Reflection

[WUSHOCKBPELI]

Not going to write a novel. Going to state some opinions of observations/Opinions

- Love the message I got that HCGM sent to CJ. Didn't play in the 2nd half until 1:38 to go when the entire starters were out. He absolutely sucked in the first half. It is rare you see frustration out of anyone, But when Ron Baker is upset you know something is wrong. CJ cut the wrong way and was almost a turnover, Baker looked at him and said you have to step it up. Can't rebound. Shot was off. And Kadeem played extremely well considering what he looked like Thursday.

- NICK WIGGINS is this teams X-FACTOR. Said it at the beginning of the year and he continues to solidify my point. When Koch needs a reason to explode and really start making noise he makes a big play. Coming off the bench, he has added the spark we need/

-Fred has shot well, passing not so much. Second game in a row he has been close to 5 turnovers. Tries to force the ball in the paint extremely early instead of working it around.

- Cotton. Enough Said.

- Talked to Eric Hamilton after the game. Was wearing the new Nike Ron Baker jersey. We ended the conversation with "Next year I want that to be my number your wearing" Crossing fingers.

4-0. Battle tested. Shockers Up:smiley_simmons:

[jocoshock]

Nick is going to have to br a XX factor with the way these games are being called...

[WUSHOCKBPELI]

Completely agree. Thursday was the worst officiating I have ever seen.

[newshock1234]

Your wrong about Fred, in his last 2 games he has 14 assists and 4 turnovers. Ill take that anyday and everyday from my starting PG.

[pogo]

A friend of mine who does not impress easily told me he really likes the way Nick Wiggins moves around the court. He said the guy doesn't run he just glides he is so smooth. Had to agree.

[wufan]

I believe Moma Wiggins is an olympic medalist in the 100 meter. Nick is an extremely gifted athlete, and I'm ready for him to be unleashed!

[WuDrWu]

A friend of mine who does not impress easily told me he really likes the way Nick Wiggins moves around the court. He said the guy doesn't run he just glides he is so smooth. Had to agree.

Nick is smooth, but his motor still needs adjusting. He takes moments of possessions off....still, it's a world of improvement from last season, and he is mega-talented. He's getting it, and he's commanding his minutes.

I've been a little critical of the guys so far....mostly using my expectations of where I think (thought) this team should be now. I'll admit my expectations were a little out of line. Those here that tire of my ramblings probably know there are a couple of stats I believe almost always point to successful teams.

The first, and one that Gregg Marshall teams rarely achieve, is making more free throws than your opponent shoots. In general, it means you're playing a superior defense, you're guarding without fouling, you're team is ahead late (a good sign you're winning) AND you're making a good % of your FTs. So far, WSU is 78-111 and their opponents are 40-69. Check. However, I believe even that is a little deceiving....we want to have better production from our bigs and I think we will, and if so, that number is likely to improve. Also, we're shooting just a tick over 70% and I expect that will improve as well. On the downside, our opponents will certainly improve from the current 58%. Stiil, I like it.

Second, assists to turnovers. You want your PG to be 2/1 A/TO. Well, FVV is 3.8/1. That works. BUT it gets better. Our top 3 ball handlers, FVV, Ron and Tekele are a combined 52/13 or 4 to 1 assists to turnover ratio, more than 2 times better than last season and while I realize it's a small sample size against inferior competition, it's still indicative of taking care of the ball, sharing the ball, and having multiple players capable of doing so. Good stuff. But again, while I don't expect the ratios to improve, I do expect our bigs to improve, and that will keep the assists high.

Steals to turnovers. 45-50% is barely acceptable. 60% is outstanding. Last year, Ohio State, who I believe was excellent defensively, attacking the basketball while taking care of it on the other end, was 64%. Last season is as good as we've been under 3G, and that was .587. I've often said we play great defensive by defending the goal, but we don't attack the other team's offense enough. This team is going to attack. I love that...don't give the other guy a chance to breathe.



Oh, by the way, our steal to turnover ratio right now is 92.3%.

[RussDaBus]

Nick is smooth, but his motor still needs adjusting. He takes moments of possessions off....still, it's a world of improvement from last season, and he is mega-talented. He's getting it, and he's commanding his minutes.

I've been a little critical of the guys so far....mostly using my expectations of where I think (thought) this team should be now. I'll admit my expectations were a little out of line. Those here that tire of my ramblings probably know there are a couple of stats I believe almost always point to successful teams.

The first, and one that Gregg Marshall teams rarely achieve, is making more free throws than your opponent shoots. In general, it means you're playing a superior defense, you're guarding without fouling, you're team is ahead late (a good sign you're winning) AND you're making a good % of your FTs. So far, WSU is 78-111 and their opponents are 40-69. Check. However, I believe even that is a little deceiving....we want to have better production from our bigs and I think we will, and if so, that number is likely to improve. Also, we're shooting just a tick over 70% and I expect that will improve as well. On the downside, our opponents will certainly improve from the current 58%. Stiil, I like it.

Second, assists to turnovers. You want your PG to be 2/1 A/TO. Well, FVV is 3.8/1. That works. BUT it gets better. Our top 3 ball handlers, FVV, Ron and Tekele are a combined 52/13 or 4 to 1 assists to turnover ratio, more than 2 times better than last season and while I realize it's a small sample size against inferior competition, it's still indicative of taking care of the ball, sharing the ball, and having multiple players capable of doing so. Good stuff. But again, while I don't expect the ratios to improve, I do expect our bigs to improve, and that will keep the assists high.

