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Originally posted by FadedCrown
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I like the press we're getting, but this team is so much more than Shamet and McDuffie, they have no idea -
We have so much depth, even SHJ can start right now on some teams cough...Rutgers....coughOriginally posted by Dan View PostComment
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Longest active streak without having a player foul out: Wichita State (28 games)
This surprised me at first, but Gregg is usually very cautious with foul trouble and likes to use his bench liberally.Comment
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"Scouting Reports: The Strengths, Weaknesses and X-Factors of College Basketball's Top 10 Teams" - Sports Illustrated
By The SI Staff
November 07, 2017
https://www.si.com/college-basketbal...zona-villanova
"SI’s college basketball projection system, now in its fourth year, simulates the season 10,000 times and then ranks teams from 1 to 351 according to their average efficiency. That’s how we got to the top 10, a group of college basketball’s elite programs that includes four Sweet Sixteen teams from a year ago and four of the last six national champions.
The forecast, built by economist Dan Hanner and SI writers Chris Johnson and Jeremy Fuchs, starts with an assessment of every player. For offense, the system projects efficiency and shot volume based on past performance, recruiting rankings, development curves for similar Division I players over the past 14 seasons, the quality of a player's teammates and his coach's ability to maximize talent. That collection of data is weighted based on the team's rotation—including scouting intel on who's expected to play—then used to produce each team's projected offensive efficiency. (The simulations account for variance in individual performances and for potential injuries.) Team defensive efficiency projections are based on the players' projected rebound, steal and block percentages; their height (taller frontcourts make for stingier D); their experience (veterans have fewer lapses); and their coaches' defensive résumés.
Below, SI’s college basketball writers size up the top 10 teams according to our projections, introducing the players that should be household names this winter and singling out an X-factor on each team that could prove to be the deciding factor in who cuts down the nets in San Antonio next spring....
4. WICHITA STATE
SI’s Projections: Ninth in offensive efficiency (119.0); Sixth in defensive efficiency (92.6); T-First in AAC (15–3)
What You Need to Know: In 10 years under coach Gregg Marshall, the Shockers have developed into one of the premier March giant slayers, but this year they’ll enter the season as one of the giants. Wichita State brings back its top eight scorers from the squad that won 31 games, and it should extend its four-year league-title streak this season even though the team has left the Missouri Valley for the more competitive American Athletic Conference.
No AAC team—including Cincinnati—can come close to the Shockers’ perimeter tandem of sophomore guard Landry Shamet and junior wing Markis McDuffie. Shamet is a smooth pick-and-roll practitioner who held his own against Kentucky’s lottery-bound backcourt of De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk in the second round of the NCAA tournament last March, while McDuffie is a versatile defender who led the team in scoring (11.5) and rebounding (5.7) last season. Both players are recovering from foot injuries, with Shamet expected to return in mid-November (from a broken foot) and McDuffie in mid-December (from a stress fracture).
In the paint, senior Shaquille Morris gives Wichita State a left-tackle-sized (6' 8'', 279 pounds) frontcourt linchpin who is known for grabbing rebounds and protecting the rim. Improved shooting from inside the arc—the Shockers ranked 120th in that category in 2016–17 (50.5%)—could be the key to earning a second Final Four bid in five years.
X-Factor: Zach Brown has spent his first three seasons focused on defense, but due to injuries, the 6' 6" Houston native will have to shoulder a heavier offensive load, especially in early nonconference matchups against Baylor and Oklahoma, and at the Maui Invitational. — C.J...."
6. CINCINNATI
SI’s Projections: 19th in offensive efficiency (116.7); Third in defensive efficiency (92.2); T-First in AAC (15–3)
What You Need to Know: Toughness is a hallmark of Mick Cronin’s teams, and no player better exemplifies this than senior forward Gary Clark. Last March he had half a front tooth knocked out in an AAC tournament semifinal win over UConn. Clark tossed it to a trainer and went back into the game soon after. This fall Clark, who has started 101 of the 103 games he’s played for the Bearcats, will anchor a team that has three starters back after winning 30 games for only the second time in school history. (The 2001–02 team went 31–4.) Last season the 6' 8" Clark averaged 10.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 52.9% from the field, and though he needs to improve his outside game (he shot 28.6% from three-point range), he has no problem mixing it up inside against bigger players.
