WSU vs ISU (red) thread

[WuDrWu]

A lack of confidence honestly doesn't surprise me. Marshall demands a lot and it's a tough balance between submitting to his style of coaching, which he demands, and still being able to carry the confidence, almost swagger he wants.

What I don't get are the lapses of defensive focus. Very un-Marshall team like....even with youth.

Everyone wants/expects to win. I'm no different, but realistically, expecting more than 15-4 was being terribly optimistic.

[JayPak]

This schedule has made it difficult to improve. So much fool's gold between real games where you would potentially learn something about what works and doesn't work against teams the play defense.

Spot-on. But the flip side is that you can try new things against a weak schedule without taking a loss if the new things don't work.

[pinstripers]

"Their kenpom.com ranking of No. 27 remains strong. WSU needs more and outside of 14 straight wins, I don’t know what helps enough. "

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/sports/college...#storylink=cpy

[William]

Offensively Cotton, Wessel and the bigs took what came to them (bigs didn't shoot much outside of the lane)
This team could do the same, Duff, Shamet, ShaqNurgWill inside, and everyone else take easy looks when they come.

[CBB_Fan]

I think we need to to win the MVC tournament now. Not numbers wise maybe, but I think we've failed the eye rest too many times. We are a top 10 team whenever we play a dog, better perhaps than any time in the past. But we haven't shown that at all against higher level competition. It would be different if these were tight games played at a high level, but they are showing a team that can lose its composure against anyone NIT level or above.

The other route is to win out for a while and show we've fixed our composure issues. It isn't impossible but we won't get a lot of chances to show growth. Good games against bad teams will just get discounted.

[wusphlash]

Still looking for a leader from the guard corps. Recent history gives us Malcolm, Fred and Ron, all of whom would take control of the team. The only one I see trying to be vocal and move guys around is Austin and frankly, he's not yet ready to lead this team.

I'm not to worried about the zones. I think our offensive woes stem more from being behind than what defense is being played. Look at the poor shooting in our 4 losses and you'll see us missing shots when trailing that we usually make when we're ahead. Mental toughness, refuse to lose, etc. Of course, some decent entry passes would help as well.

It's downright remarkable that this is the first time in 4 seasons that we're not in first place. Maybe being in second wake some guys up. It will be interesting to see which direction this team goes.

[ShockTalk]

Still looking for a leader from the guard corps. Recent history gives us Malcolm, Fred and Ron, all of whom would take control of the team. The only one I see trying to be vocal and move guys around is Austin and frankly, he's not yet ready to lead this team.

I'm not to worried about the zones. I think our offensive woes stem more from being behind than what defense is being played. Look at the poor shooting in our 4 losses and you'll see us missing shots when trailing that we usually make when we're ahead. Mental toughness, refuse to lose, etc. Of course, some decent entry passes would help as well.

It's downright remarkable that this is the first time in 4 seasons that we're not in first place. Maybe being in second wake some guys up. It will be interesting to see which direction this team goes.

And kick back out when a shot is not immediately there. Willis can be a black hole.

[shockmonster]

Just an idea. Everyone is concerned about the tourney. Why don't we just win next Tuesday?

[Shocker Mama]

Just an idea. Everyone is concerned about the tourney. Why don't we just win next Tuesday?

Good plan! A journey of a thousand miles....

[Ricardo del Rio]

Just an idea. Everyone is concerned about the tourney. Why don't we just win next Tuesday?

Pregnant idea.

(I have on good authority that ISR is going down to BU.)

[Bluzrover]

I had a good idea Ill State would beat the Shox Saturday but that doesn't ease my disappointment. When this team is forced to rely on its outside shooting to keep it in the game. I had a feeling their bigs would outplay our bigs and was worried about their shot blocking skills.

The Shockers are still a very solid team, with tons of talent and a very high ceiling, they were just exposed, again, by a better team. This won't be the last loss this team will suffer before the regular season is over but they won't lose but one or two more.

[Dan]

Shaq has been a major disappointment thus far.

[pie n eye]

When we learn that defense is as important as offense we'll be a much better team. If not, coach will have the "last laugh" (not that the outcome will humor him) on Darryl "80 points" Willis.

Congrats to Illinois State.

Too many veterans with unforced errors, too much hero ball, didnt value possession of the ball, etc.

Despite all that I honestly think we showed up way better than last year. Granted I haven't watched that game in a while. Maybe it was because I didn't expect that kind of performance from last years team whereas it's almost a foregone conclusion for this bunch.

The Valley is a grind. I know it's just so fun and cute to talk constant **** on the league but that only diminishes the teams accomplishments and makes it look worse when we lose.

[ShockingButTrue]

The Valley is a grind. I know it's just so fun and cute to talk constant **** on the league but that only diminishes the teams accomplishments and makes it look worse when we lose.

That's certainly the MO of most, if not all, of the chicken fans I know of. Relentlessly. And gotleeb too! There are also a few -ahem- locals as well. #Blowitoutyourass

[ShockingButTrue]

Everyone in the Valley is going to run a zone against us. They do this because they know we have superior athletes and they have to hang their hops that we have a cold shooting night, which happens to every team. Loyola would've beaten us had we missed a few more 3s. We just have to be better prepared against the zone going forward, especially when we have a rematch against the birds.

I won't name name's because that would be finger-pointing, but, Pitino is a legendary coach who wanted to test us in an area where we could possibly be exposed. His discernment proved to be on the money...



It was disappointing to watch our Shockers zone offense labor against the Cardinals as it did. It might be a flaw that they can't overcome this season. Might! Because in GGG I trust!