Steals to turnovers. 45-50% is barely acceptable. 60% is outstanding. Last year, Ohio State, who I believe was excellent defensively, attacking the basketball while taking care of it on the other end, was 64%. Last season is as good as we've been under 3G, and that was .587. I've often said we play great defensive by defending the goal, but we don't attack the other team's offense enough. This team is going to attack. I love that...don't give the other guy a chance to breathe.



Oh, by the way, our steal to turnover ratio right now is 92.3%.

Wow those are some impressive stats. Especially the last one!

[CBB_Fan]

Nick is smooth, but his motor still needs adjusting. He takes moments of possessions off....still, it's a world of improvement from last season, and he is mega-talented. He's getting it, and he's commanding his minutes.

While it is true that he still sometimes takes possessions off, his effort on defense is night and day from last year. Whereas last year he would score a point a minute and let his man do the same, this year I am noticing that he is forcing turnovers and challenging opponents with his length. He's still (and will never be) not up to Tekele's caliber, but he is at least a positive on defense. IMHO, he is in the perfect situation to succeed as a player.

If he were a starter (and on many teams he would be), his inability to keep up his effort for 30-40 minutes would definitely tend to bring out his weaknesses on defense. But as a sparkplug off the bench, he can come out and give a much fuller effort on both ends. His role on this team is vital and I'll glad to see that one member of team Canada gets what it is all about. I'd still like to see him get more minutes, but our guard rotation is probably too stacked to cut anyone's minutes much.

[ShockTalk]

While it is true that he still sometimes takes possessions off, his effort on defense is night and day from last year. Whereas last year he would score a point a minute and let his man do the same, this year I am noticing that he is forcing turnovers and challenging opponents with his length. He's still (and will never be) not up to Tekele's caliber, but he is at least a positive on defense. IMHO, he is in the perfect situation to succeed as a player.

If he were a starter (and on many teams he would be), his inability to keep up his effort for 30-40 minutes would definitely tend to bring out his weaknesses on defense. But as a sparkplug off the bench, he can come out and give a much fuller effort on both ends. His role on this team is vital and I'll glad to see that one member of team Canada gets what it is all about. I'd still like to see him get more minutes, but our guard rotation is probably too stacked to cut anyone's minutes much.

I admit that I don't know if this applies to other Shocker players yesterday, but I noticed that Wiggins drew 2 fouls on the offense end.....without the ball. TN St was having a hard time shadowing him.

[im4wsu]

Not going to write a novel. Going to state some opinions of observations/Opinions

- Love the message I got that HCGM sent to CJ. Didn't play in the 2nd half until 1:38 to go when the entire starters were out. He absolutely sucked in the first half. It is rare you see frustration out of anyone, But when Ron Baker is upset you know something is wrong. CJ cut the wrong way and was almost a turnover, Baker looked at him and said you have to step it up. Can't rebound. Shot was off. And Kadeem played extremely well considering what he looked like Thursday.

- NICK WIGGINS is this teams X-FACTOR. Said it at the beginning of the year and he continues to solidify my point. When Koch needs a reason to explode and really start making noise he makes a big play. Coming off the bench, he has added the spark we need/

-Fred has shot well, passing not so much. Second game in a row he has been close to 5 turnovers. Tries to force the ball in the paint extremely early instead of working it around.

- Cotton. Enough Said.

- Talked to Eric Hamilton after the game. Was wearing the new Nike Ron Baker jersey. We ended the conversation with "Next year I want that to be my number your wearing" Crossing fingers.

4-0. Battle tested. Shockers Up:smiley_simmons:

By "close" to five turnovers, you must be considering a pass deflected out of bounds or a pass that the reveiver has to reach out to snare as a "near turnover." Fred has had 6 turnovers for the entire season.

[ShockerPhi]

I can agree that Fred looked like he might have been in a little slump the last game. And to say that performance was a slump is a good thing. He still put out a good effort. Just couldn't quite get those tricky lay-ins to fall and a few passes weren't quite on the mark. But other than that, still looked DAMN good for a sophomore leader. Fred is gonna be an MVP for us. This year.

[WUSHOCKBPELI]

Completely agree and thank you for noticing what I noticed !

[moshock]

I think Nick is greatly improved. However......I noticed a couple of times last week that he was busy admiring his shot and holding up both hands while the other team was inbounding the ball - in other words "Showboating". I would have loved to attended the team film session and heard 3G blurt out a WTH was that.

Like I said - there is improvement but until Nick plays hard every second that he is on the court - I would imagine that he will be admiring other players shots more than his own.

[RoyalShock]

I think Nick is greatly improved. However......I noticed a couple of times last week that he was busy admiring his shot and holding up both hands while the other team was inbounding the ball - in other words "Showboating". I would have loved to attended the team film session and heard 3G blurt out a WTH was that.

Like I said - there is improvement but until Nick plays hard every second that he is on the court - I would imagine that he will be admiring other players shots more than his own.

When did "follow your shot" cease to be a part of fundamental basketball?

Admiring one's shot has been a trend in college basketball for at least the last 15 years. And that's not a good thing.