Shaq??

[WSUwatcher]

His upside is pretty big, but I wonder if his upside is as big as EO's. I bet EO had quite a large upside.

The difference is that Shaq's may be attainable within our lifetime.

[wufan]

Shaq did many good things last night. Three very encouraging moments:

Dunking while getting fouled.
Diving to the floor for the loose ball
Ridiculous offensive rebound

[shoxrox89]

How many points and rebounds did shaq have last night?

[jocoshock]

Shaq can bring the anger and energy to the game that we desperately need. It was nice to see him "wake up" and put on a nice little show.

Let's hope this lights a fire under him because his upside is HUGE.

His Twitter last night after the game..

@Shaq_Morris: Focused.

@Shaq_Morris: I love my team!

[wufan]

How many points and rebounds did shaq have last night?

10 points on 5-8 from the field (0-1 FT), 7 rebounds, 3 offensive, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 assist, 2 TOs, in 20 minutes.

[Slalomshocker]

Shaq had another nice game with some nice moments. I will get the negative out of the way first, he has a long ways to go with his lower body. His footwork is...not great at times, both offensively and defensively. I really believe that if he buys in to the weights program, when those legs get strong....look out. And a nitpick....quit flexing, you haven't earned that yet.

Now for the part that outweighs the negatives... I really think the biggest positive is the Twitter. Does he truly realize his 'mates and coaches were on him not to be jerks, but to make him better? If so....the kid has turned a big corner. I don't think anyone can overstate what he brought to the game last night. He made this team better. His diving on the floor for the loose ball and that offensive rebound when he was 1 on 3....those were 'that's my ball and you can't have it' plays. I believe last years team called that 'playing angry'. Lets not get ahead of ourselves and proclaim him POY (which nobody has, just saying) but there is definite reason for optimism. As has been said, lets see him do this for a 3rd consecutive game...on the road...at a surprisingly good Loyola team. Word is Loyola will struggle with size, its his if he wants it. Go get it big man, go get it.

[Slalomshocker]

One other quick note. In the middle of Shaq's great stretch in the 2nd half, Bradley went the FT line and Shaq gave the fist. Marshall quickly finds Darius on the bench and sends him to the table....Darius comes in and gets.....Evan. That might have been my favorite moment of the game. I took that as coach telling him 2 things, 1) 'son, you're playing too good to come out right now' and 2) 'You need to learn how to play through being a little tired'. And Shaq responded well.

[wufan]

One other quick note. In the middle of Shaq's great stretch in the 2nd half, Bradley went the FT line and Shaq gave the fist. Marshall quickly finds Darius on the bench and sends him to the table....Darius comes in and gets.....Evan. That might have been my favorite moment of the game. I took that as coach telling him 2 things, 1) 'son, you're playing too good to come out right now' and 2) 'You need to learn how to play through being a little tired'. And Shaq responded well.

That was great! Good for Shaq letting the staff know that he's in danger of playing poorly due to fatigue and good for Marshall to say suck it up.

[Kel Varnsen]

One other quick note. In the middle of Shaq's great stretch in the 2nd half, Bradley went the FT line and Shaq gave the fist. Marshall quickly finds Darius on the bench and sends him to the table....Darius comes in and gets.....Evan. That might have been my favorite moment of the game. I took that as coach telling him 2 things, 1) 'son, you're playing too good to come out right now' and 2) 'You need to learn how to play through being a little tired'. And Shaq responded well.

Maybe I saw it differently, but it looked to me like he started waving his hands and didn't want to come out and was trying to indicate that he wasn't tired. Regardless, it's nice having two more true post players. Hopefully Shaq keeps it up and comes along like we all hoped he would.

[Jeffrey Korchek]

Maybe I saw it differently, but it looked to me like he started waving his hands and didn't want to come out and was trying to indicate that he wasn't tired. Regardless, it's nice having two more true post players. Hopefully Shaq keeps it up and comes along like we all hoped he would.

Yeah, it definitely looked like Shaq was waving his hands saying "no no no" because he thought Carter was coming to replace him and he didn't want to come out. That was really, really encouraging.

[Slalomshocker]

Different interpretation. Gee, who knew that was possible? (tongue firmly in cheek in regards to recent forum trends)

I did not see the arms waved, but I also didn't focus on Shaq the entire sequence. Either way you spin this one I think we all agree its a net positive for Shaq.

[choida]

Shaq stepping up... Really fun watching him play when he is on... Consistency is the key

[SHOCKvalue]

Love, love, love seeing Shaq finally "get it." When he is in the game (and tuned in), we are a completely different team with DC and him covering the 4/5. I'm a huge fan of EW as well, but both he and DC are so much more effective when they are playing down one position than has been their starting position thus far this year.

[im4wsu]

I want to kidnap the thread and say that it is time to gwet rid of Ron Baker. For God's sake, he didn't block a shot!

[RoyalShock]

I want to kidnap the thread and say that it is time to gwet rid of Ron Baker. For God's sake, he didn't block a shot!

Actually, I think he did, but didn't get credit for it in the box score, which is understandable due to there being two other WSU players right there when it happened.