, one 6’10+ guy who is maybe a bit raw, and a third 6’9 guy all playing various minutes depending on different factors.

Maybe, no you are most likely right, but the coaches were wrong and they need to rectify their wrong for next year. We had two under achieving BIGS, and one almost never played. My criticism is about the current coaching staff and Marshall too (maybe mostly Marshall because he was the Head Coach). But next year, it will be totally on this staff.

[pie n eye]

Maybe, no you are most likely right, but the coaches were wrong and they need to rectify their wrong for next year. We had two under achieving BIGS, and one almost never played. My criticism is about the current coaching staff and Marshall too (maybe mostly Marshall because he was the Head Coach). But next year, it will be totally on this staff.

I disagree that the coaches were wrong. Like I said, it appears most of Bilau’s struggles can be attributed to his off season surgery and inability to get back to Wichita for his rehab because of COVID.

I doubt there are many who want to win more than the players and coaching staff, especially Gregg Marshall. The coaches also see the guys every single day in practice so not only do they likely have more expertise in evaluating players and the needs of the team than you or me, they definitely know more about what the guys abilities. Knowing those two things, if the coaches decided to go wing heavy with all the scholarships then I’ll wait to see Bilau healthy before assigning underachiever status.

Is Poor Bear underachieving? He’s had some good games and some where you might not know he played. He’s been ok considering his role changed due to Bilau’s injuries.

[Woodrow]

I had high hopes for Bilau as well. He obviously has a skill set and size none of our other bigs have. MK and BH discussed him on the radio pregame a game or 2 ago. They strongly insinuated he hasn't improved because he doesn't apply himself and frequently opts out of practice because he says his knee hurts. They said his knee has been thoroughly checked out and they can't find much wrong (I am paraphrasing). I like Bob Hull because he will talk about things that Mike and Dave avoid.

[pie n eye]

I had high hopes for Bilau as well. He obviously has a skill set and size none of our other bigs have. MK and BH discussed him on the radio pregame a game or 2 ago. They strongly insinuated he hasn't improved because he doesn't apply himself and frequently opts out of practice because he says his knee hurts. They said his knee has been thoroughly checked out and they can't find much wrong (I am paraphrasing). I like Bob Hull because he will talk about things that Mike and Dave avoid.

I’ve heard them mention his lack of drive before. Is that any different from a lot of the young big men we’ve seen come through the program?

Recovering from a surgery like that can’t be easy. There are mental and physical hurdles to overcome. Sometimes the mental ones are the toughest to overcome. If a guy says his knee hurts it’s hard to argue with him even if it is structurally sound, he’s the one in his body after all.

Maybe he never reaches his potential or contributes here, it’s possible. If the coaches think it’s not going to happen maybe they help him find another school.

It’s important to remember he will still be a freshman next year and will have two years in the program. If it’s true that his knee is fine and doesn’t require further surgery he’s still got the same length and athleticism. Some guys take longer to develop than others, especially big men. Nothing I’ve seen from him on the court screams “waste of a scholarship” it’s just that he hasn’t been on the court. Seems like a guy worth waiting on especially considering how tough it is to find bigs.

[Shock Top]

I had high hopes for Bilau as well. He obviously has a skill set and size none of our other bigs have. MK and BH discussed him on the radio pregame a game or 2 ago. They strongly insinuated he hasn't improved because he doesn't apply himself and frequently opts out of practice because he says his knee hurts. They said his knee has been thoroughly checked out and they can't find much wrong (I am paraphrasing). I like Bob Hull because he will talk about things that Mike and Dave avoid.

If that’s true, then he needs to find a new home.

Dont need that kind of mindset to rub off on other players and perhaps a change of scenery will be the jumpstart he needs

I too was high on Jo and hope he figures it out, but not every player does unfortunately.

[Dennis_Celery]

In other news, App State just took the lead.

[shoxlax]

Izzo will probably get canned for putting his hand on a player tonite, even though the player was walking away when Izzo was trying to talk to him.

[ShockerFever]

Really hoping the weekend gets salvaged with some Eastern Washington and UCSB wins. And I guess Houston can make a run for it.

[RoyalShock]

I just saw ball movement from Virginia Tech that made me salivate. It ended in a made corner three. Very nice.

[Shock Top]

Izzo will probably get canned for putting his hand on a player tonite, even though the player was walking away when Izzo was trying to talk to him.

The media doesn’t hate him like 3Gs and MSU likes winning to much, so probably not.

I don’t think he should be fired, but when the media can pick the winners and losers, you’re at the behest of him.

[shock-it-to-me]

Colgate up 14. Maybe the NET knew what it was talking about after all

[RoyalShock]

So far in the Colgate-Arkansas game, we're seeing the difference between making shots and missing shots. That may change as Arkansas' speed and athleticism catches up to Colgate's passing and shooting. But it highlights a big reason why we lost. Have. To. Make. Shots.