"8 College Basketball Teams Set for a Major Letdown in 2012-13" - Bleacher Report

[WuShock Reaper]

"8 College Basketball Teams Set for a Major Letdown in 2012-13" - Bleacher Report

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1241748-8-college-basketball-teams-set-for-a-major-letdown-in-2012-13

Coach Marshall just needs to add this to the "doubters wall" in the locker room.

Go Shockers!!!

[jocoshock]

"8 College Basketball Teams Set for a Major Letdown in 2012-13" - Bleacher Report

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1241748-8-college-basketball-teams-set-for-a-major-letdown-in-2012-13

Coach Marshall just needs to add this to the "doubters wall" in the locker room.

Go Shockers!!!

Easy words to write. Let's home the team makes them easy words to eat....

[InWuWeTrust]

from the same site:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1233365-college-basketball-rankings-next-best-25-after-the-top-25/page/23

[SubGod22]

I wonder why few put much stock in that site?

[The Mad Hatter]

Whether you want to put stock in Bleacher Report on the basis on the skills of their contributors (and writing Bleacher Report articles certainly doesn't make you an expert), the fact that the site has conflicting views shouldn't do anything to discredit it. Those were two different articles written by two different writers. Bleacher Report doesn't exist to present the official view that Bleacher Report holds on a subject, but to serve as an outlet for people to write about sports. The fact that two writers disagree about how WSU will do in the upcoming season doesn't reflect poorly on the site.

[Dave Stalwart]

Maybe the two writers don't actually disagree by much. The first author didn't offer a projected finish...just the notion that it could be a letdown (I guess compared to having been ranked as high as WSU got before the two buzzkill losses) and that we may not win the valley-although I would love to wreck CU's pick to win it for two straight years.
Maybe a nice way to spin it is that Marshall has brought us to a point that a projected finish in the 40's is now looked at by some media outlets as a "major letdown." I can't complain too much about that...
In a lot of years, a 40s finish is 1st, 2nd or 3rd (in a strong year) in the valley standings. Its a pretty middle of the road projection for us with a little optimism based on having Marshall plus a few solid returners and getting FVV and some great jucos.

Honestly, if someone asked me my personal guess, I would almost say the exact same thing: possible letdown from being no. 18ish, but good enough reason to hope to be on the bubble or better (and maybe a win in st. louis) if things come together.

It beats the heck out of losing a coach and a great senior class and starting over :)

[1972Shocker]

I still contend that our situation is not all that different than the situation we found ourselves in at this time a year ago.

Last year we were looking at replacing some very key cogs in our NIT Championship team. Durley, Blair, Ellis and Hatch.

We did have some nice pieces coming back in Ragland, Stutz (although still somehwhat unproven), Murry, Kyles, Williams (the latter three solid but somewhat schizophrenic performers) and the steady but somewhat undersized Ben Smith.

We had 8 new pieces (and I included EO in that group) to incorporate IIRC and were just not totally sure how that would work out.

As it turned out it worked out very well although the finish to the season was a little sour tasting.

We arguably have even more production to replace this year with Ragland, Stutz, Murry, Kyles and Smith moving on and we arguably have a somewhat less proven group (at least at the D-1 level) coming in behind them plus a bunch of brand new shiny pieces.

Most Shocker fans feel pretty good that we will surprise on the upside this year. However, I certainly would not expect an outsider who probably only follows individual teams peripherally to share that same level of confidence. Actually, being a little bit overlooked may very well be exactly the conditions this team needs to develop and thrive.

[ShockerFever]

Dofo can write for the Bleacher Report if he wanted to.

Take that for what it's worth.

[Dave Stalwart]

I still contend that our situation is not all that different than the situation we found ourselves in at this time a year ago.

Last year we were looking at replacing some very key cogs in our NIT Championship team. Durley, Blair, Ellis and Hatch.

Yeah thats true. I kind of remember that we were 'supposed' to be decent but fall to 2nd-4th while CU was going to be the hands down winner of the MVC....just like this year. :)

Let's do it again.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I'm not worried... at all.

We have players on our roster that could leave quite a mark on Shocker fan's memories before they leave, the kind of marks many fans received back in the 80's.

