Official GameDay Thread-October 25-Shocker Madness

[wu_shizzle]

Plenty of grown men out there tonight.

There is nothing soft about this team.

[1972Shocker]

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.

I don't believe Chadrack played tonight. You are probably thinking of Kadeem Coleby who looks like he will be able to step right in next year to give us a solid 1-2 punch at the 5 alongside Chadrack. Both are big, strong young men.

[1972Shocker]

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.

I asked Jody if we could be the opponent for her team tonight but she said she just wasn't confident the Ladies would be up to the challenge. Something about it being hard to look good when you're laughing uncontrollably.

[forevershockerfan]

Tough as nails, fast, athletic, depth galore at every position, so many varibles we have at out disposal for various matchups we will face. I like it. I like it alot. Was referring to our beloved Shockers and not our SN Dream Team. Ya think?

[tropicalshox]

Speaking of Kadeem and grown men, he will be 24 years old when he plays for us next year.

[1972Shocker]

I thought HCGM seemed very much at ease tonight. He had some very nice things to see about this group of young men and he certainly gives no indiciation that he has any concerns about being able to field a very, very competitive team this year.

[ShockerFever]

I didn't know what to expect with all the new faces out there tonight. But I'm encouraged and cautiously optimistic about this bunch.

Carl Hall was a machine. He owned the court. His mid-range jumper was a thing of beauty that I did not know he possessed. If he brings that every game, we're gonna be scary good.

I knew from reports on here that we had a solid core of newbies coming in. I didn't realize the range of so many. I was wondering how our outside shooting would be this year. At least in this scrimmage, I'm pretty stoked about it. I couldn't believe how many outside shots were going down with ease and seemingly little effort. Early, Wessel, Baker, Cotton, White, Armstead, and I'm sure I'm missing somebody, all showed some pretty consistent range out there. That's huge with a potentially thinner front line.

White was definitely solid. He made little mistakes, had some good shots, and grabbed some boards. Solid.

Wessel made my mind boggle and reinforces the tremendous challenge Marshall has on his plate this year for minutes. Wessel reminded me of Mr. Hatch tonight. Just an all-out hustler, stripping the ball away from the big boys, flying over them for rebounds, etc. He hit a couple shots as well. If that Wessel shows up on a consistent basis, then we have an additional weapon not too many thought about going into the year.

Baker was a little off with his shot but you can tell he's a baller. He was out of position tonight, had a few turnovers, but I think will be a factor.

Green is a shootah. Cotton was solid. Armstead hit some shots. Early was quiet for a while but started opening it up later. He is PURE athlete. Wiggins was in and out. Maybe a bit nervous, but he has potential.

EO started the scrimmage off with a sweet hook with a legit move. Then he had a block or two, but then had his lunch stuffed by a guy inches shorter than him. He also lead everyone in fouls. EO is an enigma. Defensively, he will be relied upon. Offensively, I fear may still be out of reach for him.

All of this without seeing D-Will or FVV.

This will be an interesting and fun team to watch. It may be a bit rough early, but by late February, this team could be Danger Central, with potential oozing over for next year and beyond.

I agree with 72 that the crowd was disappointing. After an Valley Championship/NCAA berth, I figured there would be a bit more pep in the step. That better change in the next week.

And it looks like the AD must have been reading with all of the volleyball shoutouts tonight. They definitely had that covered.

Nice to see Marshall recognize TM. Nice to see TM still hanging around the university.

[forevershockerfan]

I asked Jody if we could be the opponent for her team tonight but she said she just wasn't confident the Ladies would be up to the challenge. Something about it being hard to look good when you're laughing uncontrollably.

Yes, we would be in deep trouble except we could call on all of our coaches on here that could maybe ease some of the pain. Maybe the pic displayed here did not do us justice in the intimidation department??

[SpanglerFan316]

Early doesn't seem to "prepare" his shot; at times, it was get the pass, shoot (almost in the same motion) and score from 12'-20'(?). Can Douggie defend that? (Trick question since McDermott junior doesn't defend anything. :D )

[SpanglerFan316]

I was wondering who would win in a WBB game between the WBB team and the WVB team. At 6'2" and with her toughness, Emily Adney might be a load to defend. The WVB team has 6'3" player, 5 6'2" players, 2 6'1" players and 4 6'0" players. (For example, 6'2" Ashley Andrade "Lettered four years in volleyball, four years in basketball and two years in softball. ... In basketball, named to the all-region team".) By comparison, the WBB team has 3 6'2" players, 1 6'1" player and 2 6'0" players.

