Greece practices

[Stickboy46]

Good to see them taking care of business. Level of competition is suspect, but they didn't fold in the 3Q when they got punched. That's good to see.

[1972Shocker]

Taylor’s tweeted an article that insinuated that a couple of starters, presumably including Kenny, were purposely held out to give more playing time to newbies.

Kenny was not on the floor in any of ADKS's video clips he posted on his X account. Kenny looked fully engaged on the bench and did not seem to be in any kind of physical distress. So this make sense.

The starters in this game were: Jalen Ricks, Ronnie DeGray, Harlond Beverly, Quincy Ballard and Dalen Ridgnal.

[1972Shocker]

According to Taylor Eldgridge both Kenny and Colby sat this one out. HCPM wanted to see what Harlond Beverly could do at point guard, give Ronnie DeGray a chance to show what he could do in extended minutes and give Dalen Ridgnal a chance to make up for lost time and build on court chemistry with his teammates.

Taylor also reported that:

Calgary is considered one of Canada’s top university programs, coached by Dan Vanhooren, who is also the head coach of the Canadian national junior team, and winners of the U Sports national championship in 2018. The team is coming off a 16-15 season and has the talent level of “a good low-major college basketball team,” according to Canadian basketball scout Wes Brown.

Read more at: https://www.kansas.com/sports/colleg...#storylink=cpy

Calgary and the Shocks will play again on Wednesday at noon Wichita time. Shock will depart for Wichita on Thursday.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

I can't speak for the Greek team they played, but Canadian university basketball teams probably range from low-major to mid-major (think peak Carleton University teams) in terms of D1 equivalency.

The CEBL, which is the top Canadian professional basketball league and operates May-August, has each team draft two Canadian university players every season (they maintain their amateur status). Some of those guys have really contributed to their teams, which are made up mostly of guys from the G-league and overseas pro teams.

Of note, former Shocker Teddy Allen is nominated for league MVP. Nick Wiggins also played in the league this summer.

[1972Shocker]

Taylor mentioned that Ronnie DeGray is now fully recovered from back surgery. I wonder if the impact of his back issues at Missouri might be the basis for his waiver application? Probably not enough to sway the NCAA especially since Wichita State is involved. However, I know that Korey Torgerson was able to a get medical redshirt for Giorgia Civita after one of her season ending knee injuries even though she had played a a couple of matches over the allowed limit. However, Giorgia's situation did not involve a transfer.

[BAShocker]

I didn’t notice Abidde in any of the videos. Reminder, his jersey number this year is 5, not 24.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Nice to see Quincy Ballard looking coordinated and moving fluidly in the videos ADKS has been posting.

[1972Shocker]

Game report on goshockers.com

[shockrah]

Taylor's Game 2 coverage via Yahoo:

https://news.yahoo.com/trio-newcomers-lead-wichita-state-191418038.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Wait a minute. That can’t be! I thought he was a meany who hates SN and didn’t want us to know anything?

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Gonna need to see Ballard stay healthy and play this way consistently against decent to good competition. Still not fully sold on him.

[Aargh]

I was figuring on production from Beverly. If we can get production form Ballard and Bell that would be huge. I thought Bell would become the backup for Cortes, but wasn't counting on a lot of production from him.

Interesting that Mills is taking a look at Beverly as a primary ball handler. Also interesting that he got picked in one of KS's highlight clips. Rignald seems to be more than a warm body for practice.

[shockrah]

For Eagle non-subscribers:

https://www.aol.com/box-score-stats-paul-mills-005704654.html

[1972Shocker]

I like what I am seeing so far, which admittedly is not very much. But in any case, I see this year as primarily a foundation building year. Get a good, solid foundation in place and then build from there. I am not counting on Ronnie DeGray playing but he would certainly be a help. But I can see why HCPM signed Dalen Ridgnal as an insurance policy in the likely event that Ronnie will not be playing this year.

The most disappointing thing has to be not being able to squeeze any mustard out of Bijan Cortes so far. I don't know how he managed to get himself in this position but not having him available (and my understanding is he has not be able to practice with the team) was a big negative. Perhaps, it will prove to have a silver lining with Xavier Bell is able to step up.

I feel bad that Jacob Germany was unable to make the trip. Perhaps not that big of deal from a basketball standpoint since he is a very experienced player but what a great experience for him to miss out on. However. it did open up more minutes for the guys who probably need it much more than Jacob.

Hopefully, we will get more feedback from HCPM on what he thinks are the main take aways from this Greece trip (including the extra practices). Either an interview with Taylor or a RH Podcast with Paul Suellentrop when he returns. In fact, I have sent Paul S. an email suggesting that.

[WstateU]