Wichita State vs. Southern Alabama Game Thread

[Blackmag]

Didn’t get to watch the game but listen on the radio and it seems like shooting continues to be a theproblem. Do we have players that can consistently hit open shots, is it shot selection? Seems like we shoot to many 3s and maybe need to realize that perhaps that’s not the best course of action for that particular night. 3-19 from two of your main stars probably won’t cut it on most nights. We will need to get our heads on straight with some of the games we have coming up…Council huge game today, he carried us along with Udezes rebounding….

[WuTheOne]

I'll give IB a bit of a break on going to the zone. Go to it earlier and there's a risk they find a way to defeat it. Then you've got nothing left. If going to the zone is going to give you a 5 or 7 point swing as long as it's effective ('m just making that up, but it seems to hold some logic), then put it in late and take advantage of the point swing at the end of the game.

Dennis on offense frees up a defender to double Etienne. Etienne has a game like tonight's from time to time. If he was sick, I'll give him a pass, but he seems to be a bit of a "me first" player. At the end of the first half, I think everyone in the building, including the opponents, knew he was going to take a deep 3 and they were going to let him. Opponents are going to give him that 25'- 30' shot EVERY time.

Council may do better with an "in your face" coach rather than a "there, there, we all know you can do better" coach.

We don't seem to have a PG who can get the ball to Mo where he's most effective, so he's practically eliminated from the offense.

So far, Pleasant has been "serviceable".

There's lots of talent on the team but there's also a lot of round pegs and square holes. The pieces aren't fitting together, and that's got to be put on the coaching staff.

[Shockm]

I remember Marshall often going to zone in the 2nd half (especially toward the end of games). He said once, he didn’t like to use it in the first half because the coach could use halftime to adjust.

[ShockerFever]

Where'd all the sunshine pumpers go? It's only 2 games, right?

The offense is nothing but iso. Passing continues to be a lost art with this team and that's unfortunate because they think they're the 2015 Golden State Warriors. Still waiting for this "improved, fast-paced offense" to show up. We take some of the worst shots in college basketball and that's mainly attributed to not running anything. TE continues to press and continues to sink into the shadows. He got his press by playing smooth, calm, collected, and taking the smart shots, not this wannabe NBA crap.

After watching these two games, does anyone actually believe we're an upper half AAC team? I suppose things can improve, but the competition ain't getting any easier coming up.

I totally agree with Royal. If this is what college basketball is going to become, I'd rather do something else with my time. Then again, I'm watching Gonzaga right now and they still know how to play correctly. They play exactly like our teams of 5-10 years ago did.

But i've been told not to panic and I shouldn't post til about May so, I digress.

[Blackmag]

Watching the Zags rip up Texas, Zags are a good team to watch on how to pass the ball. They run a pretty solid offense. Maybe coach should use a tape of there game to see what teamwork can do for you…

[WuDrWu]

I know it didn't look like it, but they ran many sets, sometimes even worked perfectly, but just rarely finished.

I don't think Tyson should have played at all that sick. If we can't win without him when he's that compromised, we don't deserve to win.

It's really hard to disagree with anyhting ShockRef said, so I won't bother trying.

Next week in Vegas is likely to be very, very ugly.

This group is a poor shooting team, and always will be.

I think to be really successful, like top 3 in our conference, we need to play 11 (and get King) and press all the time. Use our athleticism and get easy baskets. In the halfcourt we're going to struggle.

The zone was effective, but it was not executed very well imho.

We got lucky. Mo walked, badly, twice late in the game trying to go to the basket. And Dexter's tip in was pure luck (admittedly, he made his own luck by busting his ass to get a piece of the ball).

I can't believe USA was 19% from 3 and 58 from the line....no way were they that good.........

[N Crestway]

As far as coaching goes…

a lot of our sets worked, but players either fumbled the catch, rushed the lay-up, or got blocked by a nice play from the defense. On top of that a lot of wide open looks were missed. Those plays go in and everyone comes away thinking the offense was functioning well.

On defense, for 35 minutes we fell into the Gregg toughness trap. We kept turning up the ball pressure because we think toughness will win the game. Sometimes this only helps the opponent.

With that stated the adjustment was finally made and one might think HCIB waited to use the zone when it would best work and limit USA’s ability to effectively adjust.

