Future

[WuShockFan]

Markis McDuffie. He needs to get stronger, continue to develop his skills, and continue to learn the system, but I think he could one day be an All-American and potentially play in the NBA. He's long, athletic, can play inside or out, is explosive when driving to the rim, has a quick first step, is a good shooter, and has a good personality and attitude. We've had a lot of great players over the last several years, but we haven't had a true "star" player to associate with our program. We haven't had a first team All-American. Cleanthony Early, Ron Baker, and Fred VanVleet were all great and amazing players. But they all had weaknesses as players that kept them from elevating to a higher echelon. With McDuffie, I really don't see many weaknesses. He's freakishly athletic, he has an NBA-ready body that he's still growing into, he's quick and explosive on offense, he has active hands and feet on defense, he has a good shooting touch, he can play any position on the court due to his size and skills, and he has had good coaching in high school and college. He's like a better version of Cleanthony Early. Out of all the players that Marshall has had, McDuffie seems like the most capable of becoming a true "star" player for us. I don't want him to get a big head or anything and think he's better than he is. He's still young and needs to develop. But if he develops properly, he has a ton of potential to be great.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Power forward position absolutely killed this team this year. Wessel and Kelly were such incredible offensive liabilities that it finally became fatal. I understand the intangibles they brought, but when you are playing four vs five on offense against good teams eventually what happened today is inevitable. I was hoping for improvement, but Evan was exactly the same player as a Senior as he was as a Freshman.
Next year Kelly HAS to learn how to finish at the rim. It does you no good to be able to get there if you can't convert through contact. Especially if you're going to shoot 60% from the line.
I thought Nurger had the look of a typical Euro stretch four last year, but his 0-fer from 3 for the season kind of squashed that idea. The lack of size for us next year probably makes it mandatory that he is exclusively a 5.

Willis' best position is power forward not center, but he'll probably have to play only center at WSU, just like Grady, who is also a forward. Wamukota's lack of development also killed us. It forced us to hardly ever be able to use Shaq and Grady at the same time because they had to spell each other. If Bush could have provided any productive minutes, Anton could have more often played his natural position.
I think the Shocks best hope for power forward is ERIC HAMILTON. He has the size and ability. We'll have to see if he can develop the trust of Marshall. His decision making seems to be lacking at this stage of his career. I bet now he wishes he had red-shirted this season.

I agree with all of your Hamilton comments. I hope he comes back.

[Shock Top]

Markis will be an AA. Book it.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I have hinted at it and I will go out on a limb and say it. If PA can play some D he will start
at SF next year.

PG - CF, LS, DS
SG - LS, PA, CF, AR
SF - PA, ZB, MM
PF - MM, RK, Willis
C - SM, RN, Willis

Anything else will be a welcome surprise but I think CF, LS , PA, MM and SM will be a strong starting
five and we will have a deep bench

I promise you that Conner will not be the starting point guard.

[ripemupshocks]

We'll be good as long as we avoid to many transfers resulting in a hole at any position within a class. Not having an experienced junior or even a sophomore PG on scholarship to back up FVV really hurt early in the season. That may have made all the difference in the world against TU and USC. That's two fewer losses right there, plus without the loss to USC, we don't lose to Alabama or Iowa. Having an experienced player is always better than having no player at all.

[Triticum aestivum L.]

Has anyone seen enough of Barney at practices to see any minutes in his future? If so, we could go much bigger next year at the 4 and 5 and keep MM as a slashing wing.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Has anyone seen enough of Barney at practices to see any minutes in his future? If so, we could go much bigger next year at the 4 and 5 and keep MM as a slashing wing.

I only know one bit of information about Brett. His teammates like him.

He is 6-9.

[choida]

I think Marshall never recruited anyone that could learn behind Fred , or good enough to back him up...

[1972Shocker]

Looking forward to what the next year will bring for Shocker basketball. I can't say that I have a real clear picture of what that will be. However, if I did I don't think it would be nearly as fun to see how things actually unfold. There will not doubt be some surprises and unexpected twists and turns. Let's hope we have a plethora of good surprises and a minimum number of bad ones.

Fred and Ron were very special. You could see that from the emotions of Coach Marshall at today's press conference. Very difficult to predict how things will go without them. Clearly a lot of uncertainty but also a tremendous amount of opportunity for the players coming back and coming in to the program. Seems like Coach Marshall has plenty of raw material at his disposal that will take some time and effort to mold but it should be a lot of fun watching and supporting that process.

[1972Shocker]

I only know one bit of information about Brett. His teammates like him.

He is 6-9.

That is 2 bits of information. You are undervaluing your contributions.

[wusphlash]

I think Marshall never recruited anyone that could learn behind Fred , or good enough to back him up...

Probably thought D.J. was that guy before his problems. Henderson was a miss.

[AndShock]

I think Marshall never recruited anyone that could learn behind Fred , or good enough to back him up...

I think he did and it was Landry Shamet.

[Ricardo del Rio]

That is 2 bits of information. You are undervaluing your contributions.

Actually, the second line was a belated add on and I failed to correct the first line.

Call me crazy, but I think Brett might have a shot.

[Stickboy46]

I think he did and it was Landry Shamet.

I'm always going to wonder if Landry could have provided a needed spark for us in the MVC and NCAA

[WstateU]

Call me crazy, but I think Brett might have a shot.

Take your pick... :)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6QEDb3xzdec

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2B6SjMh_w&autoplay=1