WSU vs GWU GAME DISCUSSION

[mjbaker84]

To the person that asked about JUCO All-Americans:

Carl Hall was a first team AA in NJCAA D-I
Cleanthony Early was a two time first team AA and POY in NJCAA D-III
Darius Carter was a first team AA for NJCAA D-I

Tevin Glass and Bush Wamukota were not AAs.

that was me! thanks!
did we have any other recent juco AA's (ragland?)

[wufan]

that was me! thanks!
did we have any other recent juco AA's (ragland?)

See above. Ben Smith, Joe Ragland, and Nick Wiggins were all AAs, but not first team.

[1972Shocker]

Don't know if anyone has noticed, but our top 4 active posters on SN has not made 1 post in over 24 hours. Fev, 1972Shocker, Doc, and Royal. I'd count #5, Trop, but he isn't posting that regularly of late. I know it was Christmas and all, but still.

I am awaiting their thoughts and insight.

I have to say I am surprised anyone would be interested in what insights I might have. Posting a lot mostly indicates I have no life. Like all Shocker fans I was disappointed with the loss to GW, although GW is not a bad basketball team at all and deserved to win the the game. That said I don't think the Shocks played that poorly for most of the game although we did not shoot the ball well most of the game and especially down the stretch. The Shocks did have a 50-43 lead with 7 minutes to go and looked like they were ready to take control of the game. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The phantom foul on Nurger, a big 3 by Watanabe and then the two atomic bombs totally reversed the momentum.

I did have a few thoughts on this game:

1. I thought it really was a great example of where we miss Cle. I love Rashard but when he had the ball on the perimeter GW was sagging off of him. And not just a little. Like 10 or 15 feet off of him. In fact, late in the game you probably noticed that 3G inserted Rauno into the 4 spot next to DC at the 5 just to be able to stretch the GW zone a little. I don't know if we missed Evan or not. Perhaps he would have commanded a bit more of respect on the perimeter from the GW defense.

2. At times throughout the game I thought the Shocks lacked patience in their offense and were forcing things to much. I think Fred will find he will be more effective driving and dishing then he will be driving and trying to draw fouls and make circus shots. In any case, Fred needs to get us into our offense and get the ball and the team moving and working the defense.

3. Ron's shooting against GW wasn't just a little off. He wasn't even close. I do think Ron may have been fouled on the "air ball" he shot late in the game. Not sure if it is anything mechanical or not but to the extent it is he will figure that out. I sensed a real lack of confidence by Ron. I recall one play where he was wide open at the top of the circle, hesitated, then tried to pass to the baseline that was easily intercepted. Hopefully, Ron will regain his confident stroke. I think he will.

4. Darius simply did not get enough deep touches. The couple of times he did later in the game he was quite effective.

5. The Shocks picked a bad time to play perhaps their poorest stretch of basketball at the end of the GW game. They left themselves no time to recover. The bottom line is the atomic bombs reversed the momentum and then down the stretch GW made plays and the Shocks did not.

6. Like all teams we sure look better when we are knocking down shots. I still like the competitiveness of this team, but we need to play smarter and need to shoot better and I think we will. I do like what we are seeing from some of the Freshmen, particularly Zach Brown, Rashard, and Rauno. And let's not forget Ria'n who after all is also a Freshman. Unfortunately, we seemed to have missed on this round of Juco transfers.

7. Finally, I think perhaps the biggest issue of all in this GW game was the shirts the coaches were wearing. Come on guys. Let's be proud to be Shockers. Pantone 116 trimmed in black would have been the way to go. Not sure whose school colors those shirts represented.

All-in-all this was a tough loss. A disappointing loss. Thing is we have to go quite a ways back for the last time the Shockers had a loss that wasn't tough and hard to take. And I guess that is a good thing. We have really high character young men on this team. I expect this Shocker team will bounce back quite nicely and perhaps with a vengeance.

