No one goes undefeated

[capnkirk]

The bad part about valley play is that almost any game WSU loses will be considered a bad loss on their tourney resume...

[Capitol Shock II]

This team has a legitimate chance to do what has been more rare than winning a National Championship. That is one hell of a motivator my fellow fans.

[ShockerFever]

Going undefeated in college basketball is next to impossible, no matter the opponents or conference affiliation. I don't even believe the greatest program of all time, Kansas, would go unbeaten through the Valley slate, see TCU 2013.

I'll say 2-4 losses, hopefully on the lower end of this scale. We'll have a couple of bad nights; our opponents will mostly get up to playing us. The right combo will create a couple of L's. An L, notably on the road, to an Indiana State or Missouri State wouldn't damage the resume too severely. Anything else would probably drop us a seed line in the NCAA's.

[DwShock]

http://youtu.be/bXysRO11Xi8

This is what some of us sound like.

[Aargh]

I'm going to be the idiot on this subject. Shox are going to be favored in every Valley game. I believe this Shox team is better able to maintain some consistency than previous teams (with great talent) who lost some games that were real head scratchers.

To make this post worse, I'm going to rag on a couple of players from last year. In the games WSU lost in league play, some of the in-game comments went in the direction of "Why are Williams and Armstead playing like they are Fr instead of Sr's".

WSU lost some games last year that were BBIQ based. Fans repeatedly posted, "Where is this teams BBIQ?". The answer was "It's on the bench with Baker and Wessel".

FVV and Baker have BBIQ that appears to be off the charts. They have skills and abilities to execute what they see from that BBIQ. The entire team seems to have an attitude of "You cannot win". Early's only real consistency has been when the game was on the line. Carter is looking to prove something. Lufile is fighting for PT. Wessel and Wiggins are looking to get their stroke back to get more PT.

Then there's VanVleet and Baker and their competitive and winning attitude.

I don't see this group of Shox having 3 or 4 players taking a night off. I don't see Early lolly-gagging and waiting for someone else to come through at crunch time. I see Carter striving to join that group as one of the "we win them all" group.

The Shox aren't just a talented basketball team. They've got some great BBIQ (they also have some bad BBIQ that I won't attach to a specific player - you can see it). The Shox are "winners".

I'm actually expecting the Shox to be undefeated going into St. Louis. I realize that's a lofty expectation. I won't be disappointed if I'm wrong. Things happen, but this team has the talent, brains, makeup, and attitude to hit the NCAA's without a loss.

That would be a true test of a team handling pressure. You only think they have a target on their backs now. If they hit the NCAA's as an undefeated 2 or 3 seed, the pressure would be insane.

[AndShock]

We were 16-2 a few years ago and triple OT loss away from being 17-1. The Valley is certainly weaker now but the quality of our team is open to debate since you could make the argument that the 2011-12 team was better than the Final Four team. The optimist in me has been voting undefeated in all of the Shocker Wins predictions polls, but even looking at it realistically, 2 losses seemed like a solid bet going into the season. There's no good reason for us to lose any Valley games, but it can still certainly happen. I will say that I hope if we do lose in Valley play, it comes to a Top 3 team. I might lose it if we lose to Loyola.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I have a tough time making a prediction. The Sweet 16 team went 14-4 in the best year in the MVC since the early 1970s.

This team is better than that team and the MVC is a whole lot weaker. So . . .

Bad luck
Injury
Shallow bench
Worry

[wsushox1]

Going undefeated in college basketball is next to impossible, no matter the opponents or conference affiliation. I don't even believe the greatest program of all time, Kansas, would go unbeaten through the Valley slate, see TCU 2013.

I'll say 2-4 losses, hopefully on the lower end of this scale. We'll have a couple of bad nights; our opponents will mostly get up to playing us. The right combo will create a couple of L's. An L, notably on the road, to an Indiana State or Missouri State wouldn't damage the resume too severely. Anything else would probably drop us a seed line in the NCAA's.

