WSU Versus Illinois State Predictions and Pregame Discussions

[1972Shocker]

If Eric does in fact play head to head against those guys, I hope they wear pads. On second thought, maybe Eric can play the same role as John Wilkins did against Garrett Stutz a few years back. You know...take a play right out of the Redbirds handbook. They should be fine with it.

As long as he takes their guys out and leaves his teammates unscathed.

[wusphlash]

Darral, of course, can play the 4 but as @Aargh points out he is not exactly proficient at guarding the perimeter and he would most likely be on McIntosh or Hawkins if he does play the 4. I don't see that as being something 3G will want to do a lot of if he can avoid it.

Darral guarding Hawkins shouldn't be that hard, he just has to hang around the 3 point line. Doesn't have to cover a lot of ground.

[1972Shocker]

From the GoShocker.com Game Notes:

This is only the 7th time the Valley race has produced multiple 5-0 starts and just the 4th time that they've gone head-to-head. Ominously for the Shocks the home team won all 4 of those previous matchups.

OTOH the Shockers like being the 1st team to do something good.

[WuDrWu]

It is interesting, and embarrassing, reading feedback here about our board. I agree, it doesn't paint the prettiest picture. I'm pretty sure we've sold out a game or two since 2009, but even if you can count that on one hand, in eight years, it's sad.

The thing to remember about Bloomington-Normal is this: It's the fair-weather capital of the world. Like Evansville and Indy St, we struggle to consistently get good crowds, even with good teams, because people just don't buy in. When we struggle, there's instantly other options to do. When we're good it's "too good to be true." Or, "it's on TV so why bother?" Or, "there's 3 snowflakes out there, can't go to the game."

It's unfortunate, but it is what it is. Having U of I right down the road doesn't help either, as there are a lot of Illini fans in B-N. Oh well. But those are just excuses really. The reality is, it's awfully hard to pack 'em into the arena when you haven't been to the tournament in 19 years. And there are a lot of folks who've given up and believe we are now a football school anyway.

Thus are the joys of ISU fandom :)

As good a fan as there is, at any school, including ours. Nice to hear from you @Phantom:. Good luck Saturday and the rest of the season.

You and GORL (among other ISU fans) deserve some success. Great people, great fans.

[WuDrWu]

I suppose Illinois State might play 7-0, 215 So. Center David Ndiaye although he has only played in 8 games this year and has not been that productive. Not sure he is even available at this point.

David, unless I'm mistaken and please correct me if I am, just became eligible and has played in every game since that time.

Not saying he's Hakeem by any stretch, but he's more than serviceable, especially at 7'0".

[1972Shocker]

David, unless I'm mistaken and please correct me if I am, just became eligible and has played in every game since that time.

Not saying he's Hakeem by any stretch, but he's more than serviceable, especially at 7'0".

That looks to be the case. He hs played right at 10 minutes in each of the past 3 games but he has played as much as 17 minutes in a couple of the previous 5 games. Doesn't appear that he is much of a scoring threat but he will get some rebounds and his length is bound to be of value defensively I woud think.

[wufan]

David, unless I'm mistaken and please correct me if I am, just became eligible and has played in every game since that time.

Not saying he's Hakeem by any stretch, but he's more than serviceable, especially at 7'0".

He was injured to start the season. He's a good, not great 7 footer. He will cause some match-up problems down the road.

[shocks771]

The thing I find hilarious about the ISU message board is how cocky and confident they are in a team who hasn't done a damn thing in almost 20 years. They have a good team this year, but it's not like they have been world beaters.

The key to this game in my opinion will be how we handle their zone defense. In our losses to them over the past few years we have handled their man to man defense well, but we have gone on prolonged scoring droughts against their zone. We have more shooters and better ball movement this year than we have had in the past so I'm hoping we handle the zone much better. If we do we win, if not we will be coming home with a loss. Going to be an exciting game, can't wait!

[ShockerFever]

The thing I find hilarious about the ISU message board is how cocky and confident they are in a team who hasn't done a damn thing in almost 20 years. They have a good team this year, but it's not like they have been world beaters.

That's the scary part. Imagine how deplorable they would be if they actually were relevant and won anything.

[ShockerFever]

I also love how these Super Bowl tards think a win for them tomorrow automatically dethrones WSU from the top. Last I checked it was an 18 game season and unless those morons think they're going 18-0 in the Valley, this game won't decide ****. Especially given Illinois State's track record, there's lots of chances out there for flopping and dropping. WSU lost to ISU last year. Did Illinois State win the Valley? WSU lost to UNI in 2015. Did UNI win the Valley? WSU lost to freaking Drake in 2012. Did Drake win the Valley?

But they will at least get to storm the court if they win, just like the underdogs (Vegas has them at +3 lol) they are.

[AndShock]

Spoiler alert for the rest of the season: Wichita State wins tomorrow, ISUr fans lose all their cockiness and admits Wichita State is still the king of the MVC. ISUr then beats up on some crappy MVC teams and ISUr fans will predict a win when they come to Koch. WSU wins and ISUr fans lose their confidence again and admit WSU is the king of the MVC. ISUr then beats up on some crappy MVC teams and then ISUr fans will predict a win on Sunday in St. Louis which they will also lose.

[Rollbird5]

That looks to be the case. He hs played right at 10 minutes in each of the past 3 games but he has played as much as 17 minutes in a couple of the previous 5 games. Doesn't appear that he is much of a scoring threat but he will get some rebounds and his length is bound to be of value defensively I woud think.

He had a stress fracture in his foot to start the year. Have to wonder if he would have made enough of a difference early in the year to turn a couple close losses into wins as we really lacked big man depth with him out. Depending on the foul situation he'll play 10-15 minutes. Good rim protector and will make smaller guards alter their shots or think twice about going all the way to the hoop like any team that has a 7 footer by the hoop. He's improving at rebounding as well. Unless he's wide open by the hoop he won't contribute much on the offensive end.

[Aargh]

Those couple of close losses seem to have resulted from late-game breakdowns. IlSU appeared to have trouble playing past 35 minutes earlier in the season.

[AZ Shocker]

...what if Coach started our regular 5 but instead swapped Hamilton as the stating 5. You know to absorb fouls the first half as refs adjust. Would we be up or down 10 at halftime???

Then insert Nurger and ShaQ 2nd half. I often wondered certain stategies like this sometimes. Ahhh anyways...back to watching hockey. Lol

[Phantom]

As good a fan as there is, at any school, including ours. Nice to hear from you @Phantom:. Good luck Saturday and the rest of the season.

You and GORL (among other ISU fans) deserve some success. Great people, great fans.

Thanks Wu, I appreciate that.

Sure would be nice to have elevated success in hoops again, like you guys have achieved. We've been stuck in the "just good enough not to suck" level for the last decade, and while it's certainly better than losing, it's still that no man's land feeling.

One at a time though, and it starts with the big one tonight. Best of luck to both teams. It'll be a good showcase for the national TV audience. Hardfought, oldschool college hoops at its best.