Baylor Vs WSU

[ShockerFever]

Hopefully we are practicing free throws.

College Basketball has been a great sport to watch. I hope the new "emphasis" doesn't ruin it by slowing the game down and turning offense in to what Drake's offense was a few years ago. I hated the "draw a foul" offense. It's pretty much what SMS ran last year against us at STL.

Agreed. It's such garbage.

There's fouls that need to be called and then there's the trash where players beg for fouls and referees give it to them.

The refs better not be trying to steal the show.

[DPruett2333]

From Jeff *******:

"Best player in Wichita State-Baylor matchup was Cleanthony Early. Shockers got the best of the Bears -- who were w/o Freeman and Gathers."

[tropicalshox]

The refs will tone it down after a game or two because fans will me on them so bad.

[wufan]

Baylor has a couple of top 100 freshman wing forwards to go along with two bigs that averaged 13 and 8 a piece last year. If we "got the best of the Bears" and our bigs beat their bigs, then we might just beat the win record that we set last year!

Not at all surprised that Early was the best player there.

[xazshox]

New NCAA Rules

We were in AZ last week, so I taped ESPN's Evening Madness or whatever they called it & perused through it yesterday. It's 4 hours long & I got tired of them going back to Kentucky so much, so I fast forwarded thru a great deal of it. One thing I did glean from it were comments from the TV crew including Jay Bilas who commented on the new NCAA rules regarding hand checking, body bumps forearms, etc. What they said was that particularly caught my attention was that the NBA passed the same kind of rules 10 yrs ago. Prior to that, hardly any NBA teams scored more than 100 pts in a game & you can see what has happened since then! There are few games where both teams don't score more than a 100 pts. So, to those of you who say people will start putting a lot of pressure on the referees to quit calling so many fouls, that isn't what happened in the NBA. In the games at the Big Dance last spring, there were quite a few comments from various TV announcers about how the college game had devolved into too much contact & rough play, so that should have given us a clue that the NCAA was going to do something about it. I can remember at least 5 flagrant fouls called in various games I saw & most of that was due to forearms to the head.

[kochHead]

NCAA rules meeting:

"How did this Wichita State team beat the Zags and Buckeyes to make it to the Final Four?"

"They play tough hard nosed defense and held these teams well under their average."

"Ok, Let's do away with that."

[shockmonster]

While our team is physical, our coaches do a great job of teaching defense correctly by trying to keep hands off, moving our legs and making body contact instead. using the body to knock opponents off of their path may require an adjustment. But I think that we will be able to implement the new rules fairly well.

[Play Angry]

We are so much longer and quicker than the other teams in the MVC. This rule change rewards athleticism and speed- it frees the eagles of their shackles and lets them fly. Players like Cle and our incoming recruits will absolutely kill it under this new style. The haves will be elevated and the have nots will suffer.

And as @shockmonster stated, our studs on D are great because they have excellent footwork and anticipation. Not because they clutch, hold and cheat at every turn like Evansville.

[WheatShocker2]

@ShockRef:, when you and your compadres are officiating, do you ever just stop and think: damn, this game has zero flow and really isn't enjoyable for anyone involved? Been to multiple scrimmages this year, and, so far, I feel bad for folks who will have to pay to watch college basketball this season. Just curious to hear it from your perspective.

That is all.

[AndShock]

I'm looking forward to foul calls against the visiting team being booed by the Koch Arena faithful once everyone gets tired of the nonstop whistles - both ways. Those type of things always crack me up.

[shockerfan]

How many fouls did the infamous WSU vs Bradley game in Wichita have several years ago? I think it was 55-60. Sounds like that may be the average this year......how fun...... "NO MORE WHISTLES....NO MORE WHISTLES....." Lol

[COS Shocker]

The college game needs to be cleaned up and if it takes a season (I doubt it will take a whole season) of ugly basketball, I can tolerate it for the long term benefit. I for one hope officials stick to the new emphasis and we see the game we all love get better flow on a long term basis and let the players better display their skills. If I want to see a football game or wrestling match, I can go watch that, that's not what I want to see when I go to a Shocker game or any other college basketball game.

I have confidence the Shockers will do as well as anyone and that our coaches and players will make the necessary adjustments and longer term if it means you need to recruit different players they will do that as well.

[xazshox]

New Rules

As I said earlier, the new rules were adopted by the NBA around 10 years ago & they seemed to have been able to make the transition okay. The same should apply to the college game. It's all about defensive players their feet & keeping between the offensive players & the basket. I went to a WSU scrimmage about 3 weeks before regular practices & saw them running a drill that was all about moving their feet. I didn't realize it at the time because I hadn't heard about the new rules yet, but the WSU coaching staff obviously had & were anticipating the need for the team to work on moving their feet.

I coached Soccer in the Tempe Soccer Club for 7 years many years ago. Soccer defense depends exactly on the same thing: Defensive players moving their feet & I spent a great deal of time coaching that concept. Players can't hold in soccer either. Soccer also uses screens & defensive players have to learn to switch the person they are guarding. I personally like the new rules for basketball & expect it to improve the flow of the game. WSU has fast players with quick feet. They are also very strong physically, so I expect them to continue to box out & rebound very well, too.

[shoxtop]

Yes, the NBA adopted similar rules several years ago and subsequently added the "D"-League where they allow "D" to be played!

Seriously though, I hate watching the NBA. I do not enjoy watching the "flow" of one on one basketball. Yes, the playoffs are better than the regular season but that is because the game is not called as tight in the playoffs. I would much rather watch teams work and run plays to find open shots than a superstar come down and make something happen on his own every possession.

Personally I don't think the current changes will make a huge difference other than a few ticky tacky fouls here and there. I just don't like the trend. Let the boys play!

[jocoshock]

Jeff ******* @GoodmanESPN 17h
Best player in Wichita State-Baylor matchup was Cleanthony Early. Shockers got the best of the Bears -- who were w/o Freeman and Gathers.