Shocks vs Western Kentucky (11-9-23)

[Horn28Clem30]

Happy to be 2-0. There are some positives but also some glaring negatives. Thus far this is a very careless team in terms of taking care of the ball. The assists to turnover ratio has to improve. We were very careless with the ball last night. If they hit just 20% of their threes we would have lost.

But they didn't....

[JVShocker]

3 minutes into the game I was wondering if Ballard could even catch the ball. Passed regimes might have put him on the bench and left him there for about 2 weeks. Glad HCPM didn't do that last night.

I could be wrong (it happens) but it appeared there was a play or two ran for Abidde. And better yet, he converted...

Ballard made some quick touch passes last night where he may or may not have been able to just shoot it at point blank range. That's a surefire change.

And like I thought last night, it was an exciting game to watch. By no means perfect by any stretch, but it was entertaining. It almost resembled a Tourney game of sorts where neither team had intention to back down, leading to some at times very physical play. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought WKU and WSU were long time conference foes. No point in looking at the box score and statistics for me, because it really was only about the W. Are we gonna beat KU? Uh. No. No way. And every game will present its challenges I'm sure, but for now.....

Well done Shocker players and staff! And Go Shocks!

[JVShocker]

1. There is a different vibe this year. It's good. It's very good.

15. Cheerleaders. Work on your arm strength. You need to get T Shirts further than row 6. Sheesh!

It could be a lot worse, though. (my apologies to every male reading this)

[SubGod22]

Doc...did not make it to the game after all....granddaughter birthday party...how could I forget? :) We will catch up!

Also...a question....with literally, 10,000 kids in the portal last year(and realizing he THOUGHT Cortes would be available)...how did the Shocks not find ONE pure point???

Because PGs no longer matter. At least that's what I've been told.

[forevershockerfan]

The camera man is doing the horizontal shuffle

[Joerg]

Hey Shox fans - get more happy!!! W is better L. L is not for make Joerg and #Shox fans happ.y Rember on last year many Ls.

Is ugly??? Who care on this? Is W!
Vicrtry burbon and Snicker candy for Joerg last night wake up feel good go work.

Thanks is Joerg

[WuDrWu]

There are things that make me smile when I watch a basketball game.


Getting on the ground for a loose ball.

Relentless rebounding.

Post to post passing.

Coaching substitutions with specific goals.

Togetherness.

Ear splitting crowd support for any of these things.


I suppose 5 out of 6 isn't bad.



You hear a lot about building culture from HCPM. You're going to hear a lot more of it from HCBG. It will take time, but the product I've seen so far is very much worth supporting, even with the overall crappy state of college athletics.



Look, it's a long season and there's likely a ton of potholes ahead of us. Just last night you got a glimpse of the precariousness of our position.....Ridgnal has a bad back, Rogers got into foul trouble. There is no margin for error, bad luck or anything else. But dang, these kids are playing hard and the coaches are coaching hard too.

[shock]

Enjoy the win but… Ease up guys. Let’s not pretend that everything is going to be magically alright. That was an all time low shooting night for WKU. We aren’t going to get that lucky again because that was not a reflection of our defense.

They are still learning the spacing thing and all the flow when stuff breaks down. Most of the time they are just playing out right bad because they are still learning. It’s going to take a while. There is no up tempo offense yet, they have what seems like 4 plays installed, team rebounding is atrocious.

Also, this coaching staff might be the most cohesive unit we have had in a decade. That is another major plus.

[forevershockerfan]

The up and coming tourney after we focus on Friends Falcons will give us more clues of what's coming next. Then comes the real proof of the puddin when we play Wildcats and Tigers and JayHawkers, OH MY!

[shocks02]

Love how Mills has these guys focused on maximizing their strengths.

XB - Isn't shooting contested threes (or hardly any 3s for that matter) anymore. Taking it to the rim and looking for contact.

HB - The first 5 halves left me wondering what he was going to contribute. Then it clicked in the second half yesterday. He needs to be slashing and looking for cutters. Neither him or XB are going to be high volume 3 point shooters.

CR - Bell cow scorer, and he knows it. Everyone else needs to help get him open as much as possible.

DR - Manimal on the boards. Reminds me of Ramon Clemente. He knows his first, second, and third priority.

IA - Where did he come from? He's a new man (so far).

KP - So good operating in the paint 5-10 feet from the bucket looking to pass or hit the little hook shot. More of those will fall as the season goes on.

QB - Blocking shots, throwing dimes, not trying to do too much. If his confidence keeps going up, watch out.

We're going to need an 8th guy in Myrtle Beach. Hopefully we figure that out on Sunday.

[shocker43]

Happy to be 2-0. There are some positives but also some glaring negatives. Thus far this is a very careless team in terms of taking care of the ball. The assists to turnover ratio has to improve. We were very careless with the ball last night. If they hit just 20% of their threes we would have lost.

Yep, if the other team scores more, we lose the game.

[Shocker Dude]

Ok, we all know we don't have a true PG right now. Get over it. The coaching staff knows it. Looking at the tape of last night's game should be very instrumental in correcting a lot of the silly passes that were made. At least I hope so. We will go 2-1 Myrtle Beach.

[Kung Wu]

The up and coming tourney after we focus on Friends Falcons will give us more clues of what's coming next. Then comes the real proof of the puddin when we play Wildcats and Tigers and JayHawkers, OH MY!

[forevershockerfan]

There are things that make me smile when I watch a basketball game.


Getting on the ground for a loose ball.

Relentless rebounding.

Post to post passing.

Coaching substitutions with specific goals.

Togetherness.

Ear splitting crowd support for any of these things.


I suppose 5 out of 6 isn't bad.



You hear a lot about building culture from HCPM. You're going to hear a lot more of it from HCBG. It will take time, but the product I've seen so far is very much worth supporting, even with the overall crappy state of college athletics.



Look, it's a long season and there's likely a ton of potholes ahead of us. Just last night you got a glimpse of the precariousness of our position.....Ridgnal has a bad back, Rogers got into foul trouble. There is no margin for error, bad luck or anything else. But dang, these kids are playing hard and the coaches are coaching hard too.

It seems each game, Beverly has missed steals by just a whisker. He anticipates steals well.

Doc, was it Sasha R. many years ago gambled on a steal versus St. John's at the end of an important game versus St. John's and their big he should have been guarding drained the winning 15 footer unguarded? A gut wrenching loss.

[shocker43]

Composition of the coaching staff matters. IB did himself no favors by stacking the staff with guys who primarily specialized in recruiting. Quincy Acy is clearly doing good work with our front court. QB and IA's progress so far, in my mind, is not a coincidence. We actually have a coach that can work with our bigs.

Watching the bench shows how locked in the team is. It's been a while since we've had a team that is active while they're on the bench.