C0|d Thoughts

[rialaigh]

3) Gregg Marshall is worth exactly what he was worth a month ago (which is more than he is currently paid). His coaching philosophy is the same today as it was when we were 19-2. Anybody questioning HCGM at this point does nothing to help the team. HCGM has the eternal green light when it comes to Shocker hoops.

Thank you, I keep saying this, I will keep saying this, if we lose every other game this season I will continue to say this...This man is leaps and bounds better than ANY other coach that WSU could attract right now without paying 3 million plus. And even then I am not sure they could bring in a coach of HIGHER quality then HCGM

[ShockTalk]

Random thoughts on Cold Thoughts:

1) Armstead is better than he's being made out to be since last night. Last night he was on his game early, feeding the post and others. That doesn't mean he hasn't made some real head scratchers, particularly near the end of games. I think both Mal and DWill would do better if more minutes were shared with FVV. Last night Mal played 33, DWill 35 and Fred 13. 27 minutes a piece would have been better, but at least 29, 29, and 23.

2) It was not Carl Hall, but what he represented. With EO, teams were not afraid of him offensively. They are of Carl. On D, they have decided to make him a point of emphasis. That change altered what we were doing on offense. Bull crap on him hampering Early's growth. Early was always the first off the bench, replacing EO, and they both did fine together. Early's problem is between the ears, particularly, getting in foul trouble. Frankly, I don't know why these two don't work off one another more.

3) I have repeated, and still say, that I want HCGM to be here for a long time. That said, the buck stops with him. If the players aren't adjusting to continuing situations, either he and the staff have not told them, taught them, and/or the wrong players are on the floor. I am totally mystified that we are not handling things on the floor better by this time of the season. This is the time when the team, full of new faces at the beginning, should be coming together better than ever. We shall see by the end of the season what we are getting for the big bucks. In 5+ years it's been a lot of wins, an NIT championship, one Valley championship, no Valley tournament championships, and one Dance loss for a h*ll of a lot more money than MT made.

4) I don't have much disagreement with this, except that Baker and Wessel gave us a certain "edge" and BBIQ we appear to be missing right now.

5) You are letting your man-crush blur your vision. Two games after coming back from his injury, EO averaged 27 mpg, 7 ppg, and 7 rpg for next six games. Since Hall's return, over the last 7 games it is 12 mpg, 1 ppg, and 4 rpg (his rebounds per minute is actually up). If I have missed that EO re-injured his ankle or it suddenly got worse with Hall's return, I will revise my thoughts. He is not playing more because HCGM doesn't want him playing more. I'm not taking sides on whether this is the right or wrong thing that's being done. But please, see my #3 as to EO's playing time.

6) OK. If you have a problem with all of this, just who do you think should be held responsible? If you're not sure, again see my #3 regarding where the buck stops.

[C0|dB|00ded]

So you are ok with him taking the inbounds pass and dribbling down the court and jacking up a three with no regard to the offense?

I want to see the guards get the ball into the paint at least once per possession. But there are instances where a guard is wide open. HCGM wants our players to shoot the 3 when they are wide open. It should be no mystery by now that HCGM likes the 3-balls to rain down.

I personally like to see more action in the paint than I am seeing, but HCGM has a lot more D1 coaching wins than I do, so I will defer to his judgment and keep cursing when I see bricks flying from deep.

Wow. I thought EO was all-conference while Carl was out.

Baker and Wessel would still be starting.

EO had some great performances but he was injured and still is injured. That is my point. With EO whole, I think we build upon the Iowa performance and he really becomes the Nigerian Nightmare. The way it stands now, he is not healing..

If Baker was still bricking, I don't think he bumps Cotton. And I don't think Wessel starts over the senior DWill.... unless he is shooting lights out. Wessel is a tad slow and HCGM wants our team to be fast and earn easy transition buckets. If Wessel was starting at this point of the season I would be extremely surprised.