Clark isn’t flashy, and he’s often overshadowed by his higher-scoring teammates: forward Kyle Washington and Jacob Evans, a smooth wing with a reliable three-point shot (41.8% last season) and the potential to win league player-of-the-year honors. In the backcourt, 6' 5" sophomore Jarron Cumberland will build on an impressive first season in which he shot 49.% from the field. Together they make the Bearcats the most balanced team of Cronin’s tenure. Cincinnati’s roster is so stacked—and so well‑rounded—that an eighth straight NCAA tournament bid and a place in the Elite Eight seem all but inevitable.
X-Factor: Cane Broome was the Northeast Conference player of the year in 2015–16 (23.1 ppg) before transferring from Sacred Heart, and though he won’t reach those numbers in the AAC, he should easily replace Troy Caupain’s production (10.5 points, 4.6 rebounds in ’16–17). — Joan Niesen
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Let's do it!
"You Just Want to Slap The #### Outta Some People"Comment
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So glad I don't have to hear "Yeah, but we just don't know how good they are." anymore. Well, except from some of the locals... :stupid:Originally posted by wichshock65 View PostComment
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"BPI has Wichita State in title game (and says beware UNC again)" - ESPN
Paul Sabin, ESPN Analytics
Posted: 11/08/17, 9:00 AM CT
"The 2017-18 college basketball season begins Friday, our preseason Basketball Power Index (BPI) rankings and projections debuted last week (and can be explored at espn.com/bpi), and now it's time to further dissect the numbers and make some bold predictions.
It's important to remember that the BPI and all of its derivative metrics offer probability of outcomes, never predicting things with 100 percent certainty. As fans, we're seldom rational, so let's ignore the uncertainties for now and dive in:
...Last season, Gonzaga made its transition from the darling Cinderella of yesteryear to an NCAA runner-up. Though Wichita State has a Final Four on its résumé (losing to eventual champion Louisville in the 2013 semifinals), look for the Shockers to follow a similar script to the Zags. BPI gives the Shockers a 17 percent chance to get to the title game, the highest of any team.
Who might the Shockers face in the national championship?
BPI's projections give the best chances to Villanova (15.3 percent), Kansas (15.1 percent), Purdue (8.7 percent), Cincinnati (8 percent) and North Carolina (7.8 percent), and there's plenty of reason to fear the Tar Heels on that list...."Comment
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How can you not like BPI after reading that?
Of course, a 17% chance of getting to the championship game means 1/6 of the time you make it and 5/6 of the time you don't, but still, somebody -- two somebodies, actually -- WILL be there come April, and who could have imagined something like this when Marshall arrived ten years ago? What a ride it's been, and there's good reason to believe the best is yet to come. Let's just hope the Shocks get healthy and stay healthy (the way they didn't, unfortunately, when Ron and Fred were seniors), and then let the chips fall where they may.
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"Jayhawks, Shockers, Wildcats, oh my! Kansas a hoops hotbed" - The Virginian-Pilot
By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer
Nov 8, 2017 Updated 1 hr ago
https://pilotonline.com/sports/baske...843576d7a.html
5a0363a3af8da.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C1529.jpg
"LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — There are more routes to the Final Four this season than simply Tobacco Road.
In fact, the path might go through the Sunflower State....
The Shockers have every reason to think they'll be better.
After all, they return every starter from a team that went 31-5 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That includes NBA prospects Landry Shamet and Markis McDuffie, both of whom are out for a month with foot injuries, and former Jayhawks sharp-shooter Conner Frankamp.
It's hardly a surprise that coach Gregg Marshall's team is expected to challenge Cincinnati for the American Athletic Conference title in its first season since leaving the Missouri Valley.
"There is a big target on our back," McDuffie said. "Everyone wants to beat us now. I wouldn't say it's a lot of pressure, but we are definitely the team that everyone wants to eat."...
