Shockers vs Braves GAME Thread

[AZ Shocker]

I liked Coach experiencing with the substitution last night. With 7 regular season games left to go....Gregg isn't messing around anymore. He's looking for depth heading into post season and giving guys more minutes. Some are critiquing last night substitution patterns...but coach knowing Bradley was down 15 guys with injury or whatever...coach had it in his mind that this would be a great opportunity on the road to get some more players more minutes. Even with Bradley's run the last 5 minutes the Shocker players didn't look all too concerned. The refs let them play due to Bradleys circumstance and Mr. Elgin didn't want a home team to lose by 50.

Also...after our last free throw that missed with .08 on the clock...why didn't the Bradley player heave up a prayer to force overtime????

[im4wsu]

The cliche - playing to not lose vs playing to win - popped in my mind last night. It just seemed like the Shox were trying to hold on and get out with a win versus playing like they did the first half when they took a big lead. It was good to see Ron and Fred hit free throws at the end - may be more pressure on hitting those when you're in a tight game where the loss would be consider a bad loss compared to a loss vs UNI.

The last couple games we've had starters go cold on their shooting touch. Last night it was Tekele (3-11) and the previous game Ron. Not surprisingly they're the ones playing the most minutes each game, so hopefully it's not a sign of them getting worn down and having tired shooting legs. Hopefully it's more about confidence - Ron looked better last night - and the next couple home games will give them a boost. Hopefully too we can get big leads and leave Evan out there and let him shoot some to try to get his shot going. With big leads if he misses then it won't be as bad as during a close game. I wouldn't mind seeing Fred stay on the floor in the first half if he picks up two fouls just so he stays in the flow of the game. We seem to do okay without him though so maybe it's not a big deal.

I agree with others that it would be nice to see a zone every so often. Not only would it throw other teams off at times, but it would help the bench players get time and see if they can produce on offense without having to play shaky defense, plus they would probably have the energy to do more trapping. Man-to-man can be a drain on some physically during the game with all the running after your man and fighting through screens, so a zone would give some guys a mini rest while on the court still.

As far as when is the time to worry - for me that's still a few games away. Conference season is going to be a bear because the other teams and coaches know you too well and once one team beats you, the others take note and try to exploit you the same way. If you can still beat them though, even if it's by a small margin, one is still in good shape. I'm more worried about injuries and the starters being tired come March. We have a tough schedule coming up and I think the starters will be playing major minutes the rest of the month, so hopefully they have the endurance and conditioning to not be affected when we start playing back-to-back tournament games. Ideally we have several blowouts the rest of this month and they can get the rest.

Finally, I think we need to be a little careful about comparing things to the Final Four year unless Ron sits the rest of the games this year and doesn't play again until March :) Having him available that year come March may have been the biggest reason for the Final Four run. Unless someone comes off the bench this year and turns a similar feat, then I'm not sure the comparison is valid. However, that someone may be sitting on the bench just waiting to break through - we'll see.

For each of the last three seasons, the average MOV for the 11 games from Jan 10 to Feb 11 is less than the average MOV for all other conference games:

	11 games	Other
2014-'15	13.2	17.9
2013-'14	7.1	7.7
2012-'13	12.6	15.6
Average	11.0	13.7

This is a 25% differential between the January 10-Feb 11 games than the other nine conference games.

[AZ Shocker]

The Bad Backs - 64
The Tribe - 58

* Shaq goes for 20

Final Score: 62-59 - My buddy owes me a lunch at work!!! Yes...yes I missed it by a few points dern-it but you had the Shockers by +20. You know who you are my friend...now man up!!! LOL :)

[Ricardo del Rio]

This will probably get my butt chewed on but I immediately wondered how many free throws were shot by the opposition in that same time frame as a result of Evan fouls.

I cannot answer your question above.

For the season, Evan is 4-9 from the free throw line.

[ShockerFever]

For the record.... I still want my picture taken with Ron Baker.

My girlfriend would leave me for Ron Baker.

And she reminds me of that everytime he swishes home a 3.

[ShockerFever]

No.

I don't think I believe you.

[Ricardo del Rio]

There has been some conversation about increased production at the 4 position. The chart below might provide some useful light.

I am ambivalent about including Evan in the chart because his many strengths are not shown in the box score.

