Ok - we lost a game. So let's melt down and get it out of the system.

[proshox]

So we are 0 and 4 against significant competition. So what does it take to get over the hump. My melt down thoughts are:

1) Zach has to improve his shot selection. Too many possessions wasted early.

2) Landry has to improve his off ball positioning. He gets into "no-man''s land" where he isn't really helping and is also unable to close out effectively.

3) Both of the above have to swing the ball faster. Especially against a zone.

4) Coach could use timeouts to help this team

5) I am not sold on DS. He can get the occasional steal, but in the half court he gets blown by too often. On offense he hasn't really shown the ability to settle the team down

6) CF has to make at least one more play per half. Shot / assist / whatever. Too much time deferring, but item 3 is part of this problem

7) DW and SM have to eliminate the bone head fouls.

8) Get the ball inside more often

[Ta Town Shocker]

Need to be better at defense, rebounding, and playing angry.

[Singeril]

Don't melt down...just get tougher and execute.

[Dan]

We gotta win st. Louis, bottom line. At this point, we're just like the rest of the Valley, playing for one weekend.

[shocks771]

This league is so frustrating. We only have one more regular season game to look forward to which is three weeks from now and then we have to wait four more weeks after that for St Louis. Hate being in a one bid conference.

[proshox]

This league is so frustrating. We only have one more regular season game to look forward to which is three weeks from now and then we have to wait four more weeks after that for St Louis. Hate being in a one bid conference.

If we were in five bid league all indications are we would lose a bunch more games.

We are a few developmental steps away from beating top tier teams.

I think the talent is there. Just got to get a little better in multiple areas.

[wusphlash]

So we are 0 and 4 against significant competition. So what does it take to get over the hump. My melt down thoughts are:

1) Zach has to improve his shot selection. Too many possessions wasted early.

2) Landry has to improve his off ball positioning. He gets into "no-man''s land" where he isn't really helping and is also unable to close out effectively.

3) Both of the above have to swing the ball faster. Especially against a zone.

4) Coach could use timeouts to help this team

5) I am not sold on DS. He can get the occasional steal, but in the half court he gets blown by too often. On offense he hasn't really shown the ability to settle the team down

6) CF has to make at least one more play per half. Shot / assist / whatever. Too much time deferring, but item 3 is part of this problem

7) DW and SM have to eliminate the bone head fouls.

8) Get the ball inside more often

Will agree either all but #4.
Also, getting the ball inside is okay if we learn to finish. Of course that is dependent upon us making better passes inside.

[DwShock]

Break Zone defense.

[WSUwatcher]

I predict that the sun will rise tomorrow.

Given the weather and the forecast, however, who knows whether we'll see it -- which makes it a perfect metaphor for SN after a tough night for the Shocks.

[WheatShock]

We have to learn to beat a quality zone.

That's been our achillies heel for quite a while now. This team has enough good shooters that we should be able to punish teams for attempting to zone us. It's a mystery to me why we don't seem to be able to do that. We could barely even get a 3 point attempt against ISU last night which should be a piece of cake.

[asiseeit]

I am as big a fan as any of you but I am also a realist. I watch
most all of the games involving ranked teams and we simply
don't have their kind of talent. MM is a decent player but still
has a lot of room to improve before being considered as an NBA
draft pick. Lets face the truth. We don't have one player that
could start for KU let alone leave for the NBA. Having said all
that I do expect us to win the remaining regular season games
and play the turds in the MVC finals simply because the rest of
the league is so poor. As I stated before last nights game we will
have to have our A game to beat them. If we make it to the dance
we will have to have our A game every game to advance. HAVE to
move the ball around the perimeter and in/out much quicker/sharper
than we do versus a zone and find a couple players with enough
explosiveness to attack the basket off their dribble.

[vancedave56]

We do need to get the ball inside more - especially when we have an off shooting night. Morris, Willis, and Nurger (not to mention Duff) have the ability to score inside, draw fouls, and get to the line. We are too "guard happy." We have the ability to hit 3's, but inside needs to be a focus also - balance.

Tougher on defense and the boards.

Do need to swing the ball quicker against the zone - that little hesitation is too much.

We still need a leader. I actually believe CF is getting there; I have noticed a little difference the last 2 games - he needs to go ahead and put it all out there.

Illinois State is talented, and they have more experience than we do. Last night they shot it very well and would have beaten a lot of teams - especially when the other team shoots poorly - thus the need to go inside much more. We have numbers inside.