Shocker Madness

[Dave Stalwart]

Oh and in the very first possession of the game FVV picked Corey's pocket and embarassed him on his first touch of the ball at Koch arena in front of fans... Literally 5 seconds into the scrimmage.

Well, at the other end, Corey poked it right back away from Fred and his team got the ball back if I remember right. Not bad. I could hear FVV say "touché" from my seat halfway up the bowl.

[Cdizzle]

Never seen a player get T'd up in a scrimmage before. Good times. Got my money's worth tonight.

I have a different take than most on Brown. I was extremely impressed. His close-outs were hard, his defense was physical without being handsy, and he crashed the boards effectively and made quick outlets to FVV. Those are the kind of attributes in a freshman that make me thing they have a chance to be special. It helps that the dude is already built like a friggin' tank.

[ShockerFever]

And I guess KU Madness is a full house. Can't compete with them yet. Sad!

Well, when Shocker "Madness" is poorly promoted, and is kind of put on as an afterthought, what do you really expect?

[ShockerFever]

Nothing new from me, as everybody else pretty much summed up everything. I really wanted to see Shaq. Apparently, he didn't wanna see us.

Nurger was a big surprise. Hard to believe he's on a freshman.

Baker is just a special, special player. His release is about as perfect as they come. He's smooth in all facets of the game. Unfortunately for us Shocker fans, I'm afraid this will be his last year in a Shocker uniform.

Carter went beast mode. It was very pleasant to see his range displayed tonight. I'm hoping it wasn't just a one-time deal. If that's the Carter we see night in and night out, we could be closing in on 30 regular-season wins again.

FVV was a little out of it, but since he's the focus for the defense, that's not too surprising.

Cotton just does what Cotton does. Nothing spectacular, just solid. His first dunk probably was the best of the competition. Not surprisingly.

Turnout sucked for a Top 10 program's scrimmage, but when it's promoted so poorly and people are only given a week or two notice, I wasn't all that surprised. The event itself is pretty weak. It was downright embarrassing how nobody counted Wessel's 3's in the 3 point contest. And then after about a minute of cluelessness, they just throw out a number and move him on. lol. This program has so much potential and yet year after year, I feel there's things lacking in the athletic department that are still Evansville-ish.

[LandStander]

I'm high on Nurger's offensive capabilities, but I doubt that Marshall is too high on his defense. Hopefully that will come around quickly.

I agree but I hear he has a good head on his shoulders. Hopefully he picks up the d quick.

[Aargh]

I agree. There were some shenanigans with the 3 pt competition when no one actually kept score the first round. Between warm ups and the actual head to head matchup with Evan, Corey looked like a really good shooter. Better than Evan but when the round ended and everyone looked at each other like "what was the score!??" they just seemed to assign 11 to 12 as the score and Evan advanced. Should have just re done the round.

Either way, we have some three point shooters.

Surprisingly, no one has mentioned Rian's buzzer beater 3 during the scrimmage. He wasn't entirely absent from things, I'd say.

I was wondering who hit that one. It was launched with probably less than a second on the shot clock and it was deep - deep - deep. I didn't think there was any way they'd get a shot off. The catch and release was amazingly quick.

[Shock Top]

***WARNING***SIMI RANT***

WSU needs to take this event more seriously. SIU could have very well hosted this.

If WSU wants to be respected and recognized as a top-tier program, they need to treat themselves like one. (How do you not do something as simple as count 3's?)

It's always nice to see the new guys (the main reason I attend), but how about an event to drum up excitement for the upcoming season? WSU is experiencing its best basketball in program history! How about a little more pizzazz!

-----

Remember - We had a recruit here tonight. Granted, a solid verbal one. What if a recruit that was on the fence saw this? Is this the image we want to send for an event titled "Shocker Madness"?

Just something to chew on, while we await the start of the season.

[Aargh]

Never seen a player get T'd up in a scrimmage before. Good times. Got my money's worth tonight.

I have a different take than most on Brown. I was extremely impressed. His close-outs were hard, his defense was physical without being handsy, and he crashed the boards effectively and made quick outlets to FVV. Those are the kind of attributes in a freshman that make me thing they have a chance to be special. It helps that the dude is already built like a friggin' tank.

