Official -- Wichita State @ Missouri State predictions thread

[HarpBros]

Sometimes they make thoese games available nationally even. I know @Anothroshock has gotten to watch COX games in Vegas at times.

[1972Shocker]

Hall vs Thurman?

Cotton vs downing?

What are the matchups in this game. I know very little about the bears this year.

EO vs Marshall?

I don't know much about MSU either and I have not watched them play this year. However, this is what I come up with from looking at their stats and roster:

The have started 8 different guys in their 7 Valley games and these 8 players account for about 93% of their minutes and scoring and about 87% of their rebounding.

Two players, Anthony Downing and Christian Kirk, have started all 7 Valley games. Marcus Marshall has started 6 of the 7 games and Drew Willson and Dorian Williams have started 5 of the 5 games. Keith Pickens and Gavin Thurman have 2 starts and Nathan Scheer has 1 start. Not sure what will dictate who starts for MSU. Could be who has had the best practices leading into the game, but more likely it will depend on matchups. The following reflects their overall season stats. I would have preferred to use conference-only stats but they were not available on the MSU website that I could see. I assume their conference-only stats are significantly better than their overall stats based on their very poor play against their non-con schedule.

Anthony Downing is a 6-1, 190 SR Guard averaging 14.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG. He is only shooting 41.2% from the field (28.0% on 23-82 treys) but he is an 82% FT shooter and has the ability to go off. He leads the Bears with 51 assists and has turned it over 34 times. Downing plays by far the most minutes for the Bears at 34.2 MPG.

Marcus Marshall is a 6-3, 181 Fr Guard averaging 9.9 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 27.9 MPG. He is shooting 39.6% from the field (33.3% on 23-69 treys) and hits 76.3% of his free throws. Dowing (83) and Marshall (59) account for 44% of the Bears FT attempts.

Christian Kirk is a 6-7, 225 So Forward averaging 8.4 PPG and 4.1 RPG in 24.3 MPG. He shoots 48.6% from the field and has not attempted a 3-pointer this year. He is only 19-42 (45.2%) from the line.

Drew Wilson is a 6-7, 217 RFr Forward averaging 3.7 PPG and 4.1 RPG in 14.1 MPG. He must not venture far from the basket as he is 31-45 (68.9%) from the field and also has not attempted a 3-pointer this year. He is 5-28 (17.9%) from the line so it is unlikely you will see him in the game at crunch time.

Dorian Williams is a 6-2, 190 RFr Guard averaging 4.2 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 23.8 MPG. He shoots 30% from the field (24.3% on 9-37 treys) and is a 65.4% FT shooter.

Any of the following 3 players might start and are probably as good as or better than the "starters" they would replace. So far Coach Lusk seems to prefer bringing them off the bench, but he may want to start a little bigger against the Shocks. We will see.

Keith Pickens is a 6-4, 203 Jr Guard averaging 5.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG in 22.4 MPG. He shoots 43.8% from the field (40.0% on 2-5 treys) and is shooting 58.1% from the line. Doesn't look to be a big perimeter threat, but is one of the better rebounders on the team.

Gavin Thurman is 6-6, 223 Fr Forward out of Wichita averaging 7.1 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 21.2 MPG. He is shooting 35.1% from the field (35.4% on 17-48 treys). He is shooting 62.5% from the line.

Nathan Scheer is a 6-5, 205 Jr Guard/Forward averaging 5.0 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 20.2 MPG. He is shooting 38.6% from the field (35.8% on 19-53 treys) and is a 70.6% FT shooter.

They have a few other players who may or may not see action.

Bruce Marshall a 6-10, 215 Fr Center has played 9.3 MPG and has played in 18 of 19 games. We might see more of him just because of his length although at 215 he wouldn't appear to have the bulk to bank with EO, Carl, Jake, et.al.

Michael Simpson a 6-5, 199 Fr Forward and Tomie Aromona a 5-10, 165 So Guard might see some action, Simpson likes to shoot the 3-ball but is only 5-29 (17.2%) but 75% of his shot attempts are treys. I doubt that we will see very much, if any, of these two.

Clearly Kirk (6-7, 225), Wilson (6-7, 217), Thurman (6-6, 223) and Bruce Marshall (6-10, 215) don't match up physically very well against a big, strong and athletic EO (7-0, 250), Carl (6-8, 238), Jake (6-8, 232) and CJ (6-9. 250). Not to mention how MSU will match up with Cleanthony (6-8, 215).

