Classy

[AZ Shocker]

Thar's cool Cuttyhunk!!! It would be an awesome National Championship game to see Wichita St. try to revenge the game from last year. Tons of respect for your Cardinals!!!

[calfan]

Cuttyhunk, I can't speak for other fans, but when I think of the blue bloods I think of arrogant teams
that would never give good teams respect. I tend to think of Kansas and your neighbor Kentucky.
I'm sure there are others as well.

I would never consider you guys as arrogant and disrespectful.

[WuShock Reaper]

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/audio/1667-cbs-sports-minute/3-10-john-feinstein-cbs-sports-minute-on-wichita-state/

[wufan]

Congratulations on a great season! Been following you guys since you nearly knocked our Cards out in last year's ff. I would say that our Louisville "Blue Blood" fan base has all the respect for you in the world for you Shockers, except that if I said that, some Kentucky troll would come on here and argue with me even thinking that we are Blue Bloods. All I know, is that more teams will fear meeting The Shockers or The Cards, then meeting The Twins in the tourney.

But, anyway, I have seen some brackets that would have us meeting again in the ff, if we are both so fortunate to make it back. IMO we are probably rated a little high now, but we are playing really well and who knows, we may bump into you guys again. Best of luck to you, at least until then. Not sure if you are aware, but Henderson is now known as "Wichita" here in Louisville. That is a tribute to you guys. We know what very well may have happened had he not hit those two shots! Again, good luck. Hope we see you really late in the tourney.

Pitino and the Louisville faithful have viewed WSU in a positive light! I'm thinking more about KU/Kentucky and the BCS apologists. Those that refuse to acknowledge how good this team really is. Tony kornheiser said that if WSU finished at 37-1 and missed the final four that this season would be a disappointment. Where are these analysts when Kentucky started last season ranked #1 and went to the NIT, or this season when they started #2 and are outside the top 25? You think that is a disappointment?

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

wufan, I agree with your criticsm of Tony K., but you have to be kidding me to say that Kentucky wasn't labeled a huge disappointment last season and hasn't been talked about quite regularly as such this year.

The voices talking about the potential for a WSU disappointment are significantly fewer and farther between than those talking about Kentucky last year and this year as such. Ignore the couple fruitcakes out there and enjoy the other 99% of the media coverage which is singing the praises of the Shox.

[wufan]

wufan, I agree with your criticsm of Tony K., but you have to be kidding me to say that Kentucky wasn't labeled a huge disappointment last season and hasn't been talked about quite regularly as such this year.

The voices talking about the potential for a WSU disappointment are significantly fewer and farther between than those talking about Kentucky last year and this year as such. Ignore the couple fruitcakes out there and enjoy the other 99% of the media coverage which is singing the praises of the Shox.

I must have missed the discussions on Kentucky as I've been focused on WSU, but I'll take your word for it.

[Cuttyhunk]

I must have missed the discussions on Kentucky as I've been focused on WSU, but I'll take your word for it.

Yeah, Kentucky is becoming the laughing stock of cbb. We suggested that they send their 40-0 T-shirts (that they created last September) to you guys, in hopes of recouping some of their investment. Because the Kentucky fans are so self-absorbed, you get no respect from them. I would love to watch you guys tear them apart if they wandered into your bracket. And you would. They are big but they are weak in the will department. They will fold.

Who do you guys respect out in your neck of the woods? What are your thoughts on St. Louis? Big-12 Teams? Any MVC sleepers? How would you guys have done vs. Creighton this year?

My opinion fwiw, a couple teams come to mind that you may not be too familiar with. Cincinnati would be a very tough game for you guys and Syracuse is always tough because of their unique zone and size.

[Cuttyhunk]

Well, I guess the "Blue Blood" thing IS a bit much. Every fan base enjoys thoughts of their winning tradition. Your school and mine have always had that winning tradition, but have never really been in a position to be arrogant. We have changed conferences so often that we were always the new guy. Our joy came from proving that we belonged.

Unfortunately, if WSU does not get back to the FF, there will be "experts" who will say: "See, they weren't that good". They are fools. There are only 5 teams in the country that have not lost to a team out of the Top-50. You guys are in that group. We have been playing basketball for 100 years, and this is the first year (since they kept record) where we have not lost to a team outside the top-50. That is an accomplishment in itself.

This season is a great example to us on how nothing can be taken for granted. We won the nc. We had most of our guys back. We were thinking: lose Dieng replace him with X. Lose Siva, replace him with Y. Let's play ball! Not so fast.

When we lost those guys, nothing was the same. It was like taking apart a complicated jig saw puzzle, throwing away some pieces, and watching someone take scissors to trim the remaining pieces. Even the pieces we had back were not the same shape. Nothing seemed to fit. Pitino had to start all over and fit all the new shapes and sizes together.

We are getting the jigsaw puzzle together now, but I'd be curious to hear if your experience went more smoothly with fitting your new pieces with the old? Obviously Coach Marshall got it together early, but were there surprises that you guys didn't expect?

[wu_shizzle]

My opinion fwiw, a couple teams come to mind that you may not be too familiar with. Cincinnati would be a very tough game for you guys and Syracuse is always tough because of their unique zone and size.

