Drake

[shock-it-to-me]

Not sure about the Cocks thing, not on the guide or in the paper. That was my question, if 22 doesn't pick it up, will it still be blacked out on ESPNU 3/WatchESPN?

It better not be! Why would it? If it's not being televised anywhere, then there's no competition issue there, and the game is obviously sold out, so it seems like it should be watchable it Wichita.

[Shock Therapy]

It's not on cox. This game is ESPN3 only. There won't be any sort of blackout. It's part of the ESPNU/ESPN3 valley game of the week thing, and this week ESPN opted to put Uni-Ill State on ESPNU.

[St. Teddy]

I agree, just didn't want to invite my posse over if it won't be available. Guess we could just listen to it and guzzle bourbon, but the visual is nice.

[BostonWu]

Vegas Insider: -25

What's everyone make of this? About right? Does anyone think Vegas knows about the trashtalk and possibly factoring that in? I'm kind of curious since I've got a friend in Vegas right now. If anything I would take the boatload of points but then again I said the same last weekend vs Evansville and would have lost.

[Dave Stalwart]

I wouldn't go near -25. It's nice to get that kind of respect but late game subbing would ruin it even if we were up by 30. Anything past 20 is pretty dangerous.

Maybe Vegas reads SN and knows about what JackHoleEtti said about our talent. Maybe they believe Marshall won't be going easy on them at the end.

[Dan]

we won the last 2 road games by 20 and 23 points and now we have Drake at home. 25 is probably about right but I don't see 3G putting that many points on anyone intentionally. Our subs will have to play well and Drake play really bad.

[Rlh04d]

What's everyone make of this? About right? Does anyone think Vegas knows about the trashtalk and possibly factoring that in? I'm kind of curious since I've got a friend in Vegas right now. If anything I would take the boatload of points but then again I said the same last weekend vs Evansville and would have lost.

It's likely a very good line, but one that's probably going to be determined more by our walkons than our starters. If we're winning by that much, we'll likely have two-to-five minutes with two-to-three walkons on the floor.

[Rlh04d]

we won the last 2 road games by 20 and 23 points and now we have Drake at home. 25 is probably about right but I don't see 3G putting that many points on anyone intentionally. Our subs will have to play well and Drake play really bad.

Interesting numbers:

Marshall's teams have won 33 games by more than 20 points since 2011-12. 21 of those were against Valley teams.

They've won 19 of those games by 25+, including 10 against Valley teams. Those numbers have been consistently declining every year: 7 times (4 Valley) in 2011-12, 5 (3 Valley) in 2012-13, 4 (2 Valley) in 2013-14, and 3 (1 Valley) this year.

The 2011-12 season was absolutely brutal. We beat three Valley teams by 37+ that year.

Marshall will definitely put those numbers up, but he's clearly trying to be more and more careful about doing so as the years go by -- hence why the complete blowout numbers decline as our teams improve. But Marshall will be actively working against a 25 point spread.

[Cdizzle]

Interesting numbers:

Marshall's teams have won 33 games by more than 20 points since 2011-12. 21 of those were against Valley teams.

They've won 19 of those games by 25+, including 10 against Valley teams. Those numbers have been consistently declining every year: 7 times (4 Valley) in 2011-12, 5 (3 Valley) in 2012-13, 4 (2 Valley) in 2013-14, and 3 (1 Valley) this year.

The 2011-12 season was absolutely brutal. We beat three Valley teams by 37+ that year.

Marshall will definitely put those numbers up, but he's clearly trying to be more and more careful about doing so as the years go by -- hence why the complete blowout numbers decline as our teams improve. But Marshall will be actively working against a 25 point spread.

I'm not sure how much it has to do with Marshall working against the spread, and how much it points out how deep and talented that 2012 team was. The top 5 were perhaps a little less talented than what we've had the last couple of years, but the next 5-7 were almost as good as the first 5. Drawing VCU and losing as we did was a real shame. That team could have gone deep in the tourney.

[AZ Shocker]

Vegas Insider: -25

Geez....no wonder the voters aren't moving us up. We really REALLY need to push to get out and move into the AAC!!!!! How can we ever make that happen?????

[Rlh04d]

I'm not sure how much it has to do with Marshall working against the spread, and how much it points out how deep and talented that 2012 team was. The top 5 were perhaps a little less talented than what we've had the last couple of years, but the next 5-7 were almost as good as the first 5. Drawing VCU and losing as we did was a real shame. That team could have gone deep in the tourney.

True, but we also didn't have walkons that year the way we have since.

We're currently playing three walkons when we're up big at the end of games -- those are guys in the 13-16 range on this team. We only had 13 players on the 2011-12 team, and ... what, one of those was a walkon?

We're playing a much deeper (and weaker) bench at the end of blowouts these days.

We'd be winning games by bigger margins this year if this was the lineup we were rolling out at the end: Henderson, Holland, Brown, Glass, and Nurger. That's basically what we were doing that year. That's not as good of a lineup as we had that year, but that's still a lineup better than several MVC teams have starting. JRS, Walker, and Bush are not better than any Valley 1-10 players, though.

[wufan]

True, but we also didn't have walkons that year the way we have since.

We're currently playing three walkons when we're up big at the end of games -- those are guys in the 13-16 range on this team. We only had 13 players on the 2011-12 team, and ... what, one of those was a walkon?

We're playing a much deeper (and weaker) bench at the end of blowouts these days.

We'd be winning games by bigger margins this year if this was the lineup we were rolling out at the end: Henderson, Holland, Brown, Glass, and Nurger. That's basically what we were doing that year. That's not as good of a lineup as we had that year, but that's still a lineup better than several MVC teams have starting. JRS, Walker, and Bush are not better than any Valley 1-10 players, though.

Walker and Bush look like guys that get scholarships at other Valley schools.

[Rlh04d]

Walker and Bush look like guys that get scholarships at other Valley schools.

Yeesh ... I wouldn't go that far. I do kind of like Walker, though.

[Shocker-maniac]

Geez....no wonder the voters aren't moving us up. We really REALLY need to push to get out and move into the AAC!!!!! How can we ever make that happen?????

At the present time, it's not likely. The AAC commissioner is very opposed to adding basketball only schools to the conference. Things change, so maybe at some point in the future, it will be more of a possibility.

[wusphlash]

I will predict, that sometime tomorrow afternoon, Coach G will state that WSU has the best overall talent 1 through 10,506.