Shockers vs Oklahoma Baptist game thread

[jocoshock]

Overall I was very impressed with the team, but I feel like we may be sorely missing our loveable 7-footer come MVC play. I'm not sure Kadeem proved to me tonight that he was going to be as aggressive as Carl on the glass. I know that DC and Kadeem will eventually "play angrier", but I was scared of what I saw down low.

Anyone feel the same?

12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks in 19 minutes of play. If he does that against D1 competition, he will be more than an acceptable replacement for Carl/EO. Add in Darius Carter to the mix, we are in good shape. And that doesn't take CJ and/or possibly Shaq into the mix. I think we will be in very good shape if Kadeem posts those kinds of numbers going forward.

As a group, they do need to work hard on rebounding and making the close-in shots as stated earlier, but I have no doubt that the coaching staff will get that corrected.

[jocoshock]

The new rules didn't really effect us at all. The Valley is going to be in for a beating.

Hope you are right, but I will hold judgement on that until we play Western Kentucky, Tulsa, Alabama, Tennessee, Depaul and Texas/BYU. Want to see how we react to them and they to us.. And let's not forget the beloved Valley officials...

[jocoshock]

Oh and I really like the new gold unis.

Would rather have the Black and Greys, but I am not from the Eddie Fogler era and Gold is what they remind me of. The Eddie Fogler era that took away "We're Going to Beat the Hell out of YOU", the black paint on the floor and a whole bunch of our Shocker Mojo. Took a long time to get that back. Black to me says Miller, Smithson, Marshall. Gold says Fogler and Turgeon. I give my props to Fogler and Turgeon, but my undying
love to the other three...

edit: oh yeah, black has been my favorite color since early childhood, due in no small part to the BLACK and gold colors of Wichita State.

[shocksrbest]

I don't wanna watch 60 free throw snooze fests every game. I think most don't either. Don't ruin a good thing, NCAA. Let them effing play.

I'm thinking of how this rule could favor elite teams--especially in the NCAA tournament. We've already been victimized by the Kemba Walker's, Russ Smith's and Peyton Siva's. This rule seems to reward the teams that feature the players that drive to the hoop and penalizes the teams that are more team oriented. Recruit your 4-5 star slasher and let him score 25 points a game from the line.

Teams will have to be deep--which we are--but throw in an injury or two and most teams will be in trouble. I wonder if this will prompt coach to play more zone based upon how a game is being called. Will definitely be an interesting year.

[Shox21]

Free throw shooting ----- guys, PLEASE practice. With the number of fouls that are going to be called this year, a game could be won or lost at the stripe. Maybe my memory is not too long, but I really don't remember a recent game where we missed so many FTs. Fred was great. Hope Nick keeps it up; he has such a smooth lift to the basket. Was trying to remember if he even attempted a three last night. Oh well, everything gets better with actual game play. Pretty much liked what I saw, but we did miss quite a few right by the basket.

[wsushox1]

There will be more zone.

[pogo]

A couple of more things this morning. The gold/yellow unis must have been a whole lot better this year because I wasn't immediately beset with a gag reflex. By the end I wasn't even aware of the uniforms. After seeing a picture in the sports this am I even thought...."Hey not bad". The hook by DC to start his scoring was AWESOME. TC still has great basketball skills. FVV is way better than last year. He looks so much smoother at the point than even during the run last year. We do have to shoot better from the free throw line. It will be interesting to see if the Shocks can play as well defensively against more athletic teams because they moved very well last night. As HCGM said last night it will be next to impossible to get a charging foul called unless something changes. After reading the sports in the Eagle this am I think we have a whole lot to look forward to this year. Even Bob Lutz predicted a sweet 16 for the Shocks. I'm thinking thats worth at least an Elite 8.

[ShockBand]

Someone earlier posted about FVV as "colonel". I would say either General Van Vleet or Admiral Van Vleet.

[wufan]

Someone earlier posted about FVV as "colonel". I would say either General Van Vleet or Admiral Van Vleet.

