Marshall-Era Shockers as Team USA

[WuShock16]

Since there isn't much else to talk about at this point...and because we are all griping about the basketball prowess (or lack thereof) of Team USA (minus Ron, of course), I wondered what a Gregg Marshall team could look like for a competition like this.

First, let me put out there that this would NEVER happen that a Shocker all-star squad could represent Team USA for something like the Pan-Am Games. Maybe the World University Games at some point, but not Pan-Am. That said, when has the low probability of something really happening ever stopped message board discussion?

A couple guidelines:

Let's say that we would make this list on the assumption that we would play with this roster tomorrow. So....if you would like to include him, you would take age 30-ish PJ, not college-age PJ.

Let's also say that a foreigner would be ineligible for this squad. That excludes Orupke, Wiggins, Lufile, Nurger, etc. Not saying any of these guys would be on the team anyway, but I just want to to throw in that wrinkle as well.

So....what does your Marshall-era Shocker Team USA 12-man roster look like? I bet we could put a roster together that could win a medal.

AND.......GO!

[WuShock16]

The positions are interchangable, but this is a basic idea of what I would have. It seemed like there weren't many post options, but lots of great choices for perimter players.

1 Fred, Joe
2 Ron, Toure
3 Tekele, PJ, Evan
4 Cle, Ramon, Darius
5 Garrett, Carl

Tough exclusions: Ben Smith and Malcolm. Lesser extent for Shaq.

[shock]

The positions are interchangable, but this is a basic idea of what I would have. It seemed like there weren't many post options, but lots of great choices for perimter players.

1 Fred, Joe
2 Ron, Toure
3 Tekele, PJ, Evan
4 Cle, Ramon, Darius
5 Garrett, Carl

Tough exclusions: Ben Smith and Malcolm. Lesser extent for Shaq.

Ramon needs to be excluded as well

[WuShock16]

Ramon needs to be excluded as well

He was born in Queens, NY, so he is good. He has some Puerto Rican ties, which is why he can play for them.

[shoxlax]

NM

[shoxlax]

NM

[shock]

PG: Fred, Joe, Mal
SG: Ron, Tekele, Toure
SF: Zach Brown, Cle
F: Carl, Darius, Shaq
C: Stutz

[Steeleshocker]

While he is not a Marshall player, I'm sure 3.3G would take Paul Miller as a backup center for a team USA squad.

[Jhook89]

PG: Van Vleet, Armstead
SG: Baker, Murry, Cotton
SF: Early, Brown
PF: Hall, Carter, Durley, Morris
C: Stutz

Doing this made it pretty obvious 3G is a guard genius and is lacking in the big man department. Left a lot of quality guards off the list. Was really digging for big men after Hall, Stutz, and Carter. Decided on Armstead over Ragland because of his strength and speed would be better for international play. Added Morris because there needed to be some more depth downlow and he's a strong dude.

[shockmonster]

Marshall's teams have almost always been deep (best teams are usually as deep as 10-11),athletic, top rebounding, good handles, ball hawks, tough/hardnosed, high basketball IQ, and defensive lateral quickness. He understands that his teams and all teams all have weaknesses and he articulates their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses. This is what makes his TEAMS so great and why he is the perfect coach at Wichita State.

[Dan]

I'd take JT Durley over Shaq. For now.

[WuShock16]

Forgot about JT, which made me remember others. He, Aaron Ellis, and Gabe are some good post options. I might go JT or Gabe over Darius to bring a bigger body in the post.

[WuDrWu]

My selections are based on right now, today. My team would win the gold medal.

C Stutz, Durley
F Hall, Early, Carter, Brown, Wessel
G Murry, Ragland, Baker, Cotton, VanVleet

[proshox]

I think we do underrate how much of a headstart these foreign teams have in experience and system knowledge. I think that team from Brazil was pretty salty.

An all HCGM team would have a leg up with the system knowledge and some working knowledge of reach other's skills and tendencies. Which might give WuDrWu's team enough to win.

[Jhook89]

My selections are based on right now, today. My team would win the gold medal.

C Stutz, Durley
F Hall, Early, Carter, Brown, Wessel
G Murry, Ragland, Baker, Cotton, VanVleet

We have very similar teams. I had a hard time choosing between Ragland and Armstead. Why did you go with Ragland? Armstead being about 20 lbs bigger made me feel he could deal with the rough international play better than Joe. I disagree on Wessel. He's no where athletic enough to guard international SFs and not big enough to effectively guard PFs at that level. I went with Morris because the teams already stacked a guards, but very thin on big men. Stutz or Hall going down with an injury or foul trouble would leave very few options. Morris is a big strong guy that won't get pushed around by physical PFs at the international level.