Neither should our group of guards, Malcolm, D-Will, Tekele, Fred and Nick have too much difficulty matching up with Downing, Marcus Marshall, Williams, Pickens, and Scheer.

In fact, on paper it looks like a mismatch. Unfortunately, the games aren't played on paper so we will see how it goes.

I would guess EO and Carl will rotate at the 5 with CJ maybe getting a few minutes if fouls become an issue.

Cleanthony and Jake will rotate at the 4. Maybe if 3G wants to go big he will play Jake at the 4 and Cle at the 3, but I am not sure Cle is ready for that yet.

The 5 guards will assume their usual roles.

If the Shocks defend, attack the boards and take care of the ball like they did Saturday against Creighton they should be in good shape. Although that is a lot to ask for. Hopefully, we will shoot the ball better from both the field and the line then we did against Creighton. Not sure we can do any worse.

Hopefully, the Shocks don't take this game for granted.


:wsu_posters:

[wsushox1]

What if nobody else is even making a competitive offer? It may not be a case of Cox offers more. It could be that nobody else is offering anything competitive. And then WSU can argue that KS22 reaches more households than just going on CH12. CH12 I believe limits it to mostly the metro area whereas KS22 is available throughout the entire state. And I believe that's what WSU has talked about in the past. I believe KS22 games are even available in OK and AR, or at least were in the past. I'm not going to say KS22 is the best avenue, but if any of the local stations aren't making a competitive offer of any kind, I can't fault WSU for staying with Cox

Always on 12.2 is available within all of KWCH's viewing area, Which I believe is all the way west to Colorado, East to Emporia/Elk Chataqua counties.. It's a KWCH owned channel and I don't know how they wouldn't make money off of it. It would take production costs, that's it.

[ABC]

Always on 12.2 is available within all of KWCH's viewing area, Which I believe is all the way west to Colorado, East to Emporia/Elk Chataqua counties.. It's a KWCH owned channel and I don't know how they wouldn't make money off of it. It would take production costs, that's it.

Taking northeast Kansas out of the viewing area is a huge, huge minus. Cox it is until that is changed, in my view.

[Aargh]

In "mercy" mode:

Shox by 10+

In "Gavin, you idiot" mode:

Shox by 30+

Actually I don't know if Marshall wanted Gavin that badly. I know that's the standard cop out for a lost recruit, but Gavin ain't done crap for a team where a Fr could be a star - 'cause there ain't much in front of him.

[shockmonster]

If Gavin was a Shocker, he would be getting a real education and learning a lot.

[Kung Wu]

Let down game after winning our superbowl.

Shox lose by 15.

Shox - 51
Bears - 66









Right @LuskingforGuttin:?

[1979Shocker]

Let down game after winning our superbowl.

Shox lose by 15.

Shox - 51
Bears - 66

You better watch it. You might have to do some penitence with the Reaper.

[shoxlax]

Downing is a very good player. I would take him in our guard rotation but not sure who I would bump. The fact he probably wasn't recruited by us too heavily means he will want to go off on his fellow Kansans ala idiot Weems.

Shut him down and we win. That simple. Let him go nuts and the rest of the team will feed off of him.

[Kung Wu]

You better watch it. You might have to do some penitence with the Reaper.

Hopefully the last sentence makes the sarcasm clear.

I have the Shox winning by 10.

[ShockerPrez]

The only reason any MSU game was close recently is because Weems pulled 27 ft treys out of his ass against us.

Last I checked, that douchebag's act ran out of eligibility. Good riddance.

Shox need to start putting together games where we dismantle teams. This could be a good start.

[wusphlash]

Hopefully the last sentence makes the sarcasm clear.

I have the Shox winning by 10.

Whew! For a moment I thought you had moved to Kansas City.

[Dave Stalwart]

The only reason any MSU game was close recently is because Weems pulled 27 ft treys out of his ass against us.

Last I checked, that douchebag's act ran out of eligibility. Good riddance.

Shox need to start putting together games where we dismantle teams. This could be a good start.

Oh believe me, we will. Since Hall came back we have handled ill st all game long aside from a minor let down for a few possessions at the end, and then we proceeded to beat a fantastic creighton team.

We got so used to squeaking by while we were filling his void that it created some nerves, but I think with Hall back we turned into a solid team again.

WSU - 75
SW D2 Mo ST CC - 55

[DwShock]

Wichita State 75

Bass pro U 58

Be ready for the "not a state" chant from the average 30 something toothless student section.

[Dave Stalwart]

The thing is, I'm still not really convinced that Missouri is a real state.