WSU VERSUS VCU REMATCH

[Shocker-maniac]

Shocker Nation will be well represented in Portland. I believe that WSU sold their NCAA allotment of tickets of about 550, and there will probably be more than 550 Shocker fans there.

[wavevcu]

nice job breaking down the #'s - i like the use of color too :05.18-flustered:. we are not a good rebounding team overall. sometimes we have to go to a zone just to become a little better rebounding on the defensive end. Juvonte reddic is our best rebounder and is actually probably a better offensive than defensive rebounder. when you play 3 guards most of the time like we do you give up something and for us its rebounds. but the strength of our team is our guard play so we pretty much have to play 3 guards. One of our front court players has been hurt for 2 years. he just had another surgery a couple of months ago and played very little this season. Another one of our front court players who i think started against you guys in the bracketbuster game (toby veal) did not come back this season. He was a junior last year. So 2 guys we thought we would be able to get good minutes from in the front court have not been available at all this year. Our coaching staff has done a real good job playing to the strength of our team this season.

[The Mad Hatter]

Shocker Nation will be well represented in Portland. I believe that WSU sold their NCAA allotment of tickets of about 550, and there will probably be more than 550 Shocker fans there.

Others may know more details, but it certainly sounded like there were far, far more requests for tickets than could be met by the NCAA allotment, so I have no doubt that you are right about us exceeding our allotment. The question is by how much.

[wavevcu]

good for you guys ! I know its been what 5 years since you were in the tourney ? Glad so many of your fans can make it. Obviously its a lot closer than trying to get to portland from richmond ! they sure dont make it easy for the fans with such a quick turnaround. unless you are one of the top 4 seeds which the mid majors never are, then you dont have any idea where you are going to play.

[Ixiah]

nice job breaking down the #'s - i like the use of color too :05.18-flustered:. we are not a good rebounding team overall. sometimes we have to go to a zone just to become a little better rebounding on the defensive end. Juvonte reddic is our best rebounder and is actually probably a better offensive than defensive rebounder. when you play 3 guards most of the time like we do you give up something and for us its rebounds. but the strength of our team is our guard play so we pretty much have to play 3 guards. One of our front court players has been hurt for 2 years. he just had another surgery a couple of months ago and played very little this season. Another one of our front court players who i think started against you guys in the bracketbuster game (toby veal) did not come back this season. He was a junior last year. So 2 guys we thought we would be able to get good minutes from in the front court have not been available at all this year. Our coaching staff has done a real good job playing to the strength of our team this season.

You definitely excel at forcing turnovers which is what WSU is weakest at. From your side of things that is quite promising.

[martymoose]

good for you guys ! I know its been what 5 years since you were in the tourney ? Glad so many of your fans can make it. Obviously its a lot closer than trying to get to portland from richmond ! they sure dont make it easy for the fans with such a quick turnaround. unless you are one of the top 4 seeds which the mid majors never are, then you dont have any idea where you are going to play.

Distance isn't what matters, cost is the biggest factor. Flights to PDX from ICT have been around $900 since announcement of our game last night. Reasonable timed flights run around $1000 right now and keep climbing. Our alumni association is arranging charter jets for the fan base; one is full and supposed to be working on another. Bus charters aren't an option, it's a 28 hour drive by car...a bus probably would of needed to leave today to get there on time.

[stepback]

I'm so annoyed by this matchup. Two really cool, underrated teams pitted against each other in the first round. I'm a UNM fan and we got stuck in a similar situation, playing LBSU.

That said, I've got Shockers by 10 and you will be meeting Kentucky in the Sweet 16.

Good luck!

[WSUwatcher]

I will be donning my Shocker gear on Thursday, rooting hard for the Shox, trying to keep the blood pressure down and sweating bullets during the game. If I'm wrong, I will eat crow and read all the comments regarding my wrong prediction. I can take my medicine.

Check Alton Brown on The Food Network's website, KC. He may have a couple of crow recipes for you -- enjoy!

[BenWSU]

[ShockerFever]

Wow, I'm embarrassed... and we have guests on this forum. Perhaps it's one of the greatest times in our program's history if our history starts around 1991. Watching four years of X-man (the first NCAA player to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding) tops anything that has happened in the last 20 years. During that era we knocked KU out of the tournament in the Sweet Sixteen (one of their top 10 most painful losses to date), garnered a pre-season #1 national ranking, went to an Elite Eight, had 3-4 NBA players on our roster at one time (several were NBA all-stars), and most likely would have been a favorite to win it all if we hadn't been banned from post-season play (thanks Kansas).

I'm not even going to bring up pre-1980's, which arguably might be a time period that was loaded with more stars than even the 80's. Not to mention that during that time period, the NIT was often more prestigious than the NCAAs. All I'm saying is, to call getting invited to a tournament with nearly 70 teams one of the greatest times in our program's history with no All-Americans or NBA lottery players on our roster causes a lot of fans who have been around longer than you, to wince.

Respect the tradition, all of it... and it spans 100 years.


T


...:cool:

I respect tradition. Apparently, you can't understand the phrase "ONE of the greatest times in our program's history". I think you're assuming I'm satisfied by just making it. Did I say that? NO. Do I expect it? NO.

With a difficult matchup in VCU, all that I'm saying is that in the 32 previous games to this ONE, I think we've had a great 4 months. National respect is off the charts. I am not saying this IS the greatest time EVER in our program's history. I'm not even saying it's Top 10. I'm simply saying it's a great time right now. Is that acceptable enough or is that also too embarrassing?

As a poster once said.. "It's a GREAT day to be a Shocker". That day is TODAY.

[ShockerFever]

WTF?!! You need to hush. Seriously.

If you want to become a fan of teams that get invited to the tournament, be a Creighton fan. They are the king of one and dones. For this year to even be relevant in the scheme of things, we need at least a Sweet Sixteen. Wichita State has a history of competing nationally in multiple sports. Nobody that knows anything about this program gives much weight to how many times we beat NIU, Drake, Evansville, et al. in a season. Wins against most of the Valley programs only provides relief.


T


...:cool:

Make sure you hang up your keyboard for another 4 years when you jump back off the bandwagon if we happen to get upset on Thursday.

[ShockerFever]

I'm so annoyed by this matchup. Two really cool, underrated teams pitted against each other in the first round. I'm a UNM fan and we got stuck in a similar situation, playing LBSU.

That said, I've got Shockers by 10 and you will be meeting Kentucky in the Sweet 16.

Good luck!

I agree. You guys got screwed in your matchup. I had stated LBSU is a Sweet 16 team until they were paired against you guys. Really a couple of sh***y pairings by the committee with these ones.

Good luck to you as well.

[VCUJamaicanGuy]

Just thought I would put this out there for you guys to take a look at. The Harvard model correctly picked the 3 upsets last year. Good Luck on Thursday!

http://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/predicting-ncaa-tournament-upsets-the-importance-of-turnovers-and-rebounding/

[shock-it-to-me]

question for a VCU fan. I noticed Georgia St. got you twice this year. Is there something in particular with your match-up with them that causes more problems than other teams?

edit: sorry, misread that, you were 1-1 verses Georgia St. None the less, it was a home loss, so same question...

[Spaulding]

As someone else said, not a lot us being said about the shox defense, which is statistically overall better than vcu. The shox defensive efficiency is what creates a lot of offense. And, the shox have the ability to counter with a 3 or 4 guard lineup.