Shocker Madness

[Shocker-maniac]

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.

I agree that Nurger's effort on defense was there last night. Maybe it's more of a tribute to DC's offensive skills. I think that Nurger's defense ability will come around quickly. The quote in Sully's article encouraged me because he recognizes it as a weakness and has a desire to improve it. I can't ask for more from a freshman at this point. He will be a very good Shocker.

[WSUwatcher]

A fan sitting next to me told me that Rauno Nurger would have probably gone to Kentucky if Willie Cauley-Stein had decided to go pro. First time I ever heard that one!

That was probably the current AZ (as opposed to xaz) -- he thinks everyone's going to Kentucky.

Rauno!

[SB Shock]

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.

Sorry I had to go get my toes done

image.jpg

[asiseeit]

I went to see the big men. Impressed with Nurger. I'll give Wamuto a pass for a sore
back but he is not going to have the physicality of Coleby or Lufile. As for SM, its just
more disappointment. Have no idea whether he will ever be a contributor or not. I
think we are going to miss Colby, Lufile and JW. None of the other newcomers looked
like impact players to me, at least not, this season. I think we are going to need to
recruit a couple big strong front court players soon.

[forevershockerfan]

I'm buying EW stock, however I seem to recall a Shocker Madness many moons ago when Craig Steven lit it up in the 3 point contest. :D

Yipes, stripes, beechnut gum on that memory from the archives!!!

[Shocktoberfest]

I only had one question going into last night: Who steps up on the front line? That's it. And it was soundly answered.

NURGER!!!!!

Whoever is comparing him to Miller is way off. Miller was more skilled his junior and senior year. BUT. NURGER is 10X the athlete Miller is/was. Not one time in their entire careers did either Stutz or Miller throw one down like Nurger did last night. Dude has some swagger too. I don't mind him going to the "holster" after banging down threes. He hit his shots last night. He is going to be a freaking stud! I am so juiced for this season. He is a huge key to our success. We know what we will get from our returners.

NURGER!!!

[im4wsu]

Did anyone understand the collage of pictures of the rings on the video board prior to the presentation? Were there different styles, or why did there appear to be different rings? Maybe somebody with SV can grab a screenshot and post it with explanation.

[ShockTalk]

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

.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.

***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.

I'll ask this question again, do you believe this is the athletic departments fault and that Marshall would much rather have the "Big Show", but the department just won't spring for it or, when it comes to men's basketball, does the athletic department defer to Marshall's wishes? Address your concerns accordingly to the proper party. Given the day of the week, the time it started, shortness of the event, and how they were not expecting a big crowd, it seemed this was what was wanted.

On a different note, have you seen the new "recruiting room" that all the sports can use. It is where the WSU Sports History was located. They are going to re-do the sports history to be located along a section of the outer wall along the concourse across from where it had been located.

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.

I was pretty sure this was going to happen as I had posted previously. There is a reason behind having an opening act followed by the main event. I don't know who's idea it was to do it in the order they did, Adams or Marshall, but I can't imagine why the athletic department cared enough to have the order of appearance changed from what was done in the past.

[im4wsu]

Is it just me, or were there an inordinate number of cheer squad members. In addition to the normal 8 men and 8 women, there were 12 or so performing on the west sideline. The dance line seemed to have only 6-7 attending, but I would believe they will number 12-14 as usual. But where did the 12 on the west sideline come from? Are they JV or for "olympic" sports?

[Shocker-maniac]

Is it just me, or were there an inordinate number of cheer squad members. In addition to the normal 8 men and 8 women, there were 12 or so performing on the west sideline. The dance line seemed to have only 6-7 attending, but I would believe they will number 12-14 as usual. But where did the 12 on the west sideline come from? Are they JV or for "olympic" sports?

Impostors??

[im4wsu]

I was pretty sure this was going to happen as I had posted previously. There is a reason behind having an opening act followed by the main event. I don't know who's idea it was to do it in the order they did, Adams or Marshall, but I can't imagine why the athletic department cared enough to have the order of appearance changed from what was done in the past.

I understood it to be that the women had conflicts with class schedules, so they were placed following the men.

[Shocker-maniac]

Did anyone understand the collage of pictures of the rings on the video board prior to the presentation? Were there different styles, or why did there appear to be different rings? Maybe somebody with SV can grab a screenshot and post it with explanation.

