WSU vs. VCU game thread

[Kung Wu]

The keyboard assassin is out of strokes!!!

LMAO

[WuDrWu]

Questions and comments

1. Who was on the floor at crunch time? Say beginning at the four minute mark.

2. Who was on the floor for the last 0.5 seconds?

3. The Early block was not a goal tend. Definitely not. I replayed the block in frame-by-frame slo-mo. The ball was beyond the cylinder and about 15%-20% of the ball was below the rim, when Early's hand touched the ball.

4. Dr. Wu, Fred had two appearances. One was for about four minutes and the other was for one minute. Fred had a turnover in each of the appearances. Wrongly, he was charged with three turnovers.

5. Incredibly, Carl Hall missed six bunnies. He missed three in one flurry on a single possession. He will not miss that many, during the rest of the year.

6. On the Malcomb and Cle two-on-one break away, Mal missed a lay-up. I sensed that Mal really wanted to pass off to Cle, but Cle was trailing with poor technique. On the break, Cle was running way too tight to the defender, so it made a pass too difficult.

7. I thought Demetric played a very fine floor game. He only shot 1-4, but really it was 1-3. The half-time prayer shot does not count in my book. He did miss a lay-up, which was mildly contested, but no foul was called.

By the way, he was on the floor at crunch time.

8. In slo-mo frame by frame, I replayed the last pass in by Ron to Mal. We actually got a little lucky. Ron was under duress and the pass was not very good and the ball bounced off Mal's left hand and out of bounds. If Mal had not touched the ball at all, then the ball would have gone over to the Rams with 0.5 remaining on the clock.

9. This has already been addressed, but I thought I would put a nail in it. Cle definitely did not charge. The color guy (I can never remember his name) thought it was a bad call.

10. The Shockers could have won by 10 or more. Woulda, coulda, shouda.

Excellent breakdown Senor Rio. 3)Thanks for the 2nd VanVleet stint, I absolutely missed that. 7)No doubt Coach has confidence in Demetric when the money goes all in...and nothing DWill did last night would change that. He was nails when it counted. 9) The color guy was Len Elmore, older brother of Shocker great Bob Elmore. I have visited with Mr. Elmore a couple of times and he is a fan of WSU, and one of the best color guys in the business, imh and very biased opinion.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I went out on a limb and concluded I would never get that 4:43 wasted time of my life back, so I didn't partake. However, it does surprise me a bit that you would use a crutch like a video to try and make a point. The keyboard assassin is out of strokes!!! Tell me it isn't so in 3 - 2 - 1...blastoff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Considering you are all alone in the hole you continue to dig, I searched my intellect for clues as to why you are lagging so far behind. I thought to myself.. just maybe it's a learning issue. You see, some people are more visual and auditory in their learning so I offered you a music video as an olive branch to help get you caught up with the class. Since you didn't even listen to the video, I suspect it might be a maturity issue we are dealing with and that a little more hole digging and subsequent crow eating could help you grow up and build some character.

Dig on brother! Dig on...


T


...:cool:

[shocka khan]

Thought the Shox played a great game, really surprised me.

Pleasant to see Cleanthony starting to get some confidence, he was the difference in the game down the stretch. Also think that Ron Baker will be a memorable player and I also think Wessel is a great hustler.

A lot of sharp players, and a great coach, I can only wee up for the rest of the season.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Excellent breakdown Senor Rio. 3)Thanks for the 2nd VanVleet stint, I absolutely missed that. 7)No doubt Coach has confidence in Demetric when the money goes all in...and nothing DWill did last night would change that. He was nails when it counted. 9) The color guy was Len Elmore, older brother of Shocker great Bob Elmore. I have visited with Mr. Elmore a couple of times and he is a fan of WSU, and one of the best color guys in the business, imh and very biased opinion.

I should have added a note about Fred's third appearance. Fred was on the floor for the last 0.5 second.

[shockmonster]

I think that it's funny that some fans on VT are comparing this teams defense to UNI's slow sagging half court man defense. I watched last night and don't see it.

[SHOXAAC]

Considering you are all alone in the hole you continue to dig, I searched my intellect for clues as to why you are lagging so far behind. I thought to myself.. just maybe it's a learning issue. You see, some people are more visual and auditory in their learning so I offered you a music video as an olive branch to help get you caught up with the class. Since you didn't even listen to the video, I suspect it might be a maturity issue we are dealing with and that a little more hole digging and subsequent crow eating could help you grow up and build some character.

Dig on brother! Dig on...


T


...:cool:

Thanks Mr. Holland (Opus). I will note you are a high level music expert, which explains your lack of "sharp" logic when it comes to basketball observations, which has "minor" significance on this fan board. Your melt-down crescendo in 3 - 2 - 1...fortissimo!!!

[another shocker]

I've got a feeling in my bones- it's getting ready to rain- 3-pointers from Wichita State.

[ISASO]

My 8 year-old just has this to say:

Boo Hoo VCU!

Woo Hoo WSU!

:)

[wusphlash]

Are we going with the "Road Warrior" theme again this year?

[Ricardo del Rio]

The answer to question #1 is as follows:

Carl Hall
Cle Early
Malcomb Armstead
Ron Baker
Demetric Williams

The answer to question #2 is as follows:

I am not sure except I absolutely know that Fred was on the floor for the last 0.5 second.