I think I have an idea what you mean by the Marshall "toughness trap" but wondering if you could expand on the idea a little bit...

[AZ Shocker]

We're easy to defend because of the 4 spot guys. Three years of 6'-5 (maybe 6'-6").

[Shocker1976]

Early season thoughts...
1) Why the hell did HCIB wait until 30 minutes into the game before switching to a zone. Was there a magic number of unabated drives to the basket by USA before he finally wised up?
Where the hell was his assistants sitting there watching the same thing and not making a suggestion? Unreal!
Also, why the hell is Pohto sent to set the high ball screen 25' away from the basket. Was a big favor to the USA defense - over and over.
That is all.

You make excellent points but I will give HCIB credit for be willing to switch to a zone; he has used a zone in both games this young season.

[pogo]

Sunshine pumper vs Doom and Gloom. Usually I prefer to try and see some positive things even in an UGLY ballgame as was the one yesterday. RCIV is a better ball player this year and Kenny Pohto is going to be a better player sooner than later. DD should only shoot from outside if the shot clock is winding down, whereas MU should NEVER shoot from outside. DD is still a beast on defense but RCIV is making strides to close the gap IMO. Mo looked as did KP bad against a quicker shorter man. Monzy still needs to slow it down one notch or learn to play better at this speed. I thought our tandem point guard duo did well together and as was pointed out each brings a different look for the other team. One weakness last year was rebounding and I was worried about it this year but so far the Shocks seem to be a little scrappier going after the loose ones. It's still early so I will be cautious in my hopes. Mo is an undersized big man and had success last year by getting better position but this year not so much. I don't have the benefit of watching tape so I don't know what is different this year but he seems to be pushing too hard and making more mistakes. Don't know if he feels he HAS to score rather than kicking it back out this year or not. TE should probably not have played because he looked slow and not his normally engaged self on defense where again he seemed to be a couple of steps slow. Liked the playing zone in that it slowed USA down and at least made them work the ball instead of throwing it down low so they could abuse MO or KP. Good question of when is the best time to use a zone? This is one of the reasons I like reading SN. The trapping zone didn't look good tonight so was this due to the other teams quickness or were we not fully engaged? I don't know if Joe Pleasant is a player waiting to break out or if he is just going to be ', Hoping for the former. Anyway these are the thoughts of what some think of me as a Sunshine pumper as akin to someone that thinks the season is already a waste and time to start all over because there is no hope. Go Shocks

[pogo]

PS Good to see SB and spend a little time visiting before the game. And congratulations to Shoxaac on his fairly recent marriage. Go Shocks

[pogo]

PPS I hope Tre King and his family saw the need and potential of him coming to WSU and the wisdom of the ncaa to allow him to play this year if he does transfer here. Wisdom from the ncaa? I know it's a stretch.

[ShockingButTrue]

I remember Marshall often going to zone in the 2nd half (especially toward the end of games). He said once, he didn’t like to use it in the first half because the coach could use halftime to adjust.

That's odd. I don't remember that. What I remember is GGG's defenses playing zone for about 2 possession's and then not seeing it again until a few weeks later.

It appears the zone D was the difference last night though, thankfully.

[asiseeit]

We're easy to defend because of the 4 spot guys. Three years of 6'-5 (maybe 6'-6").

We are easy to defend because of poor ball movement and failure to recognize how open the
screener on pick and rolls are after the peel away from the screen. I don't think I have
noticed a single ball reversal 140 degrees or more in two games. I have also noticed that
on many occasions we push the ball up only to see a guard abort a 2 on 2 or 3 on 3
scenario. They will stop, pull back, and fall into our normal half court offense. I'd like to
see us attack the rim more in those opportunities

[Dan]

I got tired of hearing about how athletic USA was and how they all came from P5 schools. Guess what? They are P5 cast offs. If we can’t run a bunch of P5 cast offs into the ground what’s gonna happen when we play P5 starters on a P5 school? I don’t care how good Tyson is, when he becomes a liability on the court, you gotta replace him. It’s not a knock on Tyson, it’s trying to win the game with guys that are busting their butts and making plays that day. Tyson damn near cost us the game and that’s on IB. So glad that we had a few guys step up and pull us out yesterday. Qua and Ricky made buckets, Morris and Dex on the boards and Monzy gave us the spark and made some big plays when we needed them.