Level of discouragement ?

[molly jabali]

..... Frankly, mine is mild, and I don't sense much on here, but I had a conversation with a friend last night who was flaming Marshall unmercifully, for his 'poor coaching'. Really? Those things happen... We'll be fine!
Hope you feel the se!

[Capitol Shock II]

I certainly don't fault Marshall. This game was out of control from jump street due to officiating. I came expecting a basketball game and got to see a wwf match at the same time.
Given the circumstances this game only reaffirms my hopes that coach stays here a long time.

[pie n eye]

It's pretty discouraging to drive to st Louis every year to be disappointed time after time. But I have the choice to attend or not so I guess I could just watch from home.

As far as the game itself my level of discouragement is still pretty high. I really thought the team was locked in and ready to win this thing finally.

First off, the refs were bad. I can't even think back on the game without getting pissed about how pathetic they were. It's not an easy job, but those guys never had control of the game. They were way out of their league.

That being said we were out coached. Illinois State had a game plan. Defensively they wanted to turn the clock back 6 years to the days when SIU owned the league. They hacked, scratched, held, kicked, and anything else they could to knock us off our game. Like Stutz said, eventually that stuff wears on you if you don't get any calls.

Offensively they just watched tape of all our losses during the Marshall era and dribble drove us until our eyes bled. Their offense consisted of wearing us out with repeated high ball screens until they finally got a lane to the basket at which point they either lowered their shoulder, threw up a shot and headed to the free throw line OR kicked out to an open shooter on the 3 point line. Oh and I guess they mixed in a pass to the post followed by their post man lowering his shoulder and ramming into our defender a couple times then either threw up shot and got fouled or kicked out to a guard who would then initiate game plan A.

Our coaching staff was either unable or unwilling to make any changes to combat their obvious strategy. We didn't go to a zone consistently which has been our only successful tool to combat that strategy. I really thought the game at UNI was the turning point that finally showed coach that he needs to use the zone more against these type of offenses (which we see from almost every Valley team). In his defense I thought we actually did a much better job of staying in front of the driver and keeping them out of the paint without fouling but the refs did not agree. It was obvious ISU was getting the benefit of the doubt so maybe we should've switched tactics.

To his credit I thought we had a good game plan offensively. We were running the same type of high ball screen offense and getting into the paint But just did not catch any breaks on calls like ISU did. Not sure what else we can do there.

All in all I hope this game serves as a reminder to the staff that we do have weaknesses that can be exploited by a coach willing to play a certain style of basketball. Maybe we will learn from it so when we run into similar teams in the dance we will be ready with the appropriate strategy.

[forevershockerfan]

Here's the deal. We did not win the Lew in 2006 but made the Sweet 16. We did not win the Lew last Season but won the NIT. The Shocks will now get their chance with the brightest of the illuminating lights for the masses to watch. Yesterday was a fork in the road. We have overcame much more than last game and still won most of the time anyway. We have also developed winning streaks after the few losses we have suffered this Season. Yesterday, the breaks, the whistles, and the game went to the Redbirds. We also had 14 turnovers to their 8. We only had 6 team assists which is very low for us. We had 2 shots at the end that were just short by 2 Seniors. We missed 4 throws of only 17. They made 20-22 throws. All Season long, we had grim moments like these and still found ways to win. Yesterday is now over and we have the opportunity to right this black and yellow Shocker ship and get back focused on another win streak and see just how far we can go against the very best of the best. We have all longed dearly for such an opportunity to present itself and now our shining moments draweth nigh.

Now hear this. Our beloved Shox will not take this setback lightly. They will come out with with all their might to show the world who we are. There are no undefeated teams heading to the Dance. There are no teams that did not lose a game here or there they should have won. The Dance is a new beginning. Chalk yesterday up as a learning experience and understand our Shocks will feed off that setback and come out swinging. We are not afraid, intimidated, or overconfident. We will be focused and give it our very best shot and let the results speak for themself. We are SHOCKER NATION and we are finally moving forward and Dancing with the Stars in March. Can you dig it? Groovy baybay!!!!!!!

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

No discouragement at all. We've gone on a winning streak after every loss this season. This team seems to respond well to adversity and bulletin board material. If this doesn't piss them off and send them on a tear through the real tournament, I don't know what will.

[KC Shox]

No one should be blaming GM for what happened. He's not officiating the game, or our there shooting baskets.

[TrueViewWSU]

5 losses in 32 games. Enough said.

Even great coaches can't overcome every single thing that was against them yesterday.

I'm thinking there is gonna be a major chip on a lot of peoples' shoulders going into the next 2 weeks and I would not want to be in their way.

[vtshocker]

i just wish Marshall would call a time out when another team starts getting hot or we are doing poor

[JJClamdip]

i just wish Marshall would call a time out when another team starts getting hot or we are doing poor

And just how many games at the D1 level have you won?

You might want to call the show this week and give him that sage advice.

[SB Shock]

I seem to recall Marshall calling timeouts yesterday.

[boyshocker]

They lIke to call it preventive officiating, probably the most frustrating thing about coaching are refs who do this. I always hated it and even when I officiated I hated a partner who did it.
I feel GM might leave because of his frustration with the valley, he got run his first two years in the tourney by refs wanting to make a point.
One question though bothers me, Carmichael with four fouls and we don't see GS until the last possession. The only thing I see that I would have loved to change.

[ShockCounselor]

Toure and Ben 10 for 30. David 1 for 8. Carl no points and one rebound. Two good looks to win. Just a poor performance and, unfortunately, they were probably due one. Discouraged by this one performance ... yes. Otherwise ... not a chance. This team is 27 and 5 with two of those losses on the road/neutral and by one point and one other to Temple, a loss that should have been a "W". It will motivate the guys, remind them they have to perform at a high level each night against any opponent and they'll learn from it. My biggest dissappointment is HCGM's post game reaction but he's an emotional guy and I think let it out a bit too much. Let's move on and look forward to the tournament.

[boyshocker]

Taking out the frustrations in the yard with chainsaw, the ugly tree in corner is now gone. My wife has found the bright side of yesterday.

[1972Shocker]

I would expect all Shocker fans to be a little disappointed that we lost this one. But I can't imagine anyone in their right mind is discouraged. 27-5 on the year, MVC Champions, top 20 ranking, a trip to the NCAA Tournament secured with a decent seeding on the horizon. 2 of our losses by OT and a 3rd by 1 point. A team that has shown a penchant for bouncing back from losses in a strong fashion. Nothing remotely to be discouraged about.

Now if you want to see fan discouragement you should have visited the SIU board over the past couple of years. I would have expected to see such a question posed on that board. But here, that's nuts?

[XManCometh]

I'm not discouraged. I expect us to lose in the MVC tournament each time we go there. I know it's quite pessimistic, but hey, why keep my hopes up when we haven't won there in 25 years.

We're still in the dance and we're still going to get a pretty darn good seed.

The only reason I'd have to be discouraged is if we lost to ISUr and were headed to the NIT because of it. We're not, so I'm over it.