Wichita State (8-1) at DePaul (7-2) Game Discussion: Dec 14 (Sat)

[ShockerFever]

And ShockerFever, " This will always be the case. Bell is literally a JUCO player and only performs JUCO abilities… like constantly bullrushing into the lane and getting rejected or garbage is thrown up.'

Bell played at Drexel and Beverly spent 4 years with the Miami Hurricane. Neither played any JUCO ball.

We've also had a number very good to great JUCOs do very, very well, so your remarks are kind of a slam on them.

Play "like Juco"??? You can blame that on the coaches.

Sorry, my reference is to the type of play being performed. Bell probably should’ve went JUCO out of high school cuz clearly D1 wasn’t cut out for him. He wasn’t making a splash at a CAA school and somehow landed here. The way he plays a game is the exact way you’d see a player do at Butler Co or Hutch. We’ve gotten fine players from the JUCO ranks and I’m not knocking that. I’m knocking the fact that we have a JUCO caliber player, performing JUCO basketball plays over and over while an alleged higher end D1 coach is watching or approving. And yes, it is Mills’ fault for constantly relying on that, condoning it, or running it in practice (whatever practice is).

[ShockTalk]

Sorry, my reference is to the type of play being performed. Bell probably should’ve went JUCO out of high school cuz clearly D1 wasn’t cut out for him. He wasn’t making a splash at a CAA school and somehow landed here. The way he plays a game is the exact way you’d see a player do at Butler Co or Hutch. We’ve gotten fine players from the JUCO ranks and I’m not knocking that. I’m knocking the fact that we have a JUCO caliber player, performing JUCO basketball plays over and over while an alleged higher end D1 coach is watching or approving. And yes, it is Mills’ fault for constantly relying on that, condoning it, or running it in practice (whatever practice is).

1. As to his D1 Play: Played two seasons at Drexel University in Philadelphia and helped the Dragons to a 2021 NCAA tournament appearance… Was the team’s second-leading scorer in 2021-22, averaging 11.0 points in 26.1 minutes while starting 25 of the 28 games… Shot over 49% from the field… Career 37.5% three-point shooter, knocked down 20-of-47 attempts (.426) against conference foes in 2022… Posted 20 double-figure scoring games as a Dragon, highlighted by a career-high 30-point performance against Hofstra on Jan. 17, 2022 in which he made 13-of-17 field goal attempts… Was voted the program’s “Most Improve Player” as a true freshman in 2020-21, after sparking the Dragons to the CAA tournament title as a No. 6 seed… Averaged four points for the season but put up 8.1-per-game over the final seven contests after joining the starting lineup… Capped his rookie year with three-straight double-figure outings, including 11 points-each in the CAA semifinal and championship games, and 12 in the team’s NCAA tournament opener against Illinois…. Named to the 2021 CAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll.

2. As to "somehow landed here": Hometown is Wichita, played at Andover Central, and Former Kansas Mr. Basketball.

[Atxshoxfan]

Bells ability to get in the paint and draw a crowd is good. His ability to find a big under the basket after drawing a crowd, or a cutter to the hole, or a wide open shooter for a 3 ball, is very very poor. You can count on him going up for a shot in that scenario 95% of the time, whether contested or not.

[AZ Shocker]

He could make the team a whole lot better if he would do just that. Bullrush...get 2 or 3 guys on him and dish for an easy hoop. He just refuses to adapt. Or simply just can't. Frustrating...

[ShockerFever]

1. As to his D1 Play: Played two seasons at Drexel University in Philadelphia and helped the Dragons to a 2021 NCAA tournament appearance… Was the team’s second-leading scorer in 2021-22, averaging 11.0 points in 26.1 minutes while starting 25 of the 28 games… Shot over 49% from the field… Career 37.5% three-point shooter, knocked down 20-of-47 attempts (.426) against conference foes in 2022… Posted 20 double-figure scoring games as a Dragon, highlighted by a career-high 30-point performance against Hofstra on Jan. 17, 2022 in which he made 13-of-17 field goal attempts… Was voted the program’s “Most Improve Player” as a true freshman in 2020-21, after sparking the Dragons to the CAA tournament title as a No. 6 seed… Averaged four points for the season but put up 8.1-per-game over the final seven contests after joining the starting lineup… Capped his rookie year with three-straight double-figure outings, including 11 points-each in the CAA semifinal and championship games, and 12 in the team’s NCAA tournament opener against Illinois…. Named to the 2021 CAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll.

2. As to "somehow landed here": Hometown is Wichita, played at Andover Central, and Former Kansas Mr. Basketball.

The CAA is closer to JUCO than it is to P4. Those are fantastic numbers at Drexel but what are his career stats at Wichita State?

I know he’s a Wichita kid, thanks. Shouldn’t have any influence on recruitment.

He would be a much better fit if he had better BBIQ, knew his role, and had a coach that actually coached basketball.

[ShockTalk]

The CAA is closer to JUCO than it is to P4. Those are fantastic numbers at Drexel but what are his career stats at Wichita State?

I know he’s a Wichita kid, thanks. Shouldn’t have any influence on recruitment.

He would be a much better fit if he had better BBIQ, knew his role, and had a coach that actually coached basketball.

There are 31 NCAA conferences. From the Power 5 perception, we too are a lot closer to JUCO.

In our recent history we've had some really good JUCOs help our standing within the NCAA rankings.

Currently, the CAA is #15 (.472 rating) and the American is #11 (.510 rating), spread of .038. The rating of the #5 rated conference, ACC, is .552 or a spread of .042 from the American. They're all D1, it's just all perception from where you stand. By the way, MVC is currently #12 only .001 away from the American.

Also, most any coach will recruit/take on a hometown player if it helps the team. In this case, Bell is seeing starter minutes last year (#2) and this year (#5).

As you pointed out, it isn't Bell's "fault" he plays the minutes he does.

[Kung Wu]

Had my own game to work yesterday, so watched the taped version.
Pretty obvious the WSU game plan was to stop Skogman in the paint.
Ok, they accomplished that, but forgot about the other 4 players on the floor.
Give Holtman credit, he saw it right away and adjusted his offense - and it worked!
BIG Time!

I don't know how many times the Gunn kid had to bomb away and nothing was adjusted to address it. It was like they made up their mind about Skogman and that was it.
The interior depth thing came back to haunt them yesterday (MB was a total mismatch disaster inside against them).

This lack of interior depth has the potential to take this season and go off the rails during conference play.

Ok, ok, they will beat up UMKC and our Friends at Friends, but after that...KState?
Don't think so.

Then the meat grinder of conference play kicks in.
HCPM better get some good news about certain players health and soon!

That is all.

T-rex arms has to figure out how to play longer and more vertical than he is.

[SubGod22]

I won’t lie. I would have rather gambled on him than Mills. I was never excited about him. Didn’t really fit the nitty gritty identity whatsoever, whereas the Sampsons live and breathe that. I also wanted (and still would want) Griffin, given how outstanding he did before he was ousted by politicking

I had both above Mills on my list. But I don't make enough money to have any kind of sway when it comes to hiring at WSU.

[pinstripers]

I had both above Mills on my list. But I don't make enough money to have any kind of sway when it comes to hiring at WSU.

NFW Mills is a good interview

[shox7]

Apparently K-State didn’t think so a year before we hired him, cause they hired Tang and left Mills to us, even though rumor has it they interviewed Mills.