Official GameDay Thread-October 25-Shocker Madness

[SpanglerFan316]

Where's Fred?

With Ginger?

[shockmonster]

Green 2-2 from 3. EO scoring.

He has a very nice outside shot on the positive side. He was schooled underneath on defense a couple of times is the negative. His ceiling is way high when he gains some strength and learns how to defend.

[wusphlash]

Veterans
Carl Hall has received the message that he needs to be more aggressive offensively. Showed willingness to take the 10 footer and made them.
EO played okay. Showed some early offense which was nice.
Jake was solid, scored and rebounded. Jake is not flashy but effective.
Evan did the Evan things. Hustled, hustled and hustled. It was a positive performance.
Tekele, I don't know. Wasn't his best performance but he proved a lot last year.
Newbies
Malcolm started a little slow like he was in the early rounds of a fight feeling out the opponent. Then he showed some left handed offense that smacked of Joe Ragland.
Cleanthony is ready to go. Very quick ups. Showed offense and defense. He'll only get better as the year goes on.
Ron is the real deal. Has great presence on the floor. Handles the ball, shoots the ball, drives the ball and has obviously been a regular customer of Kerry.
Not sure about Nick. He could be the next DK/DW, in the dog house, out of the dog house. Tonight he wouldn't have got that much PT. Jury's out.
I think a redshirt year will help Derail. Fact is, there are a lot of teams that would love to play him this year. Shooter, shooter, shooter.
Kadeem does some nice things. Bodes well for 2013/2014

Disappointed not to see Fred play as he Demitric, Zach and Chadrack only got to watch.

Also, great to see the all time assist man back in town. Toure tried to blend into the crowd but Gregg pulled him down and gave him his ring. Nice moment.

[SpanglerFan316]

Wessel looked good; he was getting loose balls, adjusting to poor passes, etc. He reminded me of a football player (in attitude) and didn't want to give away anything. Hit a few shots and played well.

Baker looked very good to me. Wiggins needs some BB-IQ work. He took a long shot without a rebounder in place and one of the guards looked unhappy; I'll bet HCGM didn't have that in the play book.

[shockmonster]

Hall played great on offense and defense and I think he will be our best player. His shot did improve hitting a couple of 17-18 footers. Armstead was very good too. A lot of other talent and depth on this team (not including FVV, CL, DW). As for who else plays, I'm not sure that anything was cleared up. HCGM will have his hands full pulling this together.

[SpanglerFan316]

White looked solid too.

[1972Shocker]

Black won 46-36. Who was on Black?

Black Team: Carl Hall, Cle Early, Tekele Cotton, Ron Baker, Derail Green, Kadeem Coleby

Gold Team: Malcolm Armstead, Evan Wessel, Jake White, Nick Wiggins, Ehimen Orupke

Did Not Play: Fred VanVleet, Demetric Williams, Chadrack Lufile and Zach Bush

Carl was great. Derail, Malcom, Evan and Jake exceeded my expectatations. Cle, Tekele, Ron, Kadeem and EO played OK. I can see where the comments about Nick being loose with the ball come from. I think he will eventually get it though, but I don't see him in the starting lineup at least to start the year.

Jake and Evan are probably the most improved players from last year. Carl was very aggressive on offense and very effective. I think he knocked down 3 mid-range jumpers. Derail I believe was 3 for 3 from three and looks like he has NBA range. Cle hit a couple of treys and looked very smooth doing it. Malcolm shot the ball much better that I was expecting. Tekele threw up one Toure Oops-Shot (BTW Toure was in attendance tonight) but for the most part was Tekele. He did knock down the one wide open trey he had. Jake may have the best pure stroke on the team and he definitely has improved his body since last year. Evan put on a pretty good Graham Hatch impression. Kadeem will fit right in next to Chadrack next year to give us a very solid presence at the 5. EO had his moments, good and bad, but he will be able to contribute some effective minutes this year. Nick maybe has the furthest to go but definitely can play at this level if he can play more under control and in the team concept.

The depth of this team this year may well be its biggest strength. And we didn't even get to see D-Will, FVV or Chadrack. Really only had one true point guard on the floor tonight in Malcolm. Ron did a good job at the point for the Black team but I am assuming that will not be his primary position, but the kid seems to have a very good BBIQ.

I would have to say I am pretty encouraged by what I saw tonight.

[Capitol Shock II]

I didn't see much out of Baker tonight but that doesn't mean anything. Thought Derail looked great....really thought everyone looked great. I wouldn't want to play us.

[WuDrWu]

It switched up a lot, but Carl and Ron I think were always on Black and Malcolm was yellow (I think).

