Shockers vs. Alabama Game thread

[ShockerFever]

I'm just... uh.... wow.

[Dave Stalwart]

We do have shortcomings but they are "8-1 with one loss to a ranked team on the road in OT by 1" type shortcomings. They are "maybe we won't literally win a national title" type shortcomings.

We are still on course for 25-30 wins, a conference title, a St. Screwus (well, not so much anymore) title and probably a round or two in the Dance.

Our shortcomings aren't really even shortcomings when you look at it that way. The moment our new forwards get going, we become REALLY good.

[ShockerPhi]

Observations from Sec 120:

- I would have posted this sooner, but I had to go outside when I got home and shoot 200 free throws. Every little bit helps.

This just made me laugh out loud and wake up my wife. HAHAHA

[ShockerPhi]

Even though we don't seem to be as dominant as we were last year and had a few scary games already, you gotta admit this is a special season so far. Just a lot more exciting. A very close over time loss, and now a few comeback wins under our belt. Wins don't come quite as easy, but man it sure is fun to watch.

Enjoy the ride.

[shocker3]

SC: Shut up and dance. And what a game!

[Play Angry]

I think I'm finally ready to go to bed. Re-watched the entire game and man were we fortunate to get this one.

3 games on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU in 4 days next week is going to be glorious. I love it when we're on television on Christmas or Thanksgiving.

[WSUwatcher]

I think Kelly is ready to take over a starting spot if Wessel can't go. That could do great things for Kelly's game. If he's relied on, it might move him from "contributor" to "stud". I think he's got that capability, but has probably been deferring to the AA's on the perimeter.

I think we have the Fr version of Early replacing the Sr version of Early. If Wessel can't go, getting Kelly some extra minutes at this stage of the season doesn't seem to be a big negative for the overall success of the season.

Wally Pipp Wessel.

Probably not, because Wessel has another position, his real one, that he can play instead. But a little recovery time for the ankle has to be a good thing, and Kelly showed he could come up big when it mattered most in this one. In the long run, extra time and responsibility for Kelly can only help. Hope he can start shooting FTs, though. Come to think of it, I hope FVV can start shooting FTs and the whole team can recover their touch, because that sure makes life a lot easier.

Edit: And speaking of making things easier, isn't it convenient to have fouls to give when you don't want to put the other guys on the line? We don't see that too often, but it sure helped WSU defend all out in their late push.

[1979Shocker]

Went to the game with my wife and it was pretty awesome tonight.
The last 3 minutes had the loudest cheering I had ever heard in koch arena for a game I have been to. When Alabama chucked the inbound out of bounds, carters dunk, and the last second shot missing the rim. The place was ROCKING.

My observations:
Officiating was REALLY poor. There were a lot of travels that were not called on Alabama, on that same aspect there were questionable calls against wsu. Some tie-ups that were in WSU's possession that went the other way, that last tie up before the end of the game etc.

Nurger looked bad
Morris had his ups and downs.
Wessel played hard as usual
Cotton has some shooting issues (his hand still?) and his defense was even lacking.
Baker played pretty well but def had some defensive issues at times.
Van Vleet started playing like the player we know he is when he started driving and trying to score instead of just passing it away.
Kelly played really well
holland and Henderson both gave the team a spark and fresh legs.

Alabama played a masterful defense game for about 35 minutes but also got away with some pretty rough play.
The officials seemed to disagree about a lot of calls, they almost looked like they were kind of getting into it during timeouts.


Also does anybody have a replay of the game? I forgot to DVR the game
Any replays of Evan's ankle turn? I figured right away he stepped on somebody's foot and rolled it?

also Vitale was there early and chatting with everybody before the game started and went into the crowd to was generally really friendly.

On Cotton, in the pregame MK said the trainers told Cotton the finger was well enough that he could take the bandage off. But he said he liked having it on.

[Rosewood]

On Cotton, in the pregame MK said the trainers told Cotton the finger was well enough that he could take the bandage off. But he said he liked having it on.

I'll bet a nacho that it is off next game.

[mjbaker84]

I'll bet a nacho that it is off next game.

he needs it off and maybe that will help with his shooting slump right now.

[mjbaker84]

anybody have a link to a replay of it?

[jdshock]

anybody have a link to a replay of it?

I made a gif of it. It's pretty gnarly, so watch out.

http://gfycat.com/LargeHealthyKinkajou If you want to watch the whole video, they start the replay of it around the 41:00 mark of the ESPN3 replay.

[wsushox1]

I made a gif of it. It's pretty gnarly, so watch out.

http://gfycat.com/LargeHealthyKinkajou If you want to watch the whole video, they start the replay of it around the 41:00 mark of the ESPN3 replay.

whew.

That appears Grade 3 indeed.

Ouch....

[wsushox1]

I made a gif of it. It's pretty gnarly, so watch out.

http://gfycat.com/LargeHealthyKinkajou If you want to watch the whole video, they start the replay of it around the 41:00 mark of the ESPN3 replay.

whew.

That appears Grade 3 indeed.

Ouch....

[ShockerEngineer]

Wow.. I've never understood how basketball players can do that and be back out playing later the same game. Near the start of the year, I rolled my ankle walking down the stairs, missing the last step, and could barely walk!