2024-25 Expectations for Shocker Basketball – “Put Up or Shut Up Season Kickoff Ed."

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Any season with less than 20 wins is a major disappointment.

Having a bunch of brand new seniors also guarantees nothing.

It's hard to have high expectations, for me at least, when you have a group of unproven players playing together.

Every team and fan base thinks all of their new toys make them better than last season. Many of those teams will not be. Being better than last year isn't hard as we were bad last year. But expecting 10 more wins from this unit seems awfully ambitious and some seem to believe we're going to get that, and maybe more.

This team will have a shot at 20. But they could just as easily struggle to get 15. Especially if the Croatian never gets clearance. I'm obviously not as high on DeGray as some, but the thought of him being the primary backup at center doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy in my tum tum.

And a lot will come down to if this team can actually shoot from the outside. I won't believe anybody is really that good until they prove it as we've been duped many times before. And we need a few of those guys to pan out.

If you can't have high expectations now, then when can you? Almost every D1 team has a group of unproven players playing together. This is the new reality, and WSU actually retained its players at a more effective rate compared to its peers.

I think 25 wins is a stretch but I don't think 20-22 wins is an unreasonable ask. If this year's team can't win 15 games then I have a hard time imagining HCPM at the helm beyond the 25-26 season.

On Bosnjak, you can't recruit a guy with murky eligibility as your only good backup option at center and then turn around and blame the NCAA if they deny the waiver.

On shooting woes, HCPM recruited everyone on the team save Ballard and Bell. No free pass this season for poor shooting.

[WuShock Reaper]

Here is my game-by-game projection for this season:

#	Most Likely Win	Likely Win	Toss Up	Likely Loss	Most Likely Loss
1	Montana State (Home)	Saint Louis (Neutral)	none	WKU (Away)	Florida/Wake Forest (Neutral)
2	Northern Iowa (Home)	Minnesota (Neutral)		Charlotte (Away)	Memphis (Away)
3	Monmouth (Home)	DePaul (Away)		South Florida (Away)
4	Alcorn State (Home)	Kansas State (Home)		Florida Atlantic (Away)
5	East Tennessee State (Home)	Temple (Away)		North Texas (Away)
6	Kansas City (Home)	UTSA (Away)
7	Friends (Home)	Tulsa (Away)
8	South Florida (Home)	Memphis (Home)
9	Charlotte (Home)	UAB (Home)
10	East Carolina (Home)	Rice (Away)
11	North Texas (Home)
12	UTSA (Home)
13	Tulane (Home)
14	Tulsa (Home)

Overall: 24 -7
Conference: 13-5
AAC Tournament: 2-1
Post Season: Somewhere

[shock]

I said medium due to the uncertainty around the 5.

[BostonWu]

Especially if the Croatian never gets clearance. I'm obviously not as high on DeGray as some, but the thought of him being the primary backup at center doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy in my tum tum.

I'm concerned this is similar to last year's void in PGs where we were told, "no big deal, this is positionless ball."

[Stickboy46]

Especially when you're looking at replacing at least nine players next season.

Yea, if we end up with ~17 wins and lose 9 seniors, we are likely looking at a new coach in 2026

[Ashockalypse]

Here is my game-by-game projection for this season:

#	Most Likely Win	Likely Win	Toss Up	Likely Loss	Most Likely Loss
1	Montana State (Home)	Saint Louis (Neutral)	none	WKU (Away)	Florida/Wake Forest (Neutral)
2	Northern Iowa (Home)	Minnesota (Neutral)		Charlotte (Away)	Memphis (Away)
3	Monmouth (Home)	DePaul (Away)		South Florida (Away)
4	Alcorn State (Home)	Kansas State (Home)		Florida Atlantic (Away)
5	East Tennessee State (Home)	Temple (Away)		North Texas (Away)
6	Kansas City (Home)	UTSA (Away)
7	Friends (Home)	Tulsa (Away)
8	South Florida (Home)	Memphis (Home)
9	Charlotte (Home)	UAB (Home)
10	East Carolina (Home)	Rice (Away)
11	North Texas (Home)
12	UTSA (Home)
13	Tulane (Home)
14	Tulsa (Home)

Overall: 24 -7
Conference: 13-5
AAC Tournament: 2-1
Post Season: Somewhere

Major Pipedream!

