21-22 Wishlist

[shoxlax]

proshox is to the MVC what Cold is to CoVid. I will hand him this, though, his arguments have been consistent for the last four years and at least are thought provoking.

[Stickboy46]

Getting in every year is more important than seeding (fan base growth, recruiting, overall program stature).

Never-mind the fact we were consistently a much better basketball team in the MVC.

In the MVC - Any year where we did well in the non-con our seeding was good enough. As Gonzaga has proved - win enough tough non-con games and you will be seeded appropriately. If not the formula is simple: tear through the MVC, build a habit of winning, get in the tournament and make a run because you have learned how to win “possession-based” basketball games.

We've made it in 2 out of 3 years in the AAC ... Arguably could say 3 of 4 because most had us in last year before they cancelled.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Wait is somebody actually advocating to return to the mvc? Holy sh!t Batman...

[ShockerFever]

Getting in every year is more important than seeding (fan base growth, recruiting, overall program stature).

Never-mind the fact we were consistently a much better basketball team in the MVC.

In the MVC - Any year where we did well in the non-con our seeding was good enough. As Gonzaga has proved - win enough tough non-con games and you will be seeded appropriately. If not the formula is simple: tear through the MVC, build a habit of winning, get in the tournament and make a run because you have learned how to win “possession-based” basketball games.

I can’t believe you continue to ride with this. We likely made 3 NCAA Tournaments out of the 4 years we’ve been in the league and racked up a bunch more losses than we did in the Valley when doing so. Even excluding the prestige factor, nobody wants to go 28-4 in the regular season and sweat out a tourney bid. That’s what would happen.

[proshox]

We will need PG help next year, but for those that are comparing our PG to o FVV, you will always be disappointed. Same for comparing our bigs to X. Those guys were once in a generation players at any position.

I would like to see some more size. Specifically, at the 4/5. We still seem to have MVC size with everyone being 2” short for their position. We’ve got a plethora of wings with Dex, Council, and Jackson. Hopefully those guys can spend more time at the 2/3 than the 3/4, but I’m not counting on it. 20 lbs of muscle on Jayden would go a long ways!

We have WSU in the American size...

[proshox]

Getting in every year is more important than seeding (fan base growth, recruiting, overall program stature).

Never-mind the fact we were consistently a much better basketball team in the MVC.

In the MVC - Any year where we did well in the non-con our seeding was good enough. As Gonzaga has proved - win enough tough non-con games and you will be seeded appropriately. If not the formula is simple: tear through the MVC, build a habit of winning, get in the tournament and make a run because you have learned how to win “possession-based” basketball games.

[wufan]

We will need PG help next year, but for those that are comparing our PG to o FVV, you will always be disappointed. Same for comparing our bigs to X. Those guys were once in a generation players at any position.

I would like to see some more size. Specifically, at the 4/5. We still seem to have MVC size with everyone being 2” short for their position. We’ve got a plethora of wings with Dex, Council, and Jackson. Hopefully those guys can spend more time at the 2/3 than the 3/4, but I’m not counting on it. 20 lbs of muscle on Jayden would go a long ways!

[Maizerunner08]

I said it before we left and we now have multiple seasons of data backing up the theory.

On the way back from DFW I heard national radio guys talk about why Gonzaga has so much consistent success. Everything they mentioned applied to WSU in the MVC. None of it applies to WSU in the American.

The same MVC where we went undefeated and some pundits still had doubt we should be a no. 1 seed? No thanks

[WuShock16]

Here’s some more data.

Loyola was 22-4 vs D1 competition. Top 10ish in both KenPom and NET. You know where they got seeded? EIGHT, as in 29th-32nd best in tournament.

Houston was 23-3. Ranked 5 in KemPom and NET. You know where they got seeded? TWO, 5th-8th best in country.

That’s why WSU is in The American. Play elite level basketball, and you’ll get rewarded for it.

[Shock Top]

Don’t let Rick Patino steal away another big that was about to sign

[ShockerFever]

I said it before we left and we now have multiple seasons of data backing up the theory.

On the way back from DFW I heard national radio guys talk about why Gonzaga has so much consistent success. Everything they mentioned applied to WSU in the MVC. None of it applies to WSU in the American.

16-5 and a loss in the MVC Semifinals gives us a 4 seed in the NIT.

No thanks.

[proshox]

And this is where you lose all credibility. Jesus.

I said it before we left and we now have multiple seasons of data backing up the theory.

On the way back from DFW I heard national radio guys talk about why Gonzaga has so much consistent success. Everything they mentioned applied to WSU in the MVC. None of it applies to WSU in the American.

[ShockerFever]

My final wishlist item - Move back to the MVC so we can be elite at basketball again.

And this is where you lose all credibility. Jesus.