Not a lot to get upset with in my eyes. I'm not sure what to take away from the scrimmage. Baker is in a little over his head at the PG but that was only out of necessity. I think he's listening to me a shade too much. He doesn't have to win every game by himself, as a freshman.

I still will bet anyone Mal doesn't shoot over 30% from 3, but he can get to the hole and he drops dimes like I drop obscenities at Creighton fans, beautifully delivered and in large numbers.

You CANNOT leave Derail Green open. CANNOT.

Carl Hall is really good.

Evan Wessel has learned doing all the little things is a way to get playing time.

EO looks great.

Love Wiggins and Early's upside. Man I think they could be really good this year.

Anything not to like about Jake White? I didn't think so.

Tekele is Tekele. Few mistakes, great D, strong as hell, does everything well.


Oh, and we're fine at center next year.

[WuDrWu]

I didn't see much out of Baker tonight but that doesn't mean anything. Thought Derail looked great....really thought everyone looked great. I wouldn't want to play us.

Understandable. He was playing PG and out of position. Probably tried to make too many plays but he'll be fine. Sees the floor beautifully.

[newshock1234]

Really impressed with all our bigs

[C0|dB|00ded]

Tonight EO made every single one of his attempts at the basket save for the two-legged, outside the paint jam he tried to pull off. A couple baskets were waved off because he was too vigorous in his attempt to create space and another was a charge I believe.. but all the shots still went in.

He had 3 nasty blocks that I can remember, including one on Mr. Beast, who is very hard to block due to his running hooks.. one caused EO to foul. There were several other shots that were altered due to EO's presence. One guard drove on EO and nearly threw the ball over the backboard to avoid being blocked. Perhaps EO got a hand on the ball..

EO was Mr. Hackashaq (no offense to Mr. Morris) which will need to be minimized as the season progresses. EO also had a time when he locked up and threw the ball away, however he redeemed himself with a sweet high-low pass for an easy bucket.


The Beast was in midseason form and does seem to have increased his range. He is one of the top forwards/centers in the entire league.

Cotton is a man with some serious physical tools. I saw him bang with a few of our bigs and I swear I saw them wince. He is going to hurt some people with his play this year, literally and figuratively.

Cle' wasn't busy down low tonight.. that's because he was sniping from the perimeter and finding pretty much the bottom of the next. Cle is going to be a multi-dimensional threat for us and looks more like an NBA player every time I see him.

Baker the Maker was good with the ball and had a nice mid-range jumper that I saw, but many of his shots missed. I have seen this happen when he sees real pressure. I'm sure he will still be fine as he has a nice build and is very quick for his color.

Perry Ellis.. I mean Evan Wessel was impressive tonight. This kid never had a chance in my mind, but he is earning respect from me every time I see him play. He is the hardest worker on the floor and has a good shot. At 6'5", he has the option to snag a few rebounds as well. I can't imagine him ever commanding a large share of the minutes, but stranger things have happened. He definitely looks good enough to start on half a dozen Valley teams. If his skills continue to grow at the rate his confidence has, he will be a contributor. There is no question that Evan plays like he believes he belongs on that floor.

Lufile and Coleby both have great footwork and Coleby pulled off one sick post move that I remember. I predict that Lufile will win the "Who the #@&! is that?" award from the casual Shocker fan in the first game they see him play. He is legit and will prove most valuable. Coleby will get that award next year.

White is turning into a playa and I mean that with the utmost sincerity. That guy can just play ball. He is strong, moves well, shoots well, rebounds well, defends well. There is no way you keep him off the court for too long. He is a very smart and talented player that doesn't make mistakes. In a nutshell, he is starter material.

Armstead was unseen, but lethal... kind of like a ninja. Who said he can't shoot? LMFAO! He was barking orders and laying down the pressure. He scares me.. in a good way.

Green looked great! He will be an asset next year. Wiggins showed some nice athleticism, but he is going to have to keep working hard and eliminate the mistakes because after tonight, he has even more competition for playing time (I'm mostly talking about Wessel).


My starting 5 continues to be:

Arm
DWill
Cle'
Beast
and EO (with a quick substitution for White if he hacks early or looks lost)

Then it goes:

FVV
Cotton then Wiggins
Baker or Wessel (at this point it's a tossup for me. Wiggins will be a threat to their playing time.)
White
Lufile

Again, White could easily replace EO, but we would lose a lot of height and I just have a love affair for the big fella. If EO plays smart, he has plenty of offense and we know what kind of defense he brings to the table.

It's a great day to be a Shocker.

It's a great day to be blown away by a team's play with a starter and your biggest recruit in several decades on the bench with injuries. Wow!


T


...:cool:

[1972Shocker]

BTW, I have to say I thought the crowd was disappointing both in size and in enthusiasm.