When I prepare charts like this, I am always fearful that I have made a dumb error. Hence, reader beware.

[Cdizzle]

There has been some conversation about increased production at the 4 position. The chart below might provide some useful light.

I am ambivalent about including Evan in the chart because his many strengths are not shown in the box score.

When I prepare charts like this, I am always fearful that I have made a dumb error. Hence, reader beware.

I do not know what to make of this, but it is interesting to look at.

[1972Shocker]

None of the new guys outside of Shaq are getting many attaboys.. They are all good on either offense or defense (mostly defense) but not both..

Last night, the attaboys were scarce all around..

I thought Ron played a decent game. Just didn't get enough shots. 14 points on 6 shots is pretty efficient. 4-6 from the field (3-4 on treys), 3-4 from the line plus 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals is a good nights work. Perhaps Ron's offense took a bit of a back seat due to having to play a lot of minutes at the point to cover for Fred's foul trouble.

[Shox21]

I am not a coach and don't profess to know even a hundredth of what Marshall knows. I think I'll just let Coach be --- Coach. He gets paid lots of money to do that and he loves it (or he sure wouldn't put up with some of us). Maybe it's time for another visit to the locker room by you know who with their "Play Angry" message. Love this team, veterans and newbies alike. They and Marshall will get it figured out. And for all the doomsdayers out there, this season is NOT over!!!!

And if any of the players read this board, I THINK YOU ARE ALL GREAT. See you Saturday.

[jocoshock]

I do not know what to make of this, but it is interesting to look at.

It tells me that we need to have Glass and Brown playing more at the 4 and Evan needs to spend more time at the 3.
I would add Kelly to that list but he faded the last time he had his shot...

Having said that, I do remember how we played in Hawaii without Evan, so not advocating less PT for him, just move him to his natural position.


But as always, coach knows best....

[forevershockerfan]

When Baker drained the 2 three pointers, we knew that those were huge. However, what if he missed them both? Spooky!!! Carter fouls out in 16 minutes but had 10 points. WOW!!! Our 3-headed monsta had 13 of our 15 assists. We get outrebounded by 4? Ouch. Why 14 turnovers? Our starters had 8 of those. We were originally keeping turnovers to a mild roar under 10? Shaq gets 18 minutes and only 2 fouls!!! That is kewl and is improving as a rim protector. Cotton was our leading rebounder with 7 and Baker had 5. It was nice to see Glass with 11 minutes and he had 6 points. Glass can score and still working on his defense.

Not every team with 8 new players has an impressive record of 20-3 and 10-1. Yes, there is more work to do and time to do so. I prefer winning to learn lessons over losing. Thus, we have 2 home games over the horizon. Will we break lose and play solid like we did for 3 games recently? Dunno, but I will Not give up on our Shocks. College Basketball has it's ups and down even though last Season we were up, up, away, and breaking records of all kinds. Now we will steadfastly aim to improve, keep winning, and see what happens during prime time. The TV commentators mention that they think we deserve our ranking but might lose our fizz when playing top 10 teams with solid bigs. We will see about that.

[1979Shocker]

There has been some conversation about increased production at the 4 position. The chart below might provide some useful light.

I am ambivalent about including Evan in the chart because his many strengths are not shown in the box score.

When I prepare charts like this, I am always fearful that I have made a dumb error. Hence, reader beware.

What the chart tells me is that Glass could be moving into the 4 position. He just needs to keep playing more, take better care of the basketball, and keep improving his defense.

[Dave Stalwart]

UC Davis just beat 2nd place UC Irvine by 20 on the road. Long Beach St remains tied with UC Davis at 7-1 with a win of their own tonight, but UC Davis holds a win over them head to head.

I think that officially means Jim Les is destroying that league.

Guess who is the only team who has been able to beat Jim Les. Yep, it was the road game at Hawaii.

[AndShock]

UC Davis just beat 2nd place UC Irvine by 20 on the road. Long Beach St remains tied with UC Davis at 7-1 with a win of their own tonight, but UC Davis holds a win over them head to head.

I think that officially means Jim Les is destroying that league.

Guess who is the only team who has been able to beat Jim Les. Yep, it was the road game at Hawaii.

And he costs $500k less than Geno....yikes