If we lose 4 valley games we will probably be a 6 seed at best. Come on now. You are the one who is always telling people to not be afraid of success.

Anything more than 2 losses in Valley play will be a large disappointment - assuming everyone stays healthy.

[ShockerFever]

If we lose 4 valley games we will probably be a 6 seed at best. Come on now. You are the one who is always telling people to not be afraid of success.

Anything more than 2 losses in Valley play will be a large disappointment - assuming everyone stays healthy.

I'm not afraid of success. I just understand the grind of the season and the fact that every team will be Super Bowling it up against us. Again, like I said, I hope it's on the lower end of the 2-4 scale and am halfway expecting it that way.

Is it that unreasonable to see the team stub their toes at an Indiana State, Missouri State, and Northern Iowa, and then have one of those "Evansville type" games? I certainly hope it won't be that bad but it wouldn't surprise me given the unpredictability of college basketball... especially on the road.

[Aargh]

I think Baker, VanVleet, Cotton, Early, and Wessel couldn't give a fat one if their opponent has a target on the Shox' backs.

Early seems to have his best games whenever they're needed. Early seems to be better against better teams than against lesser teams. He also seems to be better when it's needed to win the game.

Baker and VanVleet seem to have an attitude that they will NEVER be beat. They also seem to have the tools and BBIQ to back that up.

Some of the Shox unexplained losses in the last several years have included a lack of BBIQ and the appearance that everyone on the team was waiting for someone else to step it up. I see less of a possibility for that to cost the Shox a game this year.

[ShockerPhi]

I'm a guy who also sees going undefeated slightly possible. I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but if it does, think of the consequences. If we are 31-0 going into St. Louis, the pressure will be so huge, and our luck is so bad, I'd see us not winning that tournament. If we do win the tournament, I think the pressure in the NCAA tournament would be massive. I mean, I like the idea of going undefeated... but I REALLY wanna go to Dallas.

[Shockerbasketball21]

I'm sorry, Indiana State is good but there is no way on gods green earth anyone in the valley would sweep the shox. Or in the country

[1979Shocker]

I'm a guy who also sees going undefeated slightly possible. I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but if it does, think of the consequences. If we are 31-0 going into St. Louis, the pressure will be so huge, and our luck is so bad, I'd see us not winning that tournament. If we do win the tournament, I think the pressure in the NCAA tournament would be massive. I mean, I like the idea of going undefeated... but I REALLY wanna go to Dallas.

The only pressure will be the pressure perceived by the fans. The players will just take the next game as another game on their schedule.

[Ixiah]

I'm a guy who also sees going undefeated slightly possible. I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but if it does, think of the consequences. If we are 31-0 going into St. Louis, the pressure will be so huge, and our luck is so bad, I'd see us not winning that tournament. If we do win the tournament, I think the pressure in the NCAA tournament would be massive. I mean, I like the idea of going undefeated... but I REALLY wanna go to Dallas.

If WSU gets to the end of the regular season undefeated ... the single season NCAA record for wins in a season is 38 ... that record would have a realistic chance of being tied or broken. LOT of games between now and the MVC tourney though and RPI forecast gives WSU only a 7% of getting to the end of the Valley schedule undefeated.

[another shocker]

Going undefeated in college basketball is next to impossible, no matter the opponents or conference affiliation. I don't even believe the greatest program of all time, Kansas, would go unbeaten through the Valley slate, see TCU 2013.

I'll say 2-4 losses, hopefully on the lower end of this scale. We'll have a couple of bad nights; our opponents will mostly get up to playing us. The right combo will create a couple of L's. An L, notably on the road, to an Indiana State or Missouri State wouldn't damage the resume too severely. Anything else would probably drop us a seed line in the NCAA's.

kansas doesn't win 9 straight mvc titles. that doesn't fly in the valley.

i'm thinking 16-2.. hopefully