WSU vs. Creighton Predictions and Pregame Discussions

[shox1989]

Shocks 76 Cu 75

[ShockerFever]

While Creighton may be playing better than us of late, I would not bet against Gregg Marshall and this team. 3G will have the team prepared for this game.

I know by "as of late", you're talking about this year, but WSU actually has won 3 of the last 4 over the BJ's. I don't think Coach or the team appreciated a team coming into Koch last year and giving us our only blemish.

sCUm is gonna be pumped for this too. They get to venture out of the Library and in to a big time atmosphere. Our crowd will definitely pump them up, but hopefully WSU will throw the first punch. That's when we can push em back on their heels and get the wind knocked out of em.

Lots of motivating factors for the Shocks:

-Revenge factor for home loss last year
-Chance to knock out a Top 10 team
-Pull back into first place atop the Valley
-Prove whether you're a 4th place team or not
-Make Daddy yell at Dougie again during a timeout for an ESPN moment
-It's sCUm


Turnovers MUST GO AWAY. Intelligence Quotient MUST INCREASE.

[WuDrWu]

I am the first guy to give CU their due....They are really, really good this year.

But right now, today, THIS is the flagship program in the Valley. We're champs and the team that's continued at the top of the Valley of late. The championship trophy is HERE. You want to be king of the hill...come on up, the view is nice.

The Jays are good, and they have our respect and attention. But WSU are the champs, and the title goes through Wichita and I'm not sure we have their respect (respect commanded after that ass beating we administered to them on their Super Bowl Saturday last year) and I expect our team will do something to remind the Jays of that fact Saturday. Hopefully this will be a great basketball game, one deserving of the moment.

Go Shocks!

[im4wsu]

Realtime RPI projects

01/19/13

Creighton (18)

at

Wichita St. (22)

73-76 L

[SubGod22]

The last few games have me a little leary of what could happen. We all know that CU is a damn good team. We can be a damn good team and have been at times this year. SoW has been held in check pretty well by the Shox the past couple of years I believe so I'm not too concerned about him going off. With that said....

My head says we lose a heartbreaker

Shox - 71

BJs - 75

My heart says, F you head

Shox - 76

BJs - 69

[rrshock]

This will be a nail biter all the way. I truly believe that WSU can pull this off in the end. ESPN will be talking about this game for a while. And they will be begging to get the final game of the season on their flagship network as well. The turnovers had better come to a screeching halt or my thoughts are null and void on this game.

WSU wins by 1 at the buzzer. That's how I think this will go down as an epic MVC game.

[rrshock]

The last few games have me a little leary of what could happen. We all know that CU is a damn good team. We can be a damn good team and have been at times this year. SoW has been held in check pretty well by the Shox the past couple of years I believe so I'm not too concerned about him going off. With that said....

My head says we lose a heartbreaker

Shox - 71

BJs - 75

My heart says, F you head

Shox - 76

BJs - 69

Sometimes you just have to go with your heart. It does know best in some instances. I am in the same boat as you on this one.

[rrshock]

And one other thing, who are the refs for this game? I'm assuming that the MVC has scheduled 3 of their "better refs", right?

[ShockerPrez]

I think Im just going to watch the game and see how it plays when the ball is thrown up. Not sure whats going to happen.

I could see anything happening.

[kcshocker11]

88 to 82 Da Shocks

[ccrunner101]

Just wondering the spread Vegas will predict? When these 2 teams play however, anything is possible and the 2 teams will have a slugfest. Who wants it the most but can also execute to the max? Motivations will be high for both squads and both teams will be pumped. A win would look great on our resume' and make the Valley Race very exciting. Years ago we were in a funk but had a blackout game here versus them, beat them, and made them blue-birds all the way back to Omaha. We are very difficult to beat at home-suweet-home!!! Can u dig that? Groooovy graaavy!!!

My guess Creighton -3.5

[ShockerGorilla]

I'm still waiting for the home court advantage for the foul calls....and it's not going to be there Saturday, either.

Shockers 74
BJ's 75

[CBB_Fan]

I think a couple things will be absolutely key in this game, assuming we improve enough on fouls and TOs to make keep us competitive:

Our pace on offense is first. Our eFG% drops by about 10% when we take more than 11 seconds to shoot (59.6% to 49.8%), so we tend to have better success scoring early in the possession. A lot of that comes from the stagnation of our offense, because I think sometimes our guards struggle to make smart decisions with the basketball after the opponent's defense gets set, and our shot selection tends to go down.

You might think the same trend would hold for our opponents, but the opposite is true. Our opponents are actually worse early in the shot-clock (43.5% to 43%, but the drop is more significant after rebounds and scores by us). Therefore, getting into a transition game is probably good for us.

The secondary stat I'll be watching is how well we can keep Creighton from scoring in the paint. They'll score enough from the perimeter (Creighton is perhaps the best shooting team in the country) that we cannot afford to give up points in the paint. A big part of the game will be keeping Echenique and Doug from scoring inside and forcing their outside shooters to score most of the points. If we out rebound them and force them to beat us on outside shots (without giving up second chance shots), I think our chances go up.

[Slalomshocker]

Since the UNI game the Shocker guards have been shaky. I thought getting Carl back would have brought back the post first offense, but that did not seem the case (albeit vs a 2-3 zone). If the guards turn the ball over and continue to make questionable decisions it will get ugly. WSU needs Cle and Cotton to stay out of foul trouble, and they should able to hang with CU. If the whistles are letting the men play, it should be an epic game worth watching over and over regardless of the outcome.

CU 76
Shox 71

Turnovers are 15+ and the shox go <75% at the line. As with a few others, prove me wrong Shox, prove me wrong.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Creighton is better on defense this year but they still don't play it well. Boise State proved this team is very beatable, even at home. I don't think CU will take us lightly, so they will be as pumped up as we are. WSU does a better job than anyone in the country at guarding SoW, but our defensive struggles that we've had lately need to magically disappear Saturday, along with our turnovers, to have any chance.

Absolute toss up--could go either way.