Your kung wu is strong.

#5 is the only one that I hesitate on. I believe right now EO could go ape nuts on most opponents we throw at him. A sleeping giant if you will. I think Carl Hall's presence makes EO _worse_. I believe that for two reasons:

1) EO can "hide" a bit while the pressure is on Carl. I don't mean physically hiding, but he's not taking command of the ship when Carl is getting all the minutes. Oddly when Carl was out, EO's mindset was completely different.

2) EO is not getting the minutes he needs to get cranking any more. He's more like a soccer player that gets more and more into the game as it progresses, rather than a tag team wrestler that has to turn it on the show the minute he steps on the court.

Last night was a prime example of EO changing the entire course of the game. When we were down by 7 or 6, his presence on defense led to easy buckets for our offense that got us to back within one possession. And it happened fast and furiously. (FWIW - Cap'n Van Vleet also had that game changing presence last night)

And lastly, I never thought I'd be arguing more strongly in favor of EO than you are. We needed more of him last night.

I apologize, I didn't watch the second half of last night's game. I saw where it was going and only tuned into the radio when I couldn't stand the suspense. I tuned in once and heard MK say, "and this bucket gives SIU their largest lead of the night." After hearing that my stomach turned, I cursed the day I was born, and briefly entertained the idea of seeing how far my car could fly if I made a 90 degree exit over the guardrail at the apex of the overpass.

I didn't see EO's performance. However, I will maintain that he is playing in pain and he could be more if he was healthy. I do agree that Carl's return has certainly impacted his motivation. I'm sure he is playing with less intensity now because of his injury and because he hopes Carl can carry the load.

5) You are letting your man-crush blur your vision. Two games after coming back from his injury, EO averaged 27 mpg, 7 ppg, and 7 rpg for next six games. Since Hall's return, over the last 7 games it is 12 mpg, 1 ppg, and 4 rpg (his rebounds per minute is actually up). If I have missed that EO re-injured his ankle or it suddenly got worse with Hall's return, I will revise my thoughts. He is not playing more because HCGM doesn't want him playing more. I'm not taking sides on whether this is the right or wrong thing that's being done. But please, see my #3 as to EO's playing time.

Coach said he is really messed up. He said he can't even run correctly. EO is really risking a second injury or an injury to the other leg as he favors it.

6) OK. If you have a problem with all of this, just who do you think should be held responsible? If you're not sure, again see my #3 regarding where the buck stops.

Coach gives the players a LOT of decision making power in the game. You could compare it to how Gene lets the catchers call the pitches. The players are to decide if they shoot, pass, or drive. So far his philosophy has won us a ton of games. No doubt he tweaks things though, especially after half-time. I have witnessed us coming out of half-time and throwing it down low like crazy. Sometimes that leads to quick turnovers - which is why the guards probably are afraid to do it at times.

My comment about us not getting it into the post is not so much that the players don't know that they should be doing it, it is that they don't know how. I've seen other teams come into our building and expertly curl, curve, and lob the ball to their big men. They look extremely comfortable doing it.. almost like it is second nature. No doubt they practice it like crazy. Our guards hesitate, overthrow, bang off ankles, etc. We need some guards who are pitchers who can curve, skip, and float that ball right into the breadbasket of our big men with their eyes closed. I remember quarterback Baker making some nifty touchdown passes.


T


...:cool:

[wu_shizzle]

As far as passing to the post, I've heard the coaches rip into the guards for low passes to post players in practice. Especially passing to EO. You would think they would get tired of having their butts chewed. It happens so often you would think they were never coached how to throw an entry pass. Now explain that to me. Is it stubborness or stupidity?

[1979Shocker]

Try and rewatch the last couple of games and you will see it, guaranteed! I don't have time and date stamps for you but if you watch them you will see it. I know he did it last night and in the Uni game.

I saw him do it. I also saw him do it in another game and make the 3-ptr too.