CBS Top 25

[moshock]

Every year since Durley's last season - people have said we have lost too much from the previous season. WSU doesn't have anyone to replace Durley - Stutz - Ragland - and now Armstead and Hall. When you have a deep bench and build a system like 3G does - there won't been a drop off - the Shox have been better every season and I'm expecting the same improvement this year.

On the new MSU board - they are hinting that InSt should win the league and they will be the 2nd place team this year because they are returning all but 1 player from last years squad. I guess that's one way to keep their hopes alive.

I'm glad I'm a Shocker fan !!!

[Capitol Shock II]

Glad to see CBS has their BS Machine in high gear already.

[Kung Wu]

Last I checked. You cant shoot a bullet more than once. But you can put another bullet in the chamber, perhaps an even better bullet. And you have the added benefit of adjusting your aim on your next shot.

Armstead and Carl Hall are among the bullets fired. We were pretty close to hitting what we were aiming at. Time to put some better bullets in the chamber and adjust our aim and zero in a little bit more to the target.

These guys are just looking at our trusty old rifle that may not look as pretty. But what they dont know, is that GM knows every little variable and how it shoots. He is slowly adjusting his sights and his rifle feels like a (insert crude noun here) in his hand, and he brandishes it like Michaelangelo's paint brush.

Happy hunting Shockers!

Heck the rifle's even looking pretty these days! They just don't like our practice range.

[im4wsu]

New guys? What new guys? You mean Carter and Coleby?

How about the "old" guys. Early, Baker, Cotton, VanVleet. That's 4 key returners from the F4 team. If you look at just those 4, we're replacing 1 - that's ONE, 1, uno player from an on-court combination that had very good results in the run to the F4.

There are a few more "old" guys. Wessel will be back in action. Wiggins showed that he could be a point-a-minute player. Can't really call Coleby an "old" guy", but he's certainly not a "new guy that has to be worked into the lineup".

That's 7 players that are - more or less - returning from a F4 team. Carter is the only new guy that has to be worked into the rotation. The Shox don't need to rely on Green, Holland, or Morris to contribute in the main rotation. It would be good if Lufile's game improved in the pattern we've seen from JuCo's between their Jr and Sr years.

In my analysis, there is exactly 1 new player that needs to worked into the main rotation. Any of the other players who might contribute in the main rotation - that's just gravy. And I loves my gravy.

In the NCAA tournament games, those four Early-VanVleet-Baker-Cotton played 18 minutes together. With that unit on the floor, WSU scored 35 points and the opponents scored 36 points, for a Net of -1. That translates to a -2.19 in 40 minutes. These four individually played 538 tournament minutes of the 800 available to four player, 67.25% of the available time. That's 26.9 mpg.

The only other combination of returners to see action was Lufile-VanVleet-Baker-Cotton for 44 seconds of action with zero points scored.

Individually, the NCAA stats of returning players are as follows:

Name Minutes Net +/- +/- per 40
Lufile 19 2 4.2
Early 142 58 16.3
Wiggins 10 -2 -8.0
VanVleet 98 -6 -2.4
Baker 161 42 10.4
Cotton 137 22 6.4

These individuals accounted for 567 minutes of the 1000 available. That's an average of 22.68 per player per game.

In raw stats, out returning six accounted for more than 54.5% of production except in three categories -- blocks 40% and Fouls 48% and turnovers 39.3%, the latter two are good to be lower.

FGM	59.3%
FGA	55.9%
FGM	77.1%
FGA	68.0%
FTM	59.1%
FTA	56.5%
OFF	54.4%
DEF	55.8%
TOT	55.3%
PF	48.0%
PTS	61.0%
AST	52.5%
TO	39.3%
BLK	40.0%
STL	57.1%
MIN	58.0%

[Kung Wu]

On the new MSU board - they are hinting that InSt should win the league and they will be the 2nd place team this year because they are returning all but 1 player from last years squad.

BAHAHAAHAHAHAHA. OHHOHHHHHoooooo aaahHAHAHAHAHA ... Ah ahahahahaha ... ooh ho hoh ohoho .... uuuuh ... uh ... oh man, gotta catch my breath ... ha ha ha ... BBBBAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[jdmee]

Last I checked. You can't shoot a bullet more than once. But you can put another bullet in the chamber, perhaps an even better bullet. And you have the added benefit of adjusting your aim on your next shot.

Unless you are shooting a Nurf gun (Creighton) and Nurf bullets (Gibbs). But then you might hit the target quite often but never do any damage.

[Shox21]

Marshall has said we want to pattern our program after Gonzaga. How long did it take the Zags to consistently get into preseason polls? Rome wasn't built -- yada, yada, yada. Have patience. Marshall will get us there but it won't happen overnight. We have to prove that we are not a one-hit wonder and since we are not in a power conference it will take more convincing than if we were.

[shockrah]

Here's the actual pre-season CBS top 25:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings/top25

Shocks at #23.

Looks to me they have us at 24. Are we dropping??

[Shoxfan11]

Looks to me they have us at 24. Are we dropping??

More importantly, what's our RPI looking like right now?

[Kung Wu]

lol

[Cdizzle]

More importantly, what's our RPI looking like right now?

It went up. But Lunardi dropped us to the Next Next Next Next 4 out.

[_kai_]

[shocksrbest]

Based upon what we accomplished last season, our style of play and the players coming back; we should be I everyone's top 25. We ended the season ranked 4th.

The problem with not being ranked is the same problem we have always faced in the past--one slip and it takes half the season to get into the top 25 and gain some notoriety.

On the other hand, it gives us another reason to Play Angrier...

[RoyalShock]

I'm getting a different vibe from this. Of the writers who didn't even include us in their top 25+1, I don't think they are saying the losses of Hall/Armstead/Orupke are more significant than similar losses on other teams. What I do think they are saying is that WSU was not Final Four caliber last year. That yes, WSU made it, but it was just one of those things where a Sweet 16-caliber team got hot and won a couple more games than they thought we would. So in their minds, if a Sweet 16 team loses two starters and their main interior defender, they probably aren't going to get ranked pre-season without a stellar recruiting class.

[Heinro]

Count me in the group that mostly says "meh".

What DOES irritate me is when a team like WSU is punished by saying "Well you lost Hall and Armstrong and obviously you aren't replacing them" when a team like, for instance, OSU is seemingly ignored when they lose Deshaun Thomas and Evan Ravenel as if losing the Big10 leading scorer doesn't hurt. Simply because you aren't a power 6, you're losses count more and your gains count less. I guess that's just the way it is.

All I have to say is play us here.

It's not just the Power 6. VCU for instance lost Theus, their point guard they had since the Final 4, and Troy Daniels, their only proven shooter.