AN EARLY PREVIEW OF THE WSU BASKETBALL 2012-2013 SEASON

[tropicalshox]

Coleby can't play until next season.

[Dave Stalwart]

Dang it. I knew that... I'm not sure what I was thinking. It's still somewhat true though if you just substitute Hall in since he is the backstop for that position if no one rises up. It would be pretty sweet if EO can fend off Lufile and keep Hall from having to cover the spot.

I guess we've hashed this subject out all summer long though. At least now I can look forward to the next couple weeks, knowing it is finally here!!!

[forevershockerfan]

Hers's the deal. Just for kicks, here are some areas to stimulate our thinking on Shocker Hoops. Nothing new, just my opinions which are free about our 2012-13 beloved Shocks. We will see how all of this pans out in March.

Our Leader--(a commmittee) Carl 'the beast' Hall along with Armstead and D-Will

Lights out Party is Over Sharpshooter and ZoneBuster--Baker the Maker--along with FVV, Wiggins, and never ever forget Joe Mitchell.

D-Fence Lock-Down Drag-Out Defender--Armstead, along with Cotton, and Early

Windex Sparkle Glass Cleaner--Hall, along with EO, White, and Chadrack

MVP--Hall--are we not elated he was cleared to play this Season?

Best Newcomer--Wiggins but I am not counting out Early and FVV

Best Frosh--FVV--no telling just how good this young man is, even at this level.

MPG--Hall followed by Wiggins and D-Will.

Assist The Rock Leader--FVV--followed by Armstead, D-Will and Baker

Now you see it now you don't steals leader---Armstead followed by D-Will and Cotton

PPG Leader---Hall followed by Wiggins and Armstead

Return not to sender but to us blocks leader--EO, EO, EO, if he gets the minutes, he will get the blocks

Am I missing anything? Notice how many different players mentioned overall here by my lil pea-brain? Now THAT is a great sign in terms of top quality depth that just keeps on coming at our foes from every which direction for 40 mpg we hope.

[wufan]

It's still impossible to say what we will look like other than long, strong and athletic.

Recent articles and blogs from Sulle and eye-witness accounts from our own Shocker faithful lead me to the following breakdown:

Armstead - He will be good and will start. He defends and can do a little of everything (are you all aware that he shot 50%+ from three at Chipola and was the NJCAA small man of the year?) Likely to be one of the top two or three PGs in the MVC…unless FVV beats him out.

Van Vleet - Winner…handles, passes, shoots and even rebounds. What's not to like? He can't complete the 180 dunk.

Mitchell - Scoring combo-guard. Fair amount of athleticism and can drive and pass on occasion. Top 40 JUCO and he's paying his own way. I'm not expecting a lot, but if he does what HCGM wants he will play. Pretty sure he starts on about 3 other MVC teams this year.

Williams - Sound player will move to more of a SG role this year which is likely to limit his minutes a bit. Defends, scores, and owns a better than 2:1 A:TO ratio. Could lead this team or maintain the role player part while facilitating other scorers.

Cotton - Darren Brooks 2.0. Will be a HUGE contributor this year. Could average any ware from 5 to 15 ppg but will do all the little things.

Baker - Has anyone every seen this kid miss a shot? Fundamentally sound and a strong athlete. Handles the ball well. If he plays D too, watch out Valley.

Wessel - A healthy Wessel earns PT. Jack of all trades, master of none. He's a glue guy in 2014.

Wiggins - Goes to the rack at will and can shoot too! The 6-6 fella is likely to share time at the wing with Baker/Wessel and/or Cotton. I think he comes off the bench until he learns how to REALLY defend.

Green - Will be a key in the future…not this year.

White - A rebounding swing-four. He will play as long as he is hitting his shot.

Early - He's playing power forward folks. Not sure how much time he'll see.

Hall - Your starting center and first team All-MVC Shocker! Look for Stutz-like points and boards and a much better defensive effort in the middle.

Lufile - The 6-9 260 lb speedster is something this MVC isn't ready for. By the way, he dribbles and passes and bodies up hard. Ridiculous skills for his size. Watch as he controls Greg E and Carmichael and destroys VanDeest and Koch. This kids the real deal.