[Rixtoy1]

Good article and quotes from Shaka - I smell respect from him . . .

Notes and quotes from VCU’s loss to Wichita State
Tim Pearrell
Nov 14, 2012

VCU hadn’t lost at home in November since 2002.
After two games, the Rams are having major difficulties at the free-throw line. They are 20 of 38.
Treveon Graham was in and out and limited to 21 minutes because of foul trouble. He was 1 of 7 from the floor and finished with four fouls.

Graham and Rob Brandenberg were a combined 1 of 14. Briante Weber, Teddy Okereafor, Jarred Guest and Melvin Johnson were a combined 0 for 7. That’s 1 for 21 from six players.
Only Juvonte Reddic (8 of 11) and D.J. Haley (1 of 1) shot better than 50 percent.
VCU coach Shaka Smart
“Give Wichita State a lot of credit. They came in here and battled and hung in there throughout the game, did a good job dealing with the crowd and our press and the way we play. Coach (Gregg) Marshall and his team, they were ready to go. They certainly were not scared.
“As for us, it’s a disappointing game for me as a coach and for our players because we weren’t on edge. We weren’t at our best in terms of the intangibles of the game that make us good. It’s a valuable lesson to learn, but it’s a tough lesson to learn anytime you lose a game that way.
“Being so early in the year, I’m far from glad that we lost, but it’s definitely a lesson that if we can heed the lesson, we’ll get better.”
On whether the Rams were thrown off because their pressure wasn’t creating turnovers:
“Yeah. That’s part of our style, trying to turn people over and create baskets with that. This is the third time we’ve played them in three years, and every year they’ve done a nice job against the press. First of all, they have very good ballhandlers and passers. Secondly, they play a lot of them at one time. Thirdly, we were half a half-step slow in some of our traps and some of our rotations. What really hurt us at the end of the game is what we call ‘fixing it’ out of the press. That didn’t occur a couple of times. They got some layups and an and-one. That’s something we’ll work on.”
On Troy Daniels’ ankle injury (he landed on Weber’s foot)
“I can’t tell you anything yet because I haven’t talked to the trainer. I don’t want to give you the wrong information, but I would guess that he’ll miss a little bit of practice. Troy’s a tough kid. I’d guess he’ll be back playing relatively soon. I don’t know if that means Saturday or next week.”

“The reality is there are things we could have done tonight better. You pick ‘em: free throw shooting; fixing it out of the press; better traps; better finishing around the basket. Any of that stuff would have contributed to a better result.
“Again, give Wichita State a lot of credit. They had a lot to do with it as well.”

On Reddic

“I didn’t think he played so well, actually. He didn’t play bad and certainly he made some shots and he made some plays. Without his points, we certainly struggle to get the in 50s. Overall, Ju, just like most of our other guys, was not on edge. He needs to be more alert and aggressive. A lot of times he is.

“I don’t really judge his game on numbers. Certainly I’ll take 22 and 10. There were a lot of other plays he and his teammates could have made better. But I put that on myself. We need to do a better job having our guys breathing fire when the come out.”
On asking the officials whether there was goaltending on Reddic’s last shot:
“They said it’s not reviewable. Let me choose my words carefully. Games like this don’t come down to one play. I give our guys a lot of credit because the guys executed the play we drew up perfectly, other than if Juvonte would have made the layup. That would have been perfect.
“Tre made a good pass. Juvonte caught it right where we wanted him to catch it. He ripped it and he drove it. He got a layup, which when you’ve got to go the length of the floor with 3.8 seconds, you feel pretty good about that.
“Was it goaltending? I’ll have to look back at the tape.”
On potentially continuing the series with Wichita State
“It’s not something that we’ve thought about. They’ve got a great program. The thing that impresses me most about them is every year he has those guys competing and battling, whether it’s at home or on the road. They’re a very good road team every year. Seemingly every year he’s got to replace really, really good players. The standouts on each of those teams that we’ve played the last three years have all been dramatically different. Give them a lot of credit. They earned this one tonight. I think they’re a team that’s going to get better and better over the course of the year. It sure would be nice to have this one as a win, but they got it done.”

[Ixiah]

FYI - for any that are not aware - you can watch the game again on ESPN3.

[Aargh]

“Give Wichita State a lot of credit. They came in here and battled and hung in there throughout the game...

I didn't check any details, but it seems like VCU led for maybe 4 or 5 minutes of the entire game. I think it was VCU that "hung in there".

The Shox withstood every move the Rams made in the first half and responded well after the 9-0 gut punch to start the second half. After VCU went on that run, the Shox methodically took the lead back and held it until about the 6-minute mark. I was feeling pretty comfortable about that time. I figured VCU would have another run, but there was enough time for the Shox to stop that and start one of their own, which is how the game played out.

While the game played out exactly as I expected from about the 10 minute mark of the second half, I certainly wasn't feeling "comfortable" during the last 3 minutes of that game.

[lemuel777]

One thing I noticed that helped the team against VCU's defense that I don't think has been mentioned is the overall physical strength of the players, thanks to Rosenboom. It just seemed more evident to me than our past teams. This helped in not getting the ball stripped going to the basket. And helped just grabbing the ball away when on defense.