Players' Health????

[Shox21]

Anyone just a teensy bit worried about the health of some of our players? Even if they (and right now all I know about is Stutz and Rags) feel well by game time, their stamina may be ****. I do, however, remember a game 5 or 6 years ago (and if I remember correctly the game was of some importance) where Kyle Wilson was really under the weather and on game day he spent a good portion of the afternoon at the hospital getting fluids through an IV. I remember the announcer during our game mentioned this and Kyle was having such a great game the announcer said he wanted some of whatever they had given Kyle that afternoon. I hope none of our guys are still that sick come Thursday afternoon, but it could have a bearing on how this weekend goes.

And I am not making light of Coach Marshall's sickness either -- he just doesn't have to run up and down the court 800 times in two hours (although at times watching him on the sidelines wears me out).

[KC Shox]

It will definitely be a factor for the Shox and you're right, even if they get well by Friday, will their stamina/endurance be affected? As someone said, better now than having to deal with this in the NCAA's. The last time I can remember a key player getting ill was PJ in Vegas and the team went downhill after that. I'm crossing my fingers.

[Aargh]

Extensive back court minutes from Murry, Williams, and Cotton. Gee, why am I not concerned?

Extensive front court minutes from White and Orukpe. Orukpe is the most intimidating defensive player I've seen in the Valley since Wesley Unseld. White was a Parade AA. He's playing behind the #2 PoY in the Valley and the Valley's NoY and JuCo 1st team AA. The fact that he isn't getting minutes has nothing to do with his abilities. He's behind two premiere players on the #15 team in the nation. Not many Fr (regardless of their talents) get minutes in that situation.

Both Orukpe and White are going to be able to come through if that's what's required. They are both better than their on-court minutes would indicate. The players in front of them have earned their minutes and Marshall has given the starters the minutes they've earned.

We're OK

[Shox21]

If I had read the "anaceron?" thread, I wouldn't have started this one. That thread got highjacked and turned into an "injury report" rather than what it was titled to be about. Sorry for the duplication.

[WSUwatcher]

Actually, Shox21, I'm going to try to keep this one going, since the title makes much more sense than the one about Anacreon does for talking about the team's health in general. The other thread was just inertia, which is something our board suffers from at times and tends to lead us off on tangents, as it did there. (Kind of like string e-mails whose subject line has long since lost any relevance to the topic but never get re-labeled because no one bothers to reset and match subject to content.)

I'm with Aargh in thinking the health situation is probably not going to be all that much of a problem -- plus, KC is worried about it, which ought to be enough to reassure anyone. Still, here are a few other observations:

1. Maybe all this disease is what our conspiratorially minded posters were referring to when they talked about Commissioner "Equality" Elgin's plan to get a third MVC team in the NCAA field. He knows WSU is safe, so that even an early-round loss won't be a problem, especially if there's an excuse. It might even knock WSU down to a 6th seed, which can be more favorable in the long run than a 4th or 5th.

2. If Ragland has a sinus infection, someone needs to get him a neti pot and have him use it. I can attest that for sinus problems, they're great. WuDr, can you handle that for us? Just make sure he uses distilled water in it.

3. As others have noted, better to be sick now than next weekend, or two weeks after that. Get it out of the way, recover, and move on with life and basketball. But if anyone is still worried, here's an alternate plan: find a couple of outgoing young ladies who also happen to have whatever the Shocks do and assign them the task of, uh, infiltrating the Indiana State team hotel. (And then hope SIU doesn't rise up and pull an upset -- either that, or find a couple more who can howl with the Salukis, too.) Then let nature take its course.

[ShockerPhi]

Biological warfare being suggested on ShockerNet. Oh how I love this place.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

We've had games when Joe's been down, and we've had games when Stutz has been off, but I'm not sure we've had one when both have been off. This team has amazing depth, and I agree with @Aargh: that White, EO, and Cotton (among others) are more than capable of stepping up, but this situation is still a distraction, and having your two best players either out or less than 100% is not ideal. I think we can win Friday's game, but as we advance this becomes more of a concern.

If this had to happen, right now is the best time.

