Pre-Game Thread: vs. Central Arkansas (11/07/22)

[kcshocker11]

Nice start to the season..Good win.

[Mr. Pickle]

I didn't see the Newman game or the scrimmage, but I came away a little more optimistic than before the game started. Won't draw any major conclusions after one game against a pretty bad team, but...

1. The ball still stuck at times with too many 1 on 1 and iso ball shots, but the ball movement appeared better than most every game I watched last year.

2. We are definitely more skilled, meaning that essentially everybody but Ballard and Pohto can dribble and create their own shot.

Won't get to find out where we stack up against respectable competition until next Thursday, and many questions remain at this point. I will take it for tonight.

[wichshock65]

Ballard has potential

That walkon at FSU must have been pretty darn good.

[Dan]

Tell the last sophomore big man we had that could catch a ball and move like Ballard.

[Atxshoxfan]

It's not the wifi. I never have issues while streaming Hulu Live, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Tubi, Pluto TV, ESPN+ when it's a non WSU game, HBOMAX, YouTube or Freevee.

I'm in Oklahoma using fibre optics. Never have issues, until this game. The first half constantly buffering and loosing the signal. Cleared up shortly after the first half.

[forevershockerfan]

Here's the deal. Hey Mr. Porter. Thank you for staying. Saw some bright spots tonight. We should be improved inside. However, not seeing the rebounding we need to. I liked Ballard. Only 10 assists. We won by 10 more than I predicted. Walton and Rojas are keepers. Too early to call just how good we will be. Right now, we are undefeated.

[asiseeit]

1. Good length and athletic
2. No one who can play with their back to the basket and reliably score
3. Still think KP should play some stretch 4
4. We are going to have some rough outings
5. Upside potential is there but several players need to understand/play their roles better

[Atxshoxfan]

I can't say that we win more than 15 games, but I do have to confess I saw some things that were pleasantly surprising.
I have been very critical of IB for last season, and I feel that was justified. But tonight I saw him coaching. He was holding players accountable for the most part.
There was improved ball and player movement on offense. But too many quick and/or forced shots.
Rebounding was poor at best, and defense still.meeds work. But overall, better than I expected for an IB coached team. All the things that I deemed bad, are correctable. I have a glimmer of hope but need a few more games to make a real judgement.

[Kel Varnsen]

We could be decent, we could actually suck. Really tough to tell because UCA is bad, and I mean really bad. No true negatives overall…some things, like Pohto’s lack of strength, are things we already knew.

Overall, not too displeased. Jury will be out for a while.

[Windiwu]

I'm in Oklahoma using fibre optics. Never have issues, until this game. The first half constantly buffering and loosing the signal. Cleared up shortly after the first half.

I am thinking the problem of the streaming in the first half originated at Koch.

[Woodrow]

I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw at the game. The players seemed engaged and hustled up and down. The tempo was good. Porter is the 1 guy who better not get hurt. I liked Jaykwon a lot too. Many good pieces and it's amazing to see guys that can dribble with either hand and not look like they are out of control. IB looked like he was coaching out there. Looked more like the Shockers.

[Stickboy46]

Overall good game. Some head scratchers and dumb plays in there .. but overall good.

Takes:
Porter - please stay healthy .. Looks so good this year. We will go as far as he can take us but he should be in the conversation for All-AAC first or second team.

Walton - Can handle the ball pretty well for his position. Think we will see a lot of good slashes to the rim from him. Very pesky on defense

Rojas - Another good game, but does tend to like to pull up from 3. He doesn't get off the ground much at all. I do seem some "Erik Stevenson" in his attitude though. He's going to be the one to talk and get in a scuffle this year.

Pierre - Some bad body language tonight. Was visibly frustrated when the ball didn't swing his way. Then had a couple possession where the ball really stuck in his hand and he dribbled around hunting his own shot only to pull up for a bad shot. Something to watch out for if that continues

Ballard - Lots of potential. Needs to spend a week with Rashard Kelly where Kelly teaches him to just dunk everything. He made some really good catches and finishes today though. He's going to get fouled a lot so need him to really work on FTs

Pohto - disappointing again. Almost a non-factor out there

Scott - Wasn't a good game for him. He forced quite a bit. So one good game and one not so good

HCIB - Was out there coaching tonight. Put the starters back in at one point, 30 seconds later, they gave up 2 offensive rebounds on 1 play and he ripped all 5 of them back out lol. Now he has to figure out how to do that for bad shots.


Lots of pieces. Ball handling seems much improved. Every player except the bigs seems like they can drive and create. For good or bad, we will seem more slashing to the rim this year. Hopefully that can eventually parlay into kick outs for open shots. HCIB has his hands full getting this offense working because its probably going to look rough against a good defense. Multiple times players were bunched up or didnt' seem like they knew where to go. Which is partially expected with this many new people, but hopefully that will improve.

Cautiously optimistic so far.

[shoxlax]

I thought Okafor was pretty solid as well.

[pinstripers]

If Pierre is going to shoot every time he gets the ball, as soon as he gets the ball, he needs to shoot at about a 90% clip.

[wufan]

Really liked tonight’s PG play! I thought Scott looked like a good back up with upside.

Walton and Ricks have left hand skill at the three. Should be a good combo.

Okafor and Rojas are miles ahead of Pleasant. Combined for 14 and 9. I will take it!

All three centers have some positives and some negatives. Combined for 17 and 15. I will take it!

We have two shooting guards.