:poster_shocks:

[shockndallas]

coach said "if you were to tell me at the beginning of the season that we would be 10-2, I would have taken it." But the way we played the last few close games he might just have a change of heart.

[shockndallas]

I think its time to get into practice and start grinding it out. Start getting physical. When Baker red shirted he got beat up everyday. Seems like we got ourselves a bunch of pansies. They need to know what are real GM practice looks like. And I would pay to see their two a days right now.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

I think its time to get into practice and start grinding it out. Start getting physical. When Baker red shirted he got beat up everyday. Seems like we got ourselves a bunch of pansies. They need to know what are real GM practice looks like. And I would pay to see their two a days right now.

Have you been to a practice?

[Shock Top]

I think its time to get into practice and start grinding it out. Start getting physical. When Baker red shirted he got beat up everyday. Seems like we got ourselves a bunch of pansies. They need to know what are real GM practice looks like. And I would pay to see their two a days right now.

O.o

[WSUwatcher]

Might as well just close shop, for the season, huh?!

Seriously though. There is more season left, then what they have currently played.

Shox will be perfectly fine.

For what it's worth, Wisconsin started last season 16-0, then lost five of six (three at home) and seemed to be coming apart at the seams. As we all know, they righted the ship nicely, and were a last-minute shot away from palying for the championship.

No, this year's Shocks aren't 2013-14 Wisconsin. But they're a good team, even if flawed by a lack of productive inside performance too often. And the point about Wisconsin is that good teams can have bad stretches and then get back in gear, and it doesn't necessarily take an infusion of talent (like what the 2012-13 Shocks got from the return of Baker just before tournament time) to make it happen. Sometimes they just get it figured out and resume normal activity.

So, yes -- teams have slumps. The Shocks are in one now. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to stay there, and the history of guys like Baker, Cotton (a notorious second-semester stud), FVV as a leader who can figure things out, and 3G as a coach -- all of that suggests that the good ship WSU will indeed be righted before too long.

[Shock Top]

For what it's worth, Wisconsin started last season 16-0, then lost five of six (three at home) and seemed to be coming apart at the seams. As we all know, they righted the ship nicely, and were a last-minute shot away from palying for the championship.

No, this year's Shocks aren't 2013-14 Wisconsin. But they're a good team, even if flawed by a lack of productive inside performance too often. And the point about Wisconsin is that good teams can have bad stretches and then get back in gear, and it doesn't necessarily take an infusion of talent (like what the 2012-13 Shocks got from the return of Baker just before tournament time) to make it happen. Sometimes they just get it figured out and resume normal activity.

So, yes -- teams have slumps. The Shocks are in one now. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to stay there, and the history of guys like Baker, Cotton (a notorious second-semester stud), FVV as a leader who can figure things out, and 3G as a coach -- all of that suggests that the good ship WSU will indeed be righted before too long.

Agreed. I, like yourself, am of the mind that it is too early to be freaking out about a few subpar performances.

Since we are talking about Wisc, might as well bring up UK and their struggles from the past season; as we know all to well, they figured it all out at the right time.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I did have a few thoughts on this game:

1. I thought it really was a great example of where we miss Cle. I love Rashard but when he had the ball on the perimeter GW was sagging off of him. And not just a little. Like 10 or 15 feet off of him. In fact, late in the game you probably noticed that 3G inserted Rauno into the 4 spot next to DC at the 5 just to be able to stretch the GW zone a little. I don't know if we missed Evan or not. Perhaps he would have commanded a bit more of respect on the perimeter from the GW defense.


:poster_shocks:

I like your first bullet a lot. It is an excellent point.

Here is some irony. A few home games ago, I was watching the pre-game shoot around. I was sorta scanning the shooters and their shots. Then I noticed Rashard firing up and making 3 balls from the top of the key. So I started counting his makes. Rashard made 13 in a row, before he missed. I have no idea of the number that he made before I started counting.

And I have no idea, if what I saw is an indication of his ability to make jump shots.