Welcome - Paul Mills

[Stickboy46]

It’s so refreshing to see a game plan, and in-game adjustments. This is progress and I am excited to see how much better the team responds as the season rolls on.

Now those adjustments just need to actually make a difference on the floor. We haven't had great second halfs for most of the year.

[shock]

Now those adjustments just need to actually make a difference on the floor. We haven't had great second halfs for most of the year.

Half time adjustments have actually been pretty good, and a big reason they have won as many games as they have.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Half time adjustments have actually been pretty good, and a big reason they have won as many games as they have.

Off the top of my head I'm thinking of the WKU, Saint Louis, and Richmond games as examples.

[Stickboy46]

Half time adjustments have actually been pretty good, and a big reason they have won as many games as they have.

We've played 5 Top 150 Kenpom teams. We have been outscored in the second half 4 of those 5 games (Richmond being the only one positive).

So not really when it matters.

[molly jabali]

We've played 5 Top 150 Kenpom teams. We have been outscored in the second half 4 of those 5 games (Richmond being the only one positive).

So not really when it matters.

Well, in fairness, you can’t go out and buy new talent at halftime

[Stickboy46]

Well, in fairness, you can’t go out and buy new talent at halftime

With todays transfer rules .. are you really sure that's true?

[shoxlax]

We've played 5 Top 150 Kenpom teams. We have been outscored in the second half 4 of those 5 games (Richmond being the only one positive).

So not really when it matters.

Three of those teams are ahead of WSU in Kenpom. So aren’t they supposed to outscore us? Actually I’m joking. What is the first 5-10 minutes of the second half look like? Just curious.

[SubGod22]

Three of those teams are ahead of WSU in Kenpom. So aren’t they supposed to outscore us?

Maybe they're ahead of us because they outscored us

[Stickboy46]

Three of those teams are ahead of WSU in Kenpom. So aren’t they supposed to outscore us? Actually I’m joking. What is the first 5-10 minutes of the second half look like? Just curious.

KP has a Q3 Score

SIU- Outscored us by 5.

SDSU - Outscored us by 7 (Also is ranked below us and we were at home)

Missouri - We outscored them by 1

Liberty - We Outscored them by 1 (then were outscored by 15 in the "Q4" of the game)

Obviously Richmond was a positive.

So yea .. nothing really showing great halftime adjustments. We've struggled coming out of half.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

KP has a Q3 Score

SIU- Outscored us by 5.

SDSU - Outscored us by 7 (Also is ranked below us and we were at home)

Missouri - We outscored them by 1

Liberty - We Outscored them by 1 (then were outscored by 15 in the "Q4" of the game)

Obviously Richmond was a positive.

So yea .. nothing really showing great halftime adjustments. We've struggled coming out of half.

Guess we should bring IB back.

[Stickboy46]

Guess we should bring IB back.

? What does that have to do with anything. Its just data man.

[1972Shocker]

So yea .. nothing really showing great halftime adjustments. We've struggled coming out of half.

Doesn't mean halftime adjustments weren't made. My captain obvious point is that the other guys are making adjustments as well.

I have no data to prove anything but over the course of the season some of you adjustments will work, some won't work and the same is true of the guys in the other locker room. And then you have to adjust to the other guys adjustments and the other guys have to adjust to your adjustments and the hope is wants it all nets out is that you figure out a way to score at least 1 more point at the end of the game than you your opponent has more often than the other guys do.

But this isn't always totally on the coaching staff. Hopefully, your players have enough BBIQ to adjust their play to what the other guys are doing and to the flow of the game. If Colby Rogers is on a heater you might want to look more for him instead of looking for your own scoring opportunities. At least until the other guys figure that out and take that away from you.

[Stickboy46]

Doesn't mean halftime adjustments weren't made. My captain obvious point is that the other guys are making adjustments as well.

I have no data to prove anything but over the course of the season some of you adjustments will work, some won't work and the same is true of the guys in the other locker room. And then you have to adjust to the other guys adjustments and the other guys have to adjust to your adjustments and the hope is wants it all nets out is that you figure out a way to score at least 1 more point at the end of the game than you your opponent has more often than the other guys do.

But this isn't always totally on the coaching staff. Hopefully, your players have enough BBIQ to adjust their play to what the other guys are doing and to the flow of the game. If Colby Rogers is on a heater you might want to look more for him instead of looking for your own scoring opportunities. At least until the other guys figure that out and take that away from you.

Don't disagree with much of this. No one said no adjustments were made ... and Yes the other coaches make adjustments. But part of why we pay a coach millions of dollars is the hope they can make better adjustments than the opposing coach.

I also agree its not all on the coach, but some like to act like the coach has no control if things go bad and he only is responsible if it goes well. Both the players and coaches have responsibility and accountability here. The players have to be put in a position to succeed, but they also have to be able/willing to follow that path and actually succeed.

It's still TBD on a lot of these things, but so far the results aren't super great .. though not awful either. I'm not really looking for "not awful" as a standard. That said, its 5 meaningful games as a data set. So still super small sample size.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Don't disagree with much of this. No one said no adjustments were made ... and Yes the other coaches make adjustments. But part of why we pay a coach millions of dollars is the hope they can make better adjustments than the opposing coach.

I also agree its not all on the coach, but some like to act like the coach has no control if things go bad and he only is responsible if it goes well. Both the players and coaches have responsibility and accountability here. The players have to be put in a position to succeed, but they also have to be able/willing to follow that path and actually succeed.

It's still TBD on a lot of these things, but so far the results aren't super great .. though not awful either. I'm not really looking for "not awful" as a standard. That said, its 5 meaningful games as a data set. So still super small sample size.

I am curious as to what you thought the Shockers record would be at this point prior to the season? I can probably search and find it but just curious.

[Stickboy46]

I am curious as to what you thought the Shockers record would be at this point prior to the season? I can probably search and find it but just curious.

the raw win loss record is pretty close, if not a little better than i thought. SDSU is the only WTF game. Prior to the season, I would have probably guessed 1-2 in the Tourney, so we did a little better there. The rest has been pretty close. I also expected us to lose to KSU/KU so we have a chance to overachieve there in comparison to my expectations too.

Right now its still a LOT of TBD due to schedule strength. So far since hitting the "real" part of our schedule (Richmond on) ...we are 2-2. If we can finish that 3-3, I would be pleasantly surprised.

I also think we will end up higher from a total win point than I expected because well... the AAC is WAY worse than I expected going into the year. We will likely get throttled by FAU/Memphis, but we should have a realistic shot in nearly every other game.

EDIT: Since we are going down a rabbit hole here with my expectations. I'll just lay out my rest of the year expectations so its in a post that You can either reference later or throw back in my face later lol.

Screenshot 2023-12-20 at 2.37.42 PM.png

What I would like to see by the end of the year is meaningful improvements from our metrics. Right now (granted its apple to oranges because its a full year vs 11 games) we aren't meaningful different than last year.

We play at a faster pace, but Offensive and Defensive efficiencies are nearly identical. We don't shoot as well as last year (which is surprising, but data is data) but we are taking less 3s which is good. We are way lower on assist percentage, which makes sense. We protect the ball better but also generate less turnovers. Much better rebounding though.

I'd like by the end of the year for us to be in the 70-80 range in both KenPom and NET with a meaningful improvement in our O and D efficiencies. Right now we are sitting at 109 in KP and 88 in NET. So very achievable if we can continue to improve as the competition improves. This is still an improvement while still being pretty far off of where we want to be long term (Top 50 every year)