Admiral VanVleet has a nice ring to it.

[1979Shocker]

General or Admiral would be something we would give to Coach Marshall. VanVleet would be some rank under that. Colonel would be good.

[smm]

If Ron being shaky is 4 assists, 1 turnover and 4 steals....I will take it. I agree you can tell he isn't a natural point guard. Be he did ok in my book. Fred is the man though, the whole offense just runs better with him in. Ron is a suitable backup for now though

I agree and that is what I was really trying to say. You said it better. So excited about our backcourt and the cool thing is these guys are going to be together for 1 more year after this (Tekele) and two more years after this (Ron / Evan). I absolutely love what Evan Wessel brings to this team, athletic, tough, willing to do the things that the team needs to do to win, and oh yeah he can shoot it a little bit too!!

A true back up point guard is coming in the near future.

[Shockeriffic]

Overall I was very impressed with the team, but I feel like we may be sorely missing our loveable 7-footer come MVC play. I'm not sure Kadeem proved to me tonight that he was going to be as aggressive as Carl on the glass. I know that DC and Kadeem will eventually "play angrier", but I was scared of what I saw down low.

Anyone feel the same?

I won't be worried about rebounding until Marshall retires. Coach got Durley to rebound. We'll be fine.

[smm]

12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks in 19 minutes of play. If he does that against D1 competition, he will be more than an acceptable replacement for Carl/EO. Add in Darius Carter to the mix, we are in good shape. And that doesn't take CJ and/or possibly Shaq into the mix. I think we will be in very good shape if Kadeem posts those kinds of numbers going forward.

As a group, they do need to work hard on rebounding and making the close-in shots as stated earlier, but I have no doubt that the coaching staff will get that corrected.

Our bigs are going to be fine. One thing I'm not sure of yet, who is going to be the "ball getter"? This is what Coach Marshall called Carl and what I liked the most about him. Who will snag the tough 50-50 balls? We won't know this until they play more equal competition. Kadeem is an explosive athlete and Darius looks to do alot of things well. Again, just so excited for this season

[CBB_Fan]

Someone earlier posted about FVV as "colonel". I would say either General Van Vleet or Admiral Van Vleet.

Reminds me of good old James Van Fleet, commander of the US Second Army from 1950-1951 and the commander of US forces in Korea. Also head coach of the University of Florida football program from 1923-1924 (12-3-4 record). Truman called him "... the greatest general we have ever had..."

[shock]

1. It was an exhibition game.
2. It was against Oklahoma Baptist.
3. It was a double-digit lead from about 4 minutes into the game onward.
4. The game production crew didn't have their best outing which killed a lot of crowd momentum.
5. The whistles sucked. There was no flow at all to the game.

There have been worse whistled games so far out there, but wow, why do we all of a sudden have to give so much benefit to the offensive players now? What is a defender supposed to do avoid getting a foul called? Just stand in one spot and hope your opponent misses? Marshall said he overheard a ref say there pretty much was gonna be no charge calls this year and that they were all gonna be blocks. Does that sound appealing to anybody? If I was a defender in those situations, what's the point of even defending if the offensive player has so much of an advantage there, where if they put their head down, drive into you, throw an elbow, push you down, throw up a shot, and you get the fouled called on you? Seems to be counterproductive. I don't wanna watch 60 free throw snooze fests every game. I think most don't either. Don't ruin a good thing, NCAA. Let them effing play.

I think there were several chances for the crowd to get into it and several plays where we were about to unleash hell that were halted for pointless foul calls where jerseys were fingertipped.

Other that that rant, we looked pretty good. Very solid defensively against a good lower-division team. We need to shoot free throws better. We need to rebound better. We need our bigs to hit more than 20% of their inside 5 feet shots.

Intro video, when having sound, was pretty good. I like those highlight reels from our run more so than videos of the guys pumping iron in the weight room.

I was specifically thinking #5. These fouls killed a lot of watchability. NCAA ball is gonna suck this year if these whistles keep coming like this.