Orukpe - The guy is going to be much more efficient in minutes played, but will be used situationally. I think he's third string with 10 minutes a game (3 points, 3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks).

Starting 5:

Armstead
Williams
Cotton
Lufile
Hall

The rest of the rotation

VanVleet
Baker
Wiggins
White

Early has the potential to come a long way between now and Thanksgiving, but that's my prediction and I'm sticking with it until I see some real basketball.

[Aargh]

Starting 5:

Armstead
Williams
Cotton
Lufile
Hall

The rest of the rotation

VanVleet
Baker
Wiggins
White

I will give you credit for going where no other ShockerNetter has gone with your prediction.

I think practices will be interesting.

Orukpe/Lufile
White/Hall/Green
Early/Wiggins/Wessel/Green
Williams/Cotton/Baker
Armstead/VanVleet

Everybody gets challenged every day in practice. With PT on the line based on performance in practice, I see huge opportunities for improvement in practice. Every day, the entire team is playing against someone at or above the level they're going to see in league play.

A huge plus from quality depth is that practice is closer to game situations than practicing against what would typically be role players or seldom-used players. That's why I think we finish ahead of UNI and IlSU.

[im4wsu]

Today I get to see them. Fantastic!

[forevershockerfan]

Today I get to see them. Fantastic!

Let us know how that goes im4wsu.

A starting lineup this Season? (it will vary but here goes) 1. Armstead (FVV will get plenty of minutes) 2. D-Will--Senior leadership to be subbed in with Baker who paid his dues and will now make us estatic fans. Never forget Mitchell. This summer, he impressed me with his shooting touch and scoring ability. We are so deep here that he who is hot will play over he who is not from half to half and from game to game. 3. Wiggins--not sure about his D. but his slashing, shooting range and rebounding rocks--you want Defense? sub in Cotton--last Season, when he entered the game--great things happened and he really moves his feet on D to keep up with our opponents. Wessel will get his shot here as well and always works hard to improve his skills. 4. Early--maybe not early on will both Early and Wiggins start but they are both very very solid--actually this summer Wiggins impressed me the most but what happens with blazing lights shining? --Chadrack(a 4 and 5) and White are solid and this along with the 2 spot may be the most competitive spot to earn 5. Hall--a Senior who has worked very hard--wait until you see him on the 25th-- with EO and Chadrack--we are deep so foul problems of the past will not be so critical inside.

Want a lock-down Defensive lineup at a juncture in the game that can really also rebound and keep our foes from even a drink of water? Try EO, Hall, Early, Cotton(or D-Will) and Armstead.

Need a fresh 5 for 5 swap to add rested energy? Try FVV, Baker, Wessel, White, and Chadrack..we won't skip a beat.

How about a lineup at the end to seal the deal--Armstead, D-Will, Hall, White, and Baker. This is fun and the possibilities of match-up potential is almost perpetual in its scope.

[im4wsu]

Responding to Reaper Request

In 2010-2011, the four major contributors who graduated were Ellis, Hatch Durley Blair, accounting for 42.5% of the minutes and 38.6% of the points. The players from that team returning the following year were (Ragland,Williams, Smith, Orukpe, Murry, Kyles and Stutz. Using their minutes per game played (total minutes divided by games they appeared in) and multiplying those minutes by their pts/min, reb/min, assist/min and turnover/min, for 2010-2011 and also for 2011-2012, results in the following:

	Players Leaving	Players Returning	Same Returners
	2010-2011	2010-2011	2011-2012
Minutes.game	85.2	119.2	162.2
Points per min	29.4	44.7	64.0
Rebounds per min	17.5	17.6	26.5
Assists per Min	4.4	11.2	13.0
Turnover per Min	4.0	8.6	9.9

Listed below is the comparative statistics per minutes played per gamefor each of the players for the 2010-2011 and then the 2011-2012 seasons:

	Season	Pts/gm	Rebgm	Assist/gm	Turnover/gm
Ragland	2010-11	7.0	1.7	2.8	1.2
	2011-12	13.4	2.9	3.2	1.9
Williams	2010-11	4.2	1.1	1.5	1.3
	2011-12	5.5	2.0	2.3	1.2
Smith	2010-11	6.7	2.2	1.2	0.7
	2011-12	9.8	2.2	0.7	0.8
Orukpe	2010-11	1.0	1.8	0	0.8
	2011-12	1.3	2.1	0.3	0.6
Murry	2010-11	9.4	4.5	3.4	2.7
	2011-12	12.1	4.7	3.3	2.2
Kyles	2010-11	9.3	2.8	1.4	0.9
	2011-12	8.5	3.5	2.0	1.2
Stutz	2010-11	7.2	3.5	1.0	1.0
	2011-12	13.3	8.0	1.1	2.1

Reaper, hope this is close to what you wanted to see.

