Pre-Exhibition Thread: vs. Newman University (11/02/22)

[Stickboy46]

Still waiting on a waiver like Rogers.


I wasn't there, but I'm curious about the redshirts from last year and haven't seen much said about Ricks or Abidde. Can anyone provide any insight on how they looked? Did either do anything of note?

Neither stood out .. good or bad .. to me.

[1972Shocker]

My takes:

If there is ever such thing as an ugly 31 point win .. this was it. Team came out completely flat. Second unit brought the pressure and turn the game around with their effort. Second half was overall much better. There are a LOT of stuff to work on, but a few things to be excited about too. While execution definitely needs work, I don't remember many dribble off our feet or leg type plays that have plauged us the last couple years. Feels like there is hope we are better ball handling team. 12 TOs is still a lot but a lot of those came from errand passing or just poor execution. Hopefully those things can get fixed.

Most of my takes are from the second half because the first half was rough.

Porter: Looked really good. In control. Overall good shot selection. Agressive at getting to the rim on multiple occasions and finishing.

Scott: Pleasant surprise. Really good overall. Good ball control and movement. Good passing including setting up some nice pick and rolls and some good kick outs. I think he will end up being a great late add.

Ballard: Non existent in the first half, but really settled in during the second half. He really should be able to do 3 things. Block and alter shots, catch the ball on pick and roll, dunk the ball. He looked very serviceable against an undersized and overmatched opponent. His presence on the defensive end altered many shots even though he only had 3 blocks.

Pohto: Probably my biggest disappointment. He got bully balled on multiple occasions down low. His back to the basket game is still really bad. Hopefully a one game fluke.

Rojas: Another pleasant surprise. He was active and involved. Buried a couple deep threes, got a couple steals, some good passing. Felt like he was always in the play.

Walton: Didn't really show off too much today. Couple nice plays and drives but seemed really solid on the defensive end.

Okafor: Seems promising but struggled to finish at the rim. Did shoot 3-6 from 3 though.

No one else really stood out from a good or bad standpoint to me.


Areas of concern for me:
Overall Execution. Lots of polish needed. Seemed like players were getting bunched up and not knowing where they are at. Hopefully that will get worked out with time.

3 pt shooting from the guards. 33% from 3 isn't great .. even worse, only 2 of the 9 threes we made were from the guards.

Rebounding: Only out rebounding a team that we were quite a bit bigger than by 3 isn't great.

Positives
Defense felt solid. Some lapses early, but the pressure D was really nice. Will be interesting to see if it translates when we don't have an obvious athletic advantage over the opponent.

PG play: Porter and Scott feels like a very good combo. Granted its 1 game vs a D2 team but there cause for optimism there.


Definitely lots of causes for concern but also some causes for hope.

Good take and report. Regarding Pohto it may be that Kenny is just who and what he is. But he is still young and as has been said many times big men generally are slower to develop. I think having Shammah Scott as a very serviceable backup up to Craig is very much a positive. Hopefully, that will allow Craig not to have to play so much that he is worn down and out by mid-season.

[1972Shocker]

Paul Suellentrop talks about Shammah Scott post-exhibition game:

RH: "He's A Team-First Guy"

Shammah Scott picked former NBA star Steve Nash as the point guard he watched most often growing up.

"He was one of the greatest passers of all time," Scott said. "I wouldn't say I really modeled my game after anybody, but I definitely took bits and pieces from a lot of my favorite guards. I love the way (Nash) passes and pushes the ball up the court."

Scott, a sophomore newcomer at Wichita State, contributed in a way that Nash would appreciate in an 83-52 win over NCAA Division II Newman University on Wednesday at Koch Arena.

Scott handed out five assists in 13 minutes of play. In the final minutes, when some might get into basket-hunting mode, Scott unselfishly produced shots for his teammates.

Scott, a transfer from NJCAA champion Northwest Florida State College, will back up Craig Porter Jr., at point guard for the Shockers. Last season's Shockers lacked that true point guard to give Porter break and keep things running.

"He knows how to play overall good basketball," Porter said. "He doesn't let people speed him up. His pace and control of the game is something a lot of guards don't have."

[Kel Varnsen]

Okafor will score. And score when it counts.

Ballard is Orupke with hands instead of 2 bricks glued to the end of his arms. EVERY part of his game is at or better except blocks, and that might match by January. Gawd he needs to stay for 2+years. Yes, he will be a dominate rebounder.

Shammah is better than any backup PG we had last year,even with his limited exposure to Shocker I-Brown offense.

If Porter misses fewer than 2 games bc of injury, and neither are make or break the season games, he will carry many W's, and be on the cusp of 1st/2nd team AAC.

If Bell and Pierre are good to very good +/- on TO's, and average 13+/game combined, it will be a huge net positive from last season TE.

Jaykwon is the total package. If he hits a consistent stride by mid-Dec, he will be to win shares as Cle was 1st season of Cle. He is also the best thing possible for Ricks development as a 2nd gun. A hungry player like him is what RCouncil needed.

Our 4/5 rotation is going to be why we finish top 4 (3?) In AAC. Sooo many tantalizing combo options. The best part of it is we once again have some MEN down low. They want rebounds, they like contact, they R hungry. Rojas goes hard, Gus Bus only goes hard. As said above, Ballard came to play. Waaaay more fluid than I imagined.

We can once again win games on Rebounding and especially OR's. Wings and guards all have a knack for rebounding. Big difference is we have enough shooters to not crumble from 3 when 1 or 2 guys are off.