[Shockm]

If you can't have high expectations now, then when can you? Almost every D1 team has a group of unproven players playing together. This is the new reality, and WSU actually retained its players at a more effective rate compared to its peers.

I think 25 wins is a stretch but I don't think 20-22 wins is an unreasonable ask. If this year's team can't win 15 games then I have a hard time imagining HCPM at the helm beyond the 25-26 season.

On Bosnjak, you can't recruit a guy with murky eligibility as your only good backup option at center and then turn around and blame the NCAA if they deny the waiver.

Why was Bosnjak’s eligibility murky?

Because he made money as a Croatian pro off of his NIL?

Or because his academic grades as a Croatian pro weren’t very good?

Or because he didn’t graduate from a Croatian High School? Their high schools are likely better than in the U.S., they go through the 13th grade.

[Stickboy46]

Why was Bosnjak’s eligibility murky?

Because he made money as a Croatian pro off of his NIL?

Or because his academic grades as a Croatian pro weren’t very good?

Or because he didn’t graduate from a Croatian High School? Their high schools are likely better than in the U.S., they go through the 13th grade.

Because he wasn't immediately eligible and signed with Wichita State.

[WuShock Reaper]

Major Pipedream!

Do you think Gameday will come to Wichita this year?
August 13, 2014, 02:49 PM

Any chance ESPN College Game Day coming to Wichita this season?

https://shockernet.net/forum/wichita-state-athletics/wichita-state-men-s-basketball/19140-do-you-think-gameday-will-come-to-wichita-this-year

When you aspire to Greatness, you get Greatness-Michelangelo

Most of know what happened six+ months later...

[BostonWu]

Yea, if we end up with ~17 wins and lose 9 seniors, we are likely looking at a new coach in 2026

I don't see it. They would need to be sub .500 to move that quick again.

Update: I just saw it said 2026. Obviously that depends what happens the following season then.

[Stickboy46]

I don't see it. They would need to be sub .500 to move that quick again.

Update: I just saw it said 2026. Obviously that depends what happens the following season then.

Yea, my thought process is that if we can't show dramatic improvement this year with a senior heavy team, then having to replace 9 people will likely result in similar or worse results in 2025-2026. At that point most all of the termination payments are done or close to done. End of that year would be the deciding point.

This year is a make or break year for Mills IMO.

[MadDog]

I won’t guess an end of season record, but I will be shocked if we are not conserably better than last year. I did see the exhibition in person and here are my thoughts:

1. Last year, the guys that are our returners this year, started the year poorly, almost to a man. As the season went on they all got much better, and if I recall we were competitive in every game down the stretch. To me it looks like everyone of those guys has improved over the summer. So we should come out very fast just due to the returners.
2. last year we struggled to find a point guard most of the season. As we all remember Bijan was not good the first 2/3 of the year. But in that exhibition game he looked really good. And Justin Hill looks good too. And Zion looks a little raw but very capable.
3. It’s been a long time since we had a team that dominated anyone no matter how bad like these guys dominated Emporia. Granted Emporia is not good, but we could have won that game by 75 points if we were so inclined.
4. My biggest concerns are how we replace Colby’s outside shooting and depth at 4/5. BTW, Ronnie Degray is going to be huge for us, as is Washington.

I would be disappointed with a less than 3rd place finish in the conference.

[asiseeit]

HB and QB lead us to 22 W's and the NIT

[Onegreatracer]

I don’t think any less than 25 wins gets us in the NIT anymore

[WuShock16]

I don’t think any less than 25 wins gets us in the NIT anymore

Our 3 conferences mates in last year’s NIT had 18, 20, and 24 wins last year.

For A-10, it was 21, 22, 23, and 23.

So 20+ gets us into that conversation.