This.

I thought Brown had a solid game even though he was mostly absent in the statistical categories. I really liked his handles and passing. He also seemed to be in the right places at the right times.

[blackandgold]

Now I realize that this was a public scrimmage but the technical concerns me very slightly. Correct me if I'm wrong, the technical was from hanging on the rim? If you go back and look at Nurger on his highlight videos, he was always hanging on the rim. Not just hanging on the rim but the "I'm doing a pull up and hanging on the rim variety". I'm sure Marshall will address this in practice but in the heat of the moment of games its easy to go back to what you habitually do. I really won't be surprised if he gets a T during a real game for this.

[wufan]

Now I realize that this was a public scrimmage but the technical concerns me very slightly. Correct me if I'm wrong, the technical was from hanging on the rim? If you go back and look at Nurger on his highlight videos, he was always hanging on the rim. Not just hanging on the rim but the "I'm doing a pull up and hanging on the rim variety". I'm sure Marshall will address this in practice but in the heat of the moment of games its easy to go back to what you habitually do. I really won't be surprised if he gets a T during a real game for this.

I noticed the exact same thing, but it doesn't concern me. He will probably get a T during a regular season game for this, maybe 2, but as a freshman I will take the good with the bad.

[Dan]

Yes, I noticed that also. It left me in head scratch mode.

was he practicing the "Dirk Nowitski" move? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...a-jumpshooters

[WuDrWu]

As the preseason approaches, I think many of us would agree that we were looking for 4 post men to count on in the rotation. We knew Carter was one, and that's rock solid. Carter is a guy who's at All Conference level at least. Beyond that however it was all speculation. After last night I feel really good about Kelly's size, strength, athleticism and ability to play D and go get the ball. If he's our 4 back up, that works just fine with me. Nurger has 50% of the 5 down. The kid is really skilled offensively. Defense is lagging but I'd argue his positioning and footwork guarding Darius was really good, he was just up against a stud last night. Sure, he's no Ehimen or CJ right now, but he'll get better, and he's a REAL threat with the ball from 22 feet in and that's not "well Stutz can shoot the 3" talk....this kid can really score.

I'm very pleased with 3 of the 4 post spots we need, now we just need either Morris or Wamukota to step up. We've certainly had bigger question marks over the years.

[Dave Stalwart]

Now I realize that this was a public scrimmage but the technical concerns me very slightly. Correct me if I'm wrong, the technical was from hanging on the rim? If you go back and look at Nurger on his highlight videos, he was always hanging on the rim. Not just hanging on the rim but the "I'm doing a pull up and hanging on the rim variety". I'm sure Marshall will address this in practice but in the heat of the moment of games its easy to go back to what you habitually do. I really won't be surprised if he gets a T during a real game for this.

It's a little complicated. He also appeared to be trying to avoid landing on Ron, who was right under him. He probably knows better but felt the need to hang on for safety. It still looked a bit much to be only that though. On the other hand, it could mean we have a kid who loves to dunk hard, which will be fun. I don't think he got immediately pulled by Marshall. That helps me believe it wasn't a concern. There was a huge boo from the crowd either for the call or for the rim hang in Rauno's mind. He might think it was him getting booed and that would make any freshman think twice about it later.

[forevershockerfan]

I noticed the same confusion mentioned by Doc and Fever. Corey not only won his round, he reminded me of Larry Bird draining 3's like clockwork before that in warm-ups. I also think Rian will play.
Wasn't it him that blocked a Cotton shot? Nurger will give us assistance as Mississippi did John Wayne in the flick El Dorado. I make that analogy because we are very elated he came here and not Old
Miss. The Duke might have said "don't crowd our beloved Shockers pilgrim."

Our guard play is among the elite and now we have quality depth being developed. With so many new players, I am glad that 3G is a master of getting players to play together as a unit. Our offense will be there and if our defense surpasses expectations, watch out!!!

[im4wsu]

Thanks to the FEW fans who remained for the women's part of the program. Come on folks, you were already there, just what did you have to do so that was so important at 7:15 on a Thursday evening? Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic.