The best thing about the Creighton win: We can only get better

[CBB_Fan]

I haven't posted because I was at both the men's and women's game without internet access. Anyway, I came away from the game with the following thought:

"We can play better than this. We will play better than this"

And we I truly believe that. We didn't really play our best game on offense by a long shot, and getting Baker back will be big. We still haven't figured out the Early, Hall, Orukpe dynamic. Our shooting from the perimeter and free-throw line wasn't the greatest, and obviously Hall is still bothered by injury (see his last minute free-throws). Sometimes we gave up wide open shots or dunks.

All of that is a positive, because we won despite it all. I think the best thing is that we can be pretty competent that our team will be better in March, and that team has already been good enough to beat the best shooting team in the country (Creighton) and the best pressure defense in the country (VCU).

[another shocker]

we and i truly belive it too. 'tough shot losing those guys the last month and a half, nearly, but what can you do? play on..

[forevershockerfan]

I could really dig on the return of Baker the Maker too. Today, he would have been a very nice addition on both sides of the court. The sooner he returns, the better we will be over and beyond what we aleady are seeing.

[ISASO]

Clearly, the Shox have the highest upside in the conference, yet we sit in 1st place today. Can't complain about that.

[Aargh]

17-2, 6-1. RPI - 15. 3-0 against RPI 1-50.

I'm going to give CU some credit for their D, but the Shox still had a bad game on O that probably went past what the Jays were doing on D.
I think the Shox have more available improvement between now and St. Louis than any other team in the league. Hall hasn't shot a FT for the last 5 weeks and it probably hurts like hades to shoot one now.

[1979Shocker]

17-2, 6-1. RPI - 15. 3-0 against RPI 1-50.

I'm going to give CU some credit for their D, but the Shox still had a bad game on O that probably went past what the Jays were doing on D.
I think the Shox have more available improvement between now and St. Louis than any other team in the league. Hall hasn't shot a FT for the last 5 weeks and it probably hurts like hades to shoot one now.

Actually, Hall was 2-2 from the line in the Illinois State game, his only 2 points for that game.

[Ixiah]

Something to add - Creighton may well have fatigue issues because they are playing only 7 guys. Last year Creighton did this and struggled in Feb. going 5-3 and was a bit fortunate to do that.

Feb 2 vs ISU(r) 102 - 74
Feb 4 @ UNI 65 - 62
Feb 7 @ Evansville 65 - 57
Feb 11 vs Wichita State 89 -68
Feb 14 @ SIU 88 - 69
Feb 18 vs Long Beech State 81 - 79
Feb 21 vs Evansville 93 - 92 (OT)
Feb 25 @ Indiana State 61 -60

This year Creighton has road games in Feb against the best of the rest in the valley - ISU(b), Evansville, Bradley, and UNI.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I could really dig on the return of Baker the Maker too. Today, he would have been a very nice addition on both sides of the court. The sooner he returns, the better we will be over and beyond what we aleady are seeing.

36.5% and 32.0%

Nevertheless we need him.

[forevershockerfan]

36.5% and 32.0%

Nevertheless we need him.

Agreed RDR. Once the bright lights are on things can be much different. This past summer as I observed several scrimmages, Baker and Nick were unbelievably good on outside shooting. Thus in time, I believe these trends could evolve more so to real games as they stroke the rock as they did in these scrimmages. Baker had a nice shooting/scoring game early on and Wiggins has had some sweet offensive outings. Baker definitly plays the D. and we all know he can shoot the ball. Can't wait to see him back too and I hope we give him a very warm welcome back ovation as we did Mr. Hall.

Explain this. This last summer, I did not see Early have one scrimmage that would come close to several of the fine outings he has produced. Better in real games is cool and I have been delighted with his performances. Players at WSU develop into better players on both sides of the hardwood under the Marshall Plan. Last Season, Mr. Stutz double his points and rebounds from the Season before and Hall could end up the same way this Season. Mr. Wessel improved his shooting and was a starter. I could go on but the improvements and development of our players is obvious.

[Trueshock]

I could really dig on the return of Baker the Maker too. Today, he would have been a very nice addition on both sides of the court. The sooner he returns, the better we will be over and beyond what we aleady are seeing.

When the last injured player for the Shockers returns, Shocks will be Shaki'n on the inside and Baki'n with Baker on the outside!

[WSUwatcher]

36.5% and 32.0%

Nevertheless we need him.

Don't be led astray by Baker's percentages, Ricky. The overall FG percentage is skewed by the extremely high proportion of threes he takes -- 50 out of his 63 FG attempts so far, or five a game vs. 13 two pointers all year. His 32% on threes isn't awesome, certainly, but it isn't awful either -- the equivalent of 48% on twos --and he's actually 7-13 for the year on two-point shots, which is 53.8%. He can shoot -- and when he isn't shooting, he has 18 assists to 12 TOs, and can guard better than your average freshman.

[WUSHOCKBPELI]

I called Ron after the game yesterday. Two weeks. Really bummed he missed the CU home game but said he will be hungrier than ever come his return. Can't wait.

[KC Shox]

We can still get better, but so can everyone else - so doesn't that make the situation a wash?

[GoShockers89]

We can still get better, but so can everyone else - so doesn't that make the situation a wash?

Your logic sucks.

A team is as good as the sum of its parts. Thoeretically, say we are currently at 9 players at 100%, 1 at 80% (Carl Hall), and 1 at 0% (Ron Baker). Evan Wessel is done for the year and excluded from the equation.

We therefore stand to gain a significant amount from CH returning to 100% and RB returning at whatever he comes back at. I know we have guys like Jake, Tekele and CJ battling through various problems, but that is more of typical of every team and not worth parsing for simplicity's sake.

Compare that to teams missing 0 starters, where each major contributor is more or less at 100% (not coming off surgery or currently out). Just "wanting" to get better applies to every team, but having reason to believe you'll get better is completely different. Our injury situation puts us in the latter category.

[another shocker]

We can still get better, but so can everyone else - so doesn't that make the situation a wash?

no, it doesn't. no team in the valley can match an eighth/ninth man like wiggins. he's gonna blow up here real soon, i believe. his confidence hasn't faltered (even though he should have dunked that drive against creighton). van vleet has the luxury of playing behind armstead.. he can only blow up, too. shockers become a machine in FEBRUARY (two weeks from now).