I am concerned about one thing, and that is nailing HCGM's ass to the hardwood floor in Koch Arena. Weigh his pants down with gold bouillon. Repave the road he chooses to commute on from his house to Koch Arena every year (overnight of course) so he never experiences a pot hole. Provide him a police escort to.. everywhere. Heat his pool. Air condition his backyard. Build him an ivory tower...


T


...:cool:

[pogo]

I'm not worried... at all.

We have players on our roster that could leave quite a mark on Shocker fan's memories before they leave, the kind of marks many fans received back in the 80's.

I am concerned about one thing, and that is nailing HCGM's ass to the hardwood floor in Koch Arena. Weigh his pants down with gold bouillon. Repave the road he chooses to commute on from his house to Koch Arena every year (overnight of course) so he never experiences a pot hole. Provide him a police escort to.. everywhere. Heat his pool. Air condition his backyard. Build him an ivory tower...

Man Crush?

[C0|dB|00ded]

Man Crush?

No, program crush.


T


...:cool:

[rialaigh]

I'm not worried... at all.

We have players on our roster that could leave quite a mark on Shocker fan's memories before they leave, the kind of marks many fans received back in the 80's.

I am concerned about one thing, and that is nailing HCGM's ass to the hardwood floor in Koch Arena. Weigh his pants down with gold bouillon. Repave the road he chooses to commute on from his house to Koch Arena every year (overnight of course) so he never experiences a pot hole. Provide him a police escort to.. everywhere. Heat his pool. Air condition his backyard. Build him an ivory tower...


T


...:cool:

I agree completely. Keep him happy with money, more importantly keep the stadium filled even in "rebuilding or reloading" years. And HCGM creates a legacy at this school. Fan support means more to him than money.

[shock]

I'm not worried... at all.

We have players on our roster that could leave quite a mark on Shocker fan's memories before they leave, the kind of marks many fans received back in the 80's.

I am concerned about one thing, and that is nailing HCGM's ass to the hardwood floor in Koch Arena. Weigh his pants down with gold bouillon. Repave the road he chooses to commute on from his house to Koch Arena every year (overnight of course) so he never experiences a pot hole. Provide him a police escort to.. everywhere. Heat his pool. Air condition his backyard. Build him an ivory tower...


T


...:cool:

Come on. We are talking about Coach Marshall. He already has an ivory tower.

[Aargh]

I'm not expecting a repeat of last year (Valley Championship), so maybe next year's results will be a "letdown". I think it's a reload instead of a rebuild. Here's my position-by-position breakdown. It's going to end up with a team not at the level of last year's team, but pretty close to that.

Post - Lose Stutz. Few had big expectations for Stutz last year. Now, NBA teams are competing to get him into their D-League. Few have big expectations for Orukpe this year. Orukpe's progress is a huge factor. Hall's ability to move to the post is obvious. I'm not counting on anything other than eating minutes from Lufile. We're used to JuCo AA's. Lufile was 2nd team all-league.

PF - Lose Nothing. Hall should be significantly better than last year. Jake White showed a Hatch-like performance at the position. White should be looking at major improvement based on his progress during the year last year. If Hall has to take minutes at post, then Early will get minutes at PF.

SF - Lose Smith. Early is probably a 6'8" version of Smith. Probably a lower % from 3, but he's 6'8". We're used to JuCo 1st team AA's (Hall, Ragland, Smith (?)). Early was the JuCo PoY in all divisions. Our expectations can be justified at above the expectations we had for Hall, Smith, or Ragland in their first year. Wiggins is looking like a better alternative at SF than we had last year.

SG - Lose Murry, Kyles. Add Baker, Wiggins. Wiggins looks like a 6'6" version of Murry. Probably not going to get the overall stats, but might be able to cover the offensive stats. Baker looks to be an obvious cover for Kyles' offense.

PG - Lose Ragland. Gain Armstead and VanVleet. Armstead has had a year to learn Marshall's game. VanVleet probably won't take a year to learn Marshall's system. I doubt we can replace Rag's shooting stats, but I think we have 2 of the top 6 PG's in the Valley.

The guys we're losing will always have a place in Shocker fans' memories. The guys replacing them seem to be at a level that will also be memorable.

DWill and Cotton are potential "breakout season" guys.

If a "letdown" season is not winning the Valley and being a bubble NCAA team, I can deal with that. I think we're at or above that next year.