If the Jayhawks, Shockers and Wildcats can all do that, it could make for an interesting season.
Perhaps an even more interesting March Madness."
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"College Basketball Preview: 10 key story lines for the season" - NorthJersey.Com
by John Rowe, Staff Writer
Published 2:05 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2017
"...Ready to shock
Should we be surprised anymore when Wichita State makes a deep NCAA tournament run?
The Shockers don’t have the pedigree of Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and other blue bloods, but they have all their starters, including Paterson native Markis McDuffie, back from a 31-5 team. Look out...."
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"No. 7 Wichita State to begin first season in AAC (Nov 10, 2017)" - FOX Sports
Nov 8, 2017 at 10:23p ET
Seventh-ranked Wichita State arrives for its first season in the American Athletic Conference as the team to beat.
The Shockers return all five starters from last season and are expected to have talented sophomore point guard Landry Shamet ready for Friday’s opener against Missouri-Kansas City.
Shamet underwent foot surgery this summer to address a stress fracture. He played 12 minutes in the Shockers’ exhibition win over Division II Newman on Monday. Shamet hit all three of his shots and finished with eight points.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, obviously, trying to figure out how to progress back into things,” Shamet told reporters Monday. “We talked about a 12-minute cap, just get out there a little bit, that way I’m not just going from 0-to-100 playing in these real games.”
Wichita State scored 113 points against Newman and looks like it will have a potent, multi-pronged offense for a season with high expectations.
“I was pleased with the way we played,” Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said after the exhibition game...."Comment
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"College Basketball’s 2017-18 National Player of the Year Will Be One of These 18 Candidates"
Nov 9, 2017 at 8:30AM EST
Landry Shamet, Wichita State
Speaking of underdogs, everybody in the national college basketball media loves Wichita State. EVERYBODY. I’m probably overstepping my bounds here, but I value transparency so I’m going to say it anyway: You can’t get membership in the U.S. Basketball Writers Association without declaring your love for the Shockers first. It’s true. I was kicked out of the USBWA for three years because I wrote “Wichita State is OK, I guess” during the team’s run to the Final Four in 2013. Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart facing off in the 2011 Final Four was every college basketball writer’s wet dream made reality, and we were desperate to recapture that feeling after Stevens left Butler for the Celtics and Smart’s VCU empire fizzled out before he bolted to take the Texas job. Now that head coach Gregg Marshall (a.k.a. Bizarro Tom Crean) is returning basically his entire 31-win roster from last season—led by Shamet, who was a stud in the 2017 tournament—and the Shockers are playing in a power conference (sort of) following their move to the AAC, the Wichita State hype machine is in full force. That’s fantastic news for Shamet’s POY candidacy.
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We should probably introduce this guy to Doug Gottlieb.Originally posted by CBB_Fan View Post"College Basketball’s 2017-18 National Player of the Year Will Be One of These 18 Candidates"
Nov 9, 2017 at 8:30AM EST
Landry Shamet, Wichita State
Speaking of underdogs, everybody in the national college basketball media loves Wichita State. EVERYBODY. I’m probably overstepping my bounds here, but I value transparency so I’m going to say it anyway: You can’t get membership in the U.S. Basketball Writers Association without declaring your love for the Shockers first. It’s true. I was kicked out of the USBWA for three years because I wrote “Wichita State is OK, I guess” during the team’s run to the Final Four in 2013. Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart facing off in the 2011 Final Four was every college basketball writer’s wet dream made reality, and we were desperate to recapture that feeling after Stevens left Butler for the Celtics and Smart’s VCU empire fizzled out before he bolted to take the Texas job. Now that head coach Gregg Marshall (a.k.a. Bizarro Tom Crean) is returning basically his entire 31-win roster from last season—led by Shamet, who was a stud in the 2017 tournament—and the Shockers are playing in a power conference (sort of) following their move to the AAC, the Wichita State hype machine is in full force. That’s fantastic news for Shamet’s POY candidacy.The future's so bright - I gotta wear shades.
We like to cut down nets and get sized for championship rings.Comment
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Can you say “bitter”?Comment
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