[1972Shocker]

This health issue is really impossible to predict at this point. Since most of the team has potentially been exposed it is possible there are other shoes yet to drop in the next couple of days. Impossible to know how Joe, Garrett and Carl will be this weekend. Impossible to know how many, if any, of the other players may yet be affected. Will just have to deal with whatever hand we are dealt on a day-to-day basis. Practices have been truncated so even if we are 100% healthy (which we obviously won't be) we may lose a little sharpness. Again maybe.

It would be nice to be at full strength for the MVC Tournament, but if this is going to hit us better now than later.

[jocoshock]

In 1981, Tony Martin had back problems and Ozell Jones was ruled ineligible for the tourney. We had to rely on our bench and a freshman by the name of Karl Papke to get to the Elite 8. Could we have gone farther with them? Maybe we could have beaten LSU in the Superdome with them, but who knows. By the way, we lost the Valley Championship Tourney game to Creighton that year if I recall correctly...

We made the final four in 65 without Stallworth and Bowman. Would we have been more successful with them? YES. But we still got there. And that followed a disappointing Regional Finals loss to K-State the previous season in Wichita in 1964 with those players.

This year's team will find a way...bank on it..

[jocoshock]

Marshall will introduce a new defense in St. Louis.... coughing....:tears_of_joy:

[WSUwatcher]

In 1981, Tony Martin had back problems and Ozell Jones was ruled ineligible for the tourney. We had to rely on our bench and a freshman by the name of Karl Papke to get to the Elite 8. Could we have gone farther with them? Maybe we could have beaten LSU in the Superdome with them, but who knows. By the way, we lost the Valley Championship Tourney game to Creighton that year if I recall correctly...

We made the final four in 65 without Stallworth and Bowman. Would we have been more successful with them? YES. But we still got there. And that followed a disappointing Regional Finals loss to K-State the previous season in Wichita in 1964 with those players.

This year's team will find a way...bank on it..

Excellent historical points, joco. Whatever their health may be on a given day, I'm confident too that the Shocks will represent themselves in St. Louis. Even better, once the Valley tournament is over, they'll have another week and a half to rest up and sharpen up for the Big Tournament.

[WSUwatcher]

Marshall will introduce a new defense in St. Louis.... coughing....:tears_of_joy:

More of that biological warfare! Probably best used in a tight man-to-man (as opposed to the technique I suggested earlier, which I hadn't thought of as biological warfare, but does involve a certain amount of tight contact, although not man-to-man).

[1972Shocker]

According to a report I just heard on the radio there are two viruses making the rounds in Wichita currently. One is an upper & lower respiratory virus (head & chest cold) which is probably what Joe and 3G have and is the less debilatating of the two viruses. The other is a gastro-intestinal virus (stomach flu that causes the vomitting, diarrhea and dehydration) which sounds like what Garrett has. I suppose it's possible to get both at the same time.

I believe I have the former. Felt it coming on Monday evening. The only think I have done is hit it pretty hard with Vtiamin C. Have not missed any work. Did have a slight fever last night. Don't feel great, but don't feel terrible either. More in my chest than in my head (could be something totally different). I think Joe's problem may have been that he developed a sinus infection along the way. Hopefully, a Z-Pack would knock that out in 48 hours.

Coach Marshall seemed to have more of a head cold in the video covering his presser about the MVC Tournament. He said he was not feeling well at all and I thought he was genuinely concerned about the health of his team.

[ShockerEngr]

I'm pretty sure now I had the flu earlier this week...thought it was food poisoning at first...but pretty sure it was the flu now... I was over it in about a day and a half, but dropped 5lb in the process. I feel fine now, but I do notice i'm not 100% when exercising.

[RoyalShock]

I was home sick Monday and Tuesday this week with what I assumed was a flu virus. Fever, headache, cough, runny nose (but no congestion). I didn't have any gastro-intestinal issues. Now feel like I'm getting a cold. Doesn't seem to fit either one of the viruses going around. More like a mix of the two.

I just hope the guys are back to at least 90% by Friday and 100% by Saturday. I know they want to win this thing and end the STL funk!