[Aargh]

Can Douggie defend that? (Trick question since McDermott junior doesn't defend anything. :D )

I don't think Dougie is going to look like an AA against the Shox. The Shox have the perfect storm of quickness, speed, vertical, and hustle to beat him on the boards and defend him when he's got the rock.

[SHOXAAC]

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:

I love the enthusiasm for EO. He has improved. But let's not fool ourselves...he will not start (except for senior night), except by some unique circumstance. He will be lucky to average 12 minutes per game. Hall will play the 5, followed by a diet of Lufile and EO. Lufile will probably see more time at the 5 than EO for a reason...he brings more overall value. That said, we are talented and deep at every position. LET'S PLAY SOME BASKETBALL!!!

[shockmonster]

I love the enthusiasm for EO. He has improved. But let's not fool ourselves...he will not start (except for senior night), except by some unique circumstance. He will be lucky to average 12 minutes per game. Hall will play the 5, followed by a diet of Lufile and EO. Lufile will probably see more time at the 5 than EO for a reason...he brings more overall value. That said, we are talented and deep at every position. LET'S PLAY SOME BASKETBALL!!!

Have you seen Lufile play? I haven't. I'm not sure if he'll play before EO or not. Hall may start but EO did look improved and could see a lot of action. Marshall will earn his money trying to take 13-14 good players and trying to decide how to divide up minutes.

[ShockTalk]

Those that impressed: Green, Wessel, Baker, White , and Hall. Let me mention Derail again, because one that didn't impress tonight was Wiggins and that was more because of Derail than it had to do with Nick. This true freshman knew what he was doing tonight on both ends of the floor. I even saw him directing others around. That said, I still hope he redshirts. Why? It looks like it worked great for Baker.

Baker is what...3rd, 4th PG on the squad as his 2nd or 3rd position. Well, he looked fully in charge tonight. Definitely didn't look like freshman (even if he is a redshirt freshman).

White and Early battled against each other most of the scrimmage. Nothing against Early, but I thought Jake more than held his own. No concerns here if Jake plays 15-20 mpg.

I saw Wessel do all the things needed to get playing time. Played good D, scraped for loose balls, rebounded, and scored some. It will be interesting to see how much he pushes others to work harder to not loose any playing time.

The Beast. Actually, during warmups, Hall almost gets lost among all the other big bodies on the floor, but then the game starts and there's no doubt about where he is. Jump shots no less.

I could have put Armstead in this group as well, but I saw what I expected to see. Steady with the ball, quick hands, and, yes folks, he can shoot the basketball.

Tekele was Tekele. Did all the little things without being that flashy.

If anyone thought you were going to see a highlight reel tonight by Early and Wiggins you were mistaken.....for two reasons. First, they know that's not what Marshall wants to see. Second, our team D (with special thanks to Derail and Jake) will keep that stuff to a minimum. Therefore, you will watch two very gifted athletes play more under control and learn the sytem before they are free to cause fireworks. I thought Cle was further ahead of Nick tonight.

Coleby will be a nice addition. He didn't play much tonight, but what I saw I liked.

Lastly, EO. Yes, Cold, he's improved and got off to a good start tonight. The hook looked nice and he had some blocks (as did others). However, I believe he was "guarding" Hall. How many points did he get? There were not many fouls called tonight but I bet EO had a good chunk of them.

The best thing I saw tonight was the TEAM. With DWill, Lufile, and FVV not playing tonight, we do have a deep, deep bench.

Lastly, as I finally made it to the team signing table, first to sign was HCGM. I complimented him on all the fine young men he has put together and I said not just talent wise. He gave me this big grin and said "I know exactly what you mean".

[SHOXAAC]

Have you seen Lufile play? I haven't. I'm not sure if he'll play before EO or not. Hall may start but EO did look improved and could see a lot of action. Marshall will earn his money trying to take 13-14 good players and trying to decide how to divide up minutes.

No doubt, EO has improved...enough to play about 12 minutes per game. No, I haven't seen Lufile play, but have talked to people inside the program that feel Lufile will probably at least split the balance of the minutes Hall doesn't play with EO.

I can't wait to see EO play more...he has worked hard enough to earn it...but there seems to be a lot of EO envy on this board. He is what he is...a freak of an athlete that is severely limited due to his BBIQ. It isn't his fault...but at the same time don't over expect what he can't deliver.