[tropicalshox]

A bleak picture of the Shockers:

http://www.midmajormadness.com/college-basketball-season-preview-2012-2013/2012/10/23/3541716/mid-major-top-20-preview-wichita-state-shockers-mvc

If you don' know about Baker, Wiggins, Early and Lufile you might agree.

[wufan]

His analysis of Hall is brief. He called Cotton mediocre on defense and called Williams (who owns a better than 2:1 assist to turnover ratio) a turnover machine? Also, no mention of Baker, Wessel, Green, Wiggins, Early, Lufile, or White. Head scratcher...?

[1972Shocker]

A bleak picture of the Shockers:

http://www.midmajormadness.com/college-basketball-season-preview-2012-2013/2012/10/23/3541716/mid-major-top-20-preview-wichita-state-shockers-mvc

If you don' know about Baker, Wiggins, Early and Lufile you might agree.

Shallow but potentially valuable. It has been forwarded to the WSU men's basketball office for motivational use as needed.

[forevershockerfan]

Trop is right. Many will look at the cast we lost of 5 very solid players, look at what we return, and say we are on the outside looking in. However, we have an ace in the hole with several possibilities.

1. An improved Carl Hall. 2. I'm not worried about D-Will. He brought stability to our lineup last Season. Yes, he had turnover issues in the VCU game and gets wild at times, but he is a Senior and he will have a solid Season. 3. In the case that D-Will has problems on a given night, enter Mr. Baker and Mr. Cotton, whom along with Mr. Armstead, knows our System by now, which makes us a little more experienced than mentioned or expected. 4. Enter also our very best recruiting Class under Marshall here. This Class along with our returning cast makes this team very, very deep which we hope results in a high octane 40 minute display of rompin stompin steel on both sides of the court baby. U like?. 5. Between FVV (a top 100 player) and Armstead, we will be in great hands at the quarterback position. 6. Adding Chadrack solidified our bigs and EO will have his moments and White will be much improved. 7. Now, enter Wiggins and Early. Watch out Valley!!!!!!!

[SpanglerFan316]

A bleak picture of the Shockers:

http://www.midmajormadness.com/college-basketball-season-preview-2012-2013/2012/10/23/3541716/mid-major-top-20-preview-wichita-state-shockers-mvc

If you don' know about Baker, Wiggins, Early and Lufile you might agree.

My first thought about Benjamin Miraski might be somewhat inconsiderate. I'm sure he brushes his teeth and feeds the dog. He might be able to read but I have my doubts. :strawberry:

[WuDrWu]

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but talks of WSU being picked 5th after last season pissed these guys off.

More than one player told me directly that was nothing more than disrespectful, and he told that to me as if I said and he was going to kick my ass for saying it. And I believed him.

Look, everyone has their own reasons for being motivated....I'm sure the Evansville kids are chomping at the bit. But I know much of the effort these guys have put in, and I have seen the talent. They have to learn to play together and they have to pick up the system. There is so much more talent on this team......There is a wide range of possibilities but over 18 games, and barring substantial injuries, this is a team that should be top 3 for sure, at worst.

[shock]

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but talks of WSU being picked 5th after last season pissed these guys off.

More than one player told me directly that was nothing more than disrespectful, and he told that to me as if I said and he was going to kick my ass for saying it. And I believed him.

Look, everyone has their own reasons for being motivated....I'm sure the Evansville kids are chomping at the bit. But I know much of the effort these guys have put in, and I have seen the talent. They have to learn to play together and they have to pick up the system. There is so much more talent on this team......There is a wide range of possibilities but over 18 games, and barring substantial injuries, this is a team that should be top 3 for sure, at worst.

Malcolm?