[Shocker82/85]

Shock Ref mentioned this years quality of recruits. Keep in mind that Jenkins doesn’t turn 19 until April 20th and Seymour doesn’t until May 23rd. Ricky turned 20 last August. 20 months difference in age is huge. The next 7 months until practice gets started is huge for all the returners. I hope for as much continuity as possible.

I hope Tyson focuses on his point guard skills so that he can be the back up point guard next year. Ricky, Dex and Monzy need to concentrate on their ball handling skills so that Ricky or Dex can play at the 2 next year backing up Tyson which would give us more size on the floor when Tyson is out or playing point which he did pretty well in one game this year and is his best chance for an NBA future. I think Tyson is one of the few combo guards who could develop a point guard mindset precisely because he knows it is important to his future. I think WSU is in pretty good shape on the perimeter, but hope the staff can find a point guard transfer who is ready to play. I like the way Porter plays but agree with everyone that he needs to have more of a scorers mentality. My concern is his self described old man’s knees and hope it is not a chronic condition because the AAC is filled with athleticism.

Speaking of knees, what is the state of Bilau’s knees? Marshall must have thought Bilau was going to be a player or he would have tried a lot harder to keep Midtgaard. I saw Bilau at a shoot around on a road trip last year and he was the most athletic player on the floor. He looked slow and stiff this year. If healthy and that is a big if, I think he changes our outlook a great deal. He will still only be a sophomore. Because of Udeze’s improvement, I think our biggest need is size at the 4 because we can’t be sure of Bilau’s health and have never really seen him play. Udeze is never going to be a 4, even if he developed an outside shot, because he can’t guard on the perimeter. I would look for 2 bigs. We have to get bigger on the court because Bilau is healthy and ready to play or Seymour can add enough weight and strength to contribute. Otherwise, a new contributor is needed. Recruiting has to be very frustrating. WSU was so close to getting a big guy who would have helped immediately but loses out when Pitino gets the IONA job. Hopefully, the luck will be better this year.

If all but the Wades and Gilbert return, WSU will return 53 points per game. Those players, who could return, shot 42% from the field and 35% from 3 which is better than the team as a whole did this year. I disagree with the harsh judgements based on the last 2 games which I witnessed in person. Drake beat us by much more in the stands than they did on the court which was surprising and disappointing. Before the last 2 games, the team had shot 72.5% from the line during the 8 game winning streak. Before the Drake game, the team had averaged nearly 10 threes a game at 40% over the previous 9 games. Did I like the snail’s pace that we played at against Drake? No, WSU was the more athletic, deeper team for one of the few times this year and I would have preferred pushing the ball up the floor. My biggest problem with Gilbert’s last shot is that I would have liked to see him take 1 more dribble to gather himself, like Dexter did a few seconds earlier, so he wouldn’t be shooting on the run. I wish Brown had instructed the team to call timeout on the rebound so that we could make a longer pass to Gilbert or Tyson on the run because we could have possibly got all the way to the rim. The game could have been won on that final shot, but it was lost during the entire course of the game and I don’t blame the coach for missed free throws and open shots or players in position for defensive rebounds with their hands on the ball losing 5 out of bounds in the 2nd half which cost them 5 points. Getting only 2 points from Tyson and the bench. Ricky and CJ had averaged about 13 per game in the last 5 games. I didn’t like the pace we played at offensively which Brown could have changed, but the coach can’t control the misses and fumbles, and the players certainly aren’t trying to miss shots and lose rebounds. It could have, should have been an easy win, but like the game against Marshall 3 years ago when Shamet, Reeves, McDuffie and Shaq all had bad games on the same day, crap happens in sports from time to time.

It is easy to be critical, but we also have to give credit for all the positive things. Our defense only allowed teams to shoot 40.2% against us and 29.4% from 3 which is the best since the 2004 season. Maybe our defensive rebounding suffered because we were going further out to challenge shooters, but it may have been a good trade off considering how undersized we were. WSU also fouled less which resulted in teams scoring 3.2 points per game less from the free throw line. WSU out scored teams by 3.4 points from the free throw line which was the best since the 2017 team at 3.5 points. I think the coaches did a good job of taking advantage of what was available to them. WSU doesn’t have a significant size and athleticism advantage over any team in the AAC, but managed to win the league. I think our team did very well when you consider the overall size advantage that most of the teams had against us. I have to laugh when I read people on this board writing about adjustments. How many of us really have the X and O knowledge at the D1 level to know what adjustments a coach makes beyond knowing the difference between a zone and man to man? I don’t. I hope Coach Brown can give each player a detailed assessment of what they need to do to become better players, but it is up to the player to put in the work.

[GreatWhiteBuffalo]

My final wishlist item - Move back to the MVC so we can be elite at basketball again.

Yikes. I don't mind the AAC...I just want to get back to hard-nosed, smart basketball. Tired of the terrible offensive sets, horrible shot selection, & lax help defense. I like being in the bigger league, but it sure was fun to run roughshod over the Valley...