I'm not as concerned with a zone defense as much as I was last year. Syracuse wouldn't worry me. I've seen Cincinnati play a few times and they are salty.

The team I would be concerned with is one that is more like us. If you protect the ball, play solid defense and share the offensive load, you're going to be in the game.

You rely on one or two players for your offense or you keep games in the 50's (slow, grind) or try and outscore people (run & gun)? We're your worst nightmare.

[Cuttyhunk]

I'm not as concerned with a zone defense as much as I was last year. Syracuse wouldn't worry me. I've seen Cincinnati play a few times and they are salty.

The team I would be concerned with is one that is more like us. If you protect the ball, play solid defense and share the offensive load, you're going to be in the game.

You rely on one or two players for your offense or you keep games in the 50's (slow, grind) or try and outscore people (run & gun)? We're your worst nightmare.

Well, Syracuse isn't just a zone, but whatever. How do you guys feel you would do against Creighton? Where do they fit in your description above? We would like to believe that we meet the description of well balanced with a good D. Do you agree?

[BlkSaxShock]

I think our smoothest transition was fitting Fred Vanvleet's puzzle piece into that of Armstead's. And I think everyone would agree that FVV has molded and fit better than even Armstead did. Our bigs were a huge concern coming into the season as they were trying to replace the grit and toughness of Carl Hall and the defense and shot blocking of Orupke. In the beginning of the season our bigs did not rebound very well and we're very inconsistent down on the low block. But fortunately one of the three would step up each game and be the main contributor at the 5 for that game. As the season wore on, each found their place on this team and have become a 'three headed monster' in the words of our coach. Kadeem Coley has become our big during important defensive possessions and has gotten the start at the 5 as of late. Chadrack Lufile is our all-type big who is good but not great at most aspects of his position. The major thing he is particularly good at and has major improvement in this year is rebounding. Without his presence on rebounds we would have lost a couple games. Carter is our most consistent offensive big and has gotten the start depending on the matchup. The big improvement over the bigs last year is a more balanced reliability on turnover rate down low and free throw percentage. All three bigs this year have similar numbers in these stats. Last year Carl was really good and EO was relatively bad. And the nice thing about having a three headed monster is that the man at the 5 can run as hard as he can run for 4 or 5 minutes and then get subbed out for 6 or 7 minutes and the wash rinse and repeat.
So the three headed monster puzzle piece has replaced that of Carl and EO but it is shaped differently.

[wu_shizzle]

Well, Syracuse isn't just a zone, but whatever. How do you guys feel you would do against Creighton? Where do they fit in your description above? We would like to believe that we meet the description of well balanced with a good D. Do you agree?

Of course Syracuse is more than a zone. I'm not concerned about their length or Ennis & Fair either.

I think without Echenique this year, we beat Creighton at least 2 times if they were still in the Valley.

They're easy to scout, over rely on 1 player for offense and have a below average defense.

[Bluzrover]

Well, I guess the "Blue Blood" thing IS a bit much. Every fan base enjoys thoughts of their winning tradition. Your school and mine have always had that winning tradition, but have never really been in a position to be arrogant. We have changed conferences so often that we were always the new guy. Our joy came from proving that we belonged.

Unfortunately, if WSU does not get back to the FF, there will be "experts" who will say: "See, they weren't that good". They are fools. There are only 5 teams in the country that have not lost to a team out of the Top-50. You guys are in that group. We have been playing basketball for 100 years, and this is the first year (since they kept record) where we have not lost to a team outside the top-50. That is an accomplishment in itself.

This season is a great example to us on how nothing can be taken for granted. We won the nc. We had most of our guys back. We were thinking: lose Dieng replace him with X. Lose Siva, replace him with Y. Let's play ball! Not so fast.

When we lost those guys, nothing was the same. It was like taking apart a complicated jig saw puzzle, throwing away some pieces, and watching someone take scissors to trim the remaining pieces. Even the pieces we had back were not the same shape. Nothing seemed to fit. Pitino had to start all over and fit all the new shapes and sizes together.

We are getting the jigsaw puzzle together now, but I'd be curious to hear if your experience went more smoothly with fitting your new pieces with the old? Obviously Coach Marshall got it together early, but were there surprises that you guys didn't expect?

I can't and won't speak for the others here on SN but I'm still pissed at you guys for leaving the Valley back in '74! Now that I've got that out of my system, I've been impressed with what Pitino has done with your team this year after losing some of those key players from last year's championship team. I just don't want to have to play you until the FF.

I think Marshall has done a masterful job with our bigs. As BlkSaxShock has pointed out, it took the first half of the season for the three bigs to find their spots in the rotation but they're peaking at absolutey the best time. Speaking of peaking, it goes without saying that Cotton's offensive efficiency is peaking at the right time as well which makes us even more dangerous as our MVC tourney foes can attest. I'm not sure that most of us saw VanVleet turning out to be the leader and player he is this soon but we certainly saw flashes of it during last year's run to the FF and I believe that has everything to do with the way this team is playing every game. He's the quarterback and his calm, steady demeanor carries over to the rest of the guys on the court.

[Cuttyhunk]

Thanks for your summaries guys. Good luck to you.