#3 Wichita State vs. Loyola Official Game Thread

[mjbaker84]

He actually ended up giving them less of a rest than he could have.

We could have stepped on their throats early and rested the starters most of the second half. Instead, FVV played 35 minutes, Early 31, etc. Baker only had 26 because he had to sit with the bone bruise. Too much rest early made it so they didn't get as much rest overall.

yeah i noticed they played more than I expected after I looked at the box score...
well there goes my theory.

[asiseeit]

Anyone know for sure the nature of RB's injury last night? I've heard bone bruise
above the knee and ankle again. Wondering which it is and the severity this morning.

[ShockTalk]

Frankly, I like Marshall putting in the scrubs often. This time, yes maybe it was a little detrimental because the game started getting a little out of hand. But I like getting the deep bench some minutes. And I like the nation underestimating us. It just might help out again in March.

Not picking on just you, but I've seen this "scrubs" description used several times before. When a team has only 10 scholarship players, scrubs is the last thing you can afford them to be. Now 13 deep plus a walk-on or 2, that's different. We need Wiggins, Wessel, and Coleby to take on regular minutes and not just "hold the fort", but be an addition on the offensive end as well. That's not the description of a scrub.

We all here are just being arm-chair coaches. Nothing wrong with that....it's a fan board. I do think that @Rlh04d: is right in his assessment that because of the rotations used last night, our starters ended up playing more minutes than needed. However, the starters also got a valuable dose of reality. When momentum changes, even against sub 200 RPI teams, it can be hard to change its direction, even with all the starters back in.

That said, I hoping to see less (or not at all) of Cotton or Baker on the floor without the other if FVV is on the bench. I'm hoping to see Wiggins and Wessel continue to get valuable and sizable minutes, just not at the same time, but with at least 3 of 4 (FVV, Baker, Cotton, Early) on the floor with them. I think all this would help continuity in the team's performance and a better learning situation (and added confidence) for the subs. However, I also agree that sometimes "messages" need to be sent.

[wsushox1]

A couple of things that I am concerned about going forward.

The style of play we are playing right now in the valley is not necessarily conducive to tournament success. What I mean is, how many times in the second half did you see a starter pass up a shot that he normally would have taken to back it out and run a late shot clock play? Too many times. I know Cle did it at least twice, which surprised me because when he is feeling it he usually puts the ball up. We can't always rely on our ability to get a good shot late in the shot clock in the tournament against better defensive teams. How many times in the Gonzaga game when we made our comeback did we run the shot clock down to 15-10 seconds? Not very many times other than the FVV 3 pointer. We took the first good open look and that was often times in transition. I want to see more of that. Don't step off the gas and rely on your superior ability against valley teams to get a good shot late in the shot-clock. If you are open, shoot it.

[pogo]

The sun came up this morning and we're 22 and friggin' 0; not sure about you, but I'm ready for...

What the hell is that March Madness banner doing in the way?

[WstateU]

What the hell is that March Madness banner doing in the way?

Hey, it's a teaser!

[Rosewood]

Hey, it's a teaser!

Teaser? I don't even know her!

[molly jabali]

I feel badly for Evan....am I right for this feeling??? He (to me) looks lost, tentative, and unwilling to shoot...I'm thinking that's why he got MORE minutes last night(seemingly) to get him untracked...

And it looked to me like Marshall was bending Nick's ear after he missed his third free throw...was I wrong?

[WSUwatcher]

Do you have any reasons why?

None that I've ever discerned. This just seems to be his personal ax to grind, even though it has no basis in reality -- and when the Shocks finally lose he'll be there to blame it on the absence of Morris and Holland. Book it.

[Shockeriffic]

There is way too much melting down going on for a game where the win probability graph was a straight line at 99-100% for the entire second half. For those wondering how that's possible for a game where Loyola was within 9 at one point, I challenge you to name the last time a 20+ point underdog came back from that with only 3 minutes left to play.

[pie n eye]

Offensively, that was about the worst half of basketball I've seen the Shockers play in a while. The defensive and rebounding effort was there all night and, while it may not earn style points, that's the base of any good team and all of Marshall's WSU teams.

It's foolish to try and extrapolate anything from one Valley game on January 28 into an NCAA tournament game.

This team has player nearly perfect all year. I'm not going to freak out about a poor second half.

[shock49]

lighten up Francis.

[1972Shocker]

This team has played nearly perfect all year.

The team's record is perfect, but I don't agree that the team has played perfect all year. Not really even close to perfect most games. But I see that as a positive. That means we have more upside. IMHO the Shocks will need to be playing better by the end of the year to be successful in the dance. Cleanthony has started to play at a high level offensively on a consistent basis recently. Let's hope that continues. However, we certainly need more consistent play out of our posts and from our bench. That is still a work in progress. Hopefully, it comes in time.

[RomeoCrennel's Belly]

Rough game and ugly but the W is all that matters. I still feel like our best basketball is ahead of us. Put a great 40 minutes together and nobody can stop us.

[1972Shocker]

Rough game and ugly but the W is all that matters. I still feel like our best basketball is ahead of us. Put a great 40 minutes together and nobody can stop us.

If the W is all that matters the Shocks would be having a light practice today as initially planned. According to 3G practice will be anything but light today. However, I do agree that our best basketball is ahead of us.