My guess is around 3,000 in attendance and the that might be a little on the high side. Not an overly rambunctious group either.

Perhaps partly a side-effect of having this event on a weekday night.

[Aargh]

This is not a "good" team. They're better than that. The Valley will not know what hit them. By the time they figure it out, it will be mid-season and the team will be starting to gel and hit their stride. This was the most polished and solid-looking Shocker Madness I've ever seen. Other than too many bad passes and unforced turnovers, the teams both looked and played great.

I didn't keep stats, but I'd guess the 3-pt. shooting was around (or maybe above) 40% until the last 5 minutes or so, when things got a little less structured. There are a lot of guys who nailed 3's and a lot of guys who slash to the basket. If Armstead keeps shooting like he did, we'll be saying "Joe Who?" by the end of the season.

Most improved: Hall, White, Wessel, Orukpe. Yes, Hall was THAT good. Orukpe is not an offesnive juggernaut, but he wasn't the offensive liability I was expecting. He did make a couple of poor passes resulting in either a TO or a muffed play when a cutter had to stop to catch the ball. He's still foul prone, but now when he fouls people, those people sometimes have to leave the game. Green stuffed Orukpe once. The next time Green was between Orukpe and the basket, Green came out of it with a bloody nose. White can SHOOT! It's hard to make comparisons of White and Wilson, because of the different styles of Turgeon and Marshall, but White is looking to have about the same shooting range and the ability to bang inside a bit.

Wessel gets his own paragraph. He's probably the most improved plyer on the team, but the's got a lot of talent in front of him.

Early is both quick and fast. He's explosive getting off the court. He doesn't seem to prepare to jump - he just goes up - and up. He's like a wide receiver. He puts moves on a defender and then breaks clear on a break to the basket. That's without the ball. He can get loose and get under the hoop so fast that a help defender is going to have trouble reacting.

My dream front line is Orukpe, Hall, and Early. All Orukpe has to do is keep his defender isolated, and let either Hall or Early go past their guy to the hoop. If there's a PF in the league who *ahem* doesn't like to play defense *ahem*, they could put 30 points up on him with that combination.

Baker can do a lot more than just shoot. He ran point for his team (FVV and DWill didn't play) and did a respectable job. He got beat on D a few times, but there aren't many PG's in the Valley with the drives that Armstead has.

The D was looking solid, especially for this time of year.

There are a lot of shot blockers on this team. I expect Hall, Early, and Orukpe will each have a 3 (or more)-block gme this season. Those are not the only shot blockers, but those guys look to be the best.

[forevershockerfan]

Here's the deal. The pretzels were so salty tonight at the Chuck that I was having side effects like a thirsty man stranded in the Mojave Desert at high noon baby. I did not dare look back to the confession stand because I did not want to turn into a pillar of salt my own self. I had to pound 2 route 44's on the way home just to stay even and now my bladder is sure to over-react all night long. Can you dig it? Is this a TMI moment? Maybe so but my Doc would have a conniption fit about this. Now I know how Rosewood felt about the stale nachos baby!!!!!!! YIKES!!!

Bright spot of the night to me was Early who played some hoops on both sides and won the dunk contest. He is a keeper and will help us even more than I thought.

Hall scored 18? Not a surprise because this will be his year and his hard work is paying off in several areas.. He had a soft stroke and showed some range tonight.

EO scored our first hoop and Hall came right back and scored on him. Mr. Green caught an EO flying elbow. Speaking of Green, he did not play like he wanted to redshirt at all. Yes SN, he can really stroke the J.


Who else shined on both sides of the floor? Enter Mr. Armstead. His scrimmages with Rags last Season is paying off and was stroking it with ease tonight. He will D it up and is all over the place.

Baker will be a heart-breaker to our foes this Seson. He played some point because FVV was injured along with D-Will. He made some nice passes and will drain jumpers for us.

Good things happen when Cotton is on the floor. He moves his feet on D and keeps his mitts in the passing lane. I love players with his energy coming off our bench.

Jake showed that the shots he was draining this summer are still in his cache of assets. He will be one of our more improved players.

Chadrack made some nice inside moves and baskets and likes to mix it up inside. Marshall was wise in bringing him in to shore up our inside bigs.

Was happy to see Wessel out there hustling and he made some nice shots. He will get some minutes and has shown improvement.

Wiggins had an off night compared to the other 3-4 times I have seen him play. However, I will sleep easy tonight (if I don't float away) because I KNOW he will be fine and hopefully a very consistent player for us.

The Lady Shocks looked solid and seemed impressive inside tonight. I wonder why they did not call on our high octane SN team that WstateU featured on here recently for a public scrimmage? Huh? We are for real and we know hoops. Tsk, tsk, tsk.