Not sure what you are looking for, but found this

@GoShockers:: Men's and Women's @MVCSports: ring ceremonies TONIGHT at Shocker Madness; Doors open @ 5pm #WATCHUS http://t.co/CBiJ5G7XCZ


@lukewinn: Wichita State giving its team "BEST START EVER" rings for last season's 35-game win streak. https://t.co/MTXeLtlcis

[im4wsu]

Not sure what you are looking for, but found this

@GoShockers: Men's and Women's @MVCSports ring ceremonies TONIGHT at Shocker Madness; Doors open @ 5pm #WATCHUS http://t.co/CBiJ5G7XCZ


@lukewinn: Wichita State giving its team "BEST START EVER" rings for last season's 35-game win streak. https://t.co/MTXeLtlcis

Thanks, the bottom one is the one on the video board.

[Shocker-maniac]

I'll ask this question again, do you believe this is the athletic departments fault and that Marshall would much rather have the "Big Show", but the department just won't spring for it or, when it comes to men's basketball, does the athletic department defer to Marshall's wishes? Address your concerns accordingly to the proper party. Given the day of the week, the time it started, shortness of the event, and how they were not expecting a big crowd, it seemed this was what was wanted.

On a different note, have you seen the new "recruiting room" that all the sports can use. It is where the WSU Sports History was located. They are going to re-do the sports history to be located along a section of the outer wall along the concourse across from where it had been located.

I was pretty sure this was going to happen as I had posted previously. There is a reason behind having an opening act followed by the main event. I don't know who's idea it was to do it in the order they did, Adams or Marshall, but I can't imagine why the athletic department cared enough to have the order of appearance changed from what was done in the past.

I agree with you on the promotion of Shocker Madness. I am of the impression that whatever Marshall wants he gets. So if he said I want this to be a big deal there would be an all out effort to make it huge.

Do you have a link to images or videos of the recruiting room? I read that they were going to do this, but have not seen the results myself.

[Dave Stalwart]

I only had one question going into last night: Who steps up on the front line? That's it. And it was soundly answered.

NURGER!!!!!

Whoever is comparing him to Miller is way off. Miller was more skilled his junior and senior year. BUT. NURGER is 10X the athlete Miller is/was. Not one time in their entire careers did either Stutz or Miller throw one down like Nurger did last night. Dude has some swagger too. I don't mind him going to the "holster" after banging down threes. He hit his shots last night. He is going to be a freaking stud! I am so juiced for this season. He is a huge key to our success. We know what we will get from our returners.

NURGER!!!

I actually disagree a little bit about the comparisons being wrong. To be clear, we were saying that based on this one viewing (and admittedly, it's a small sample size) he looks like he compares with Miller's junior year, but with more range and athleticism. There was actually a pretty big difference between Miller's sophomore, junior and senior seasons. I didn't consider him to be "money in the bank" when he got the ball until his senior year. He blossomed, big time. Comparing Nurger's scrimmage performance to Miller's junior year may be overly optimistic, but it's not WAY OFF.

I think a better way to put it would be that his ability to hang in there with great players and outscore a lot of them at a scrimmage shows that his general starting point in the program is higher than the other similar centers were. That is where the comparison comes in. Nurger on day one is not equal to Miller or Stutz on day one. It's closer to those guys as sophomores or juniors, generally speaking. Nurger as a senior is going to be AWESOME. I mostly agree with everything you are saying, but I really don't know what else to compare him to if I can't use Miller and Stutz. He looks like has the same kind of game.

If I have my facts straight, he had 8 points in less than 20 minutes because he spent some time on the bench with Glass in there. He didn't ever bounce the ball off his toe. He caught his passes and he was always at least defending Darius adequately. Darius just hulked out a little bit, himself. The fact that Nurger couldn't slow him down is pretty great from the opposite perspective (about where Darius is at), given that there is a 3" or 4" height difference. To use the same argument in reverse, DARIUS, the senior didn't hold our true freshman center under 8 points 15 minutes. That means something, too. Legendarius scored 12 in a full 20 minutes. Nurger scored 8 in about 15. Darius deserves to be crowned king, but Nurger was barely even overshadowed with his 8 in fewer minutes. If Darius hadn't shot like 80% from the field, Nurger could have led this scrimmage in scoring for all forwards. Chew on that, Shocker fans...and any opposing MVC European centers who expect to be the best center in the league this year.

The bottom line is that its pretty well unanimous that Nurger is the man. He looks like a player with HUGE promise. Marshall always says "I can TEACH defense and rebounding." If a 6'10" true freshman comes in with athleticism, soft hands and a scorer's touch, Marshall will do the rest. This is such a cool situation.