I trust in Pohto getting into a groove. Didn't show much, but will earn his starting spot. If he can shoot 36%+ from 3 on 5att/gm, we might just go next level.

This is just what I (the guy confident in a top 4 finish)
Saw. The 2nd half showed me that I wasn't wrong with that potential, and we are further along than I thought we would be.

Since I don't want to wait to "told you so" on the top 4 finish, Imma drop a prediction I can spout off about sooner.

"Shox are winning their November tourney"

Could you be right? Yes, I guess the season hasn't even started yet. Could a game against Newman, a D-II team picked last in their conference, tell us that?

[Stickboy46]

Good take and report. Regarding Pohto it may be that Kenny is just who and what he is. But he is still young and as has been said many times big men generally are slower to develop. I think having Shammah Scott as a very serviceable backup up to Craig is very much a positive. Hopefully, that will allow Craig not to have to play so much that he is worn down and out by mid-season.

I still have a lot of hope for Pohto .. just was not at all what I was expecting to see last night.

[Kel Varnsen]

I didn't get to watch the game at all, but Stickboy46's post overall probably sounds like the best assessment of our guys, some of it confirming what we've seen with the guys who already have D-I experience. Porter will be pretty solid as usual, but there are so many question marks that we still have to truly wait to be answered until conference play hits.

Pohto: Probably my biggest disappointment. He got bully balled on multiple occasions down low. His back to the basket game is still really bad. Hopefully a one game fluke.

I fear this is the norm and not a fluke. He will have to play on the perimeter to be successful. He likely cannot play the 5 in the AAC.

Scott: Pleasant surprise. Really good overall. Good ball control and movement. Good passing including setting up some nice pick and rolls and some good kick outs. I think he will end up being a great late add.

I really liked what I saw on film from him and agree that he will be a good add.

Ballard: Non existent in the first half, but really settled in during the second half. He really should be able to do 3 things. Block and alter shots, catch the ball on pick and roll, dunk the ball. He looked very serviceable against an undersized and overmatched opponent. His presence on the defensive end altered many shots even though he only had 3 blocks.

Rojas: Another pleasant surprise. He was active and involved. Buried a couple deep threes, got a couple steals, some good passing. Felt like he was always in the play.

I think these two give us some size down low, and while we don't have much of a post presence in terms of actually posting guys up, I think they will both bring some decent things to the table, and gives us a front line more commensurate with what our conference mates have.

[Shockm]

Not a REAL evaluation, because all I've seen is a box score. But a few quick take away's I remember from seeing the box score yesterday.

Shammah Scott had a nice line for a back up point guard.

Rick's line was disappointing, but Abbidde had a better line than I thought he might. Rebounding is the key for him to be effective in his freshman year.

Ballard had a nice rebounding line, and scoring for the minutes he had. I also saw a hi-lite for Ballard on the news that showed nice athleticism, and potential for a really big guy. He at least isn't a 7' stiff from Europe, even though I liked our 7' European slow and unathletic big man
.
I was disappointed in Okafor's rebounding line if he is going to be a PF. However, he did score well.

I was very disappointed in our 44-41 Team rebounding line against a Div. 2 opponent. It should have been at least 8-10+ rebounds against a Kansas Newman.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Given the size and "athleticism" at the Newman level, I would have certainly expected Ballard to look good.

[1972Shocker]

I see from the box score that Kenny Pohto, James Rojas and Quincy Ballard combined for a total of 38 minutes. For those who attended was this mostly at the 5-spot? Is so are we looking at a 3-headed mosnter approach to that position this year. Hard to gage from a exhibition game but they combined for 23 points and 19 rebounds in those 38 minutes. That will work. OTOH 4-9 free throw shooting leaves a lot to be desired. Any thoughts about this?

[Stickboy46]

I see from the box score that Kenny Pohto, James Rojas and Quincy Ballard combined for a total of 38 minutes. For those who attended was this mostly at the 5-spot? Is so are we looking at a 3-headed mosnter approach to that position this year. Hard to gage from a exhibition game but they combined for 23 points and 19 rebounds in those 38 minutes. That will work. OTOH 4-9 free throw shooting leaves a lot to be desired. Any thoughts about this?

For the most part yes. There was a period of time that both Pohto and Ballard were on the floor. I don't believe they got any inside touches there with both of them on the floor even though both Pohto and Ballard probably had 5+ inches on any Newton player on the floor at that time.

[Kel Varnsen]

Someone can answer this for me. Did Sports Daily even give a cursory mention to WSU today? I get that playing Newman isn’t exactly headline news, but did they at least talk about the game or the team? Didn’t seem so based on the podcast and titles that I saw.

[Kel Varnsen]

I also listened for a good portion of each of them and didn’t hear anything.

[ShockerFever]

Someone can answer this for me. Did Sports Daily even give a cursory mention to WSU today? I get that playing Newman isn’t exactly headline news, but did they at least talk about the game or the team? Didn’t seem so based on the podcast and titles that I saw.

Bruce kept WSU relevant on that show.

The clowns that are there now are just clowns.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

I bet they talked about when the Eagles are touring and what Wokeheads to vote for though. Anybody still listening to that is wasting their time.

[Kel Varnsen]

I bet they talked about when the Eagles are touring and what Wokeheads to vote for though. Anybody still listening to that is wasting their time.

You’re thinking of The Drive. I was talking about Sports Daily.