Shocks Land East Carolina Transfer

[Maggie]

The fact that we are recruiting out of our normal area and having some success at it does say something for our school, program, and the coaching staff.

The S16 run gave us a lot of recognition on a national basis, and players now know who we are where they might not have before the run.

CGM is here to take us to the next level, and it will be a nice ride.

Look I like this class a lot and think CGM is doing a great job but I do not think we have had success outside WSU's "comfort zone" – not, yet.

Nigeria, notwithstanding, I believe this class is primarily from areas where WSU should be strong, i.e. Texas (Murry, Kyles), Missouri (Stutz), and a KS Juco (Chamberlain). I think Hannah came out of a Florida Juco (I don't recall where he is from originally) and Blair is obviously from the South. The fact that we may get some recruits from the South speaks more to CGM's reputation than WSU's reputation.

While the Sweet 16 run did give WSU a lot of national recognition (as well as the good start and top ten ranking a couple of years ago) – I am not sure it, nationally anyway, has had much of an impact.

I think the more important point is the quality appears to be better.

[SubGod22]

Coach Marshall has a great reputation and it's hard not to like him. That's going to get him in on a lot of recruits. But then he can sell the hell out of WSU. Sold out arena. Crazed fans. Great tradition and passion for basketball here. Recent success. Strong conference. Fantastic facilities......

[WSUwatcher]

Hmmm

Wow! Big deal about this guy. He didn't even average more than 10 points a game during his tenure at ECU. :D

I suspect that our old sourpuss buddy may be trading on his hard-earned reputation as our self-appointed voice of doom to pull a few chains. Notice the wink?

[forevershockerfan]

In terms of a recruiting class that addresses the weaknesses and fills the voids and needs of the Season before, this could turn out to be one of the best Classes for a very long time. Last Season, we lacked shooters, scorers, quality depth along with more than our share of injuries.

When you include AJ, Gabe, and EO along with all of the others, these additions are beyond quite an accomplishment. However, we have to be aware that we are in a reloading and rebuilding stage which will take some time. We could very well get 17 wins this Season which would show some fine progress. The following Season is when I think we will get back to the Dance. This Season, we have wholesale changes coming off a tough year. We will miss PJ, Matt B., and PT. Therefore, it will be a fun year, a better year than last, but growing pains will occur. I'm with ShockRef. This was a very impressive year of quality recruiting by Coach Marshall and his Staff.

[MikeShox]

In terms of a recruiting class that addresses the weaknesses and fills the voids and needs of the Season before, this could turn out to be one of the best Classes for a very long time. Last Season, we lacked shooters, scorers, quality depth along with more than our share of injuries.

When you include AJ, Gabe, and EO along with all of the others, these additions are beyond quite an accomplishment. However, we have to be aware that we are in a reloading and rebuilding stage which will take some time. We could very well get 17 wins this Season which would show some fine progress. The following Season is when I think we will get back to the Dance. This Season, we have wholesale changes coming off a tough year. We will miss PJ, Matt B., and PT. Therefore, it will be a fun year, a better year than last, but growing pains will occur. I'm with ShockRef. This was a very impressive year of quality recruiting by Coach Marshall and his Staff.

\

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. However, for the upcoming season I am simply hoping for .500 or better with lots of thrilling moments and nothing too embarrassing. Then my next goal is for Coach Marshall to do what Coach Turgeon did. Keep increasing the victory totals every year. Coach Turgeon did so for 6 years before he finally went the other way. Not too many coaches can say they've accomplished 6 consecutive years of improved winning totals.

This group, if they are anywhere near what I believe them to be, will win so many games in the 2010 - 2011 season that it will be very difficult to continue the year by year improvement.

Regardless, all I want is for the team to constantly improve for years to come and for the season to start as soon as possible. Tomorrow would not be too soon. :wsu_posters:

[WSUwatcher]

Next year

There are definitely some significant losses from last year -- some in talent, mostly in experience.

But surely there's no doubt that the talent level is up, and probably way up in terms of just sheer raw talent and athleticism. That being the case, and considering how many tough breaks the Shocks had -- how many games they managed to lose that could easily have been won -- the Shocks could very well pick up 4-5 more wins just by staying healthy and not snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

By the way, for those who have successfully blocked it out, changing just four of last year's unlikely losses -- and there were at least four, and probably more -- to wins makes the Shocks a .500 team (15-15) going into St. Louis and almost certainly gets them out of the play-in round. A 17-18 win season next year is really not that large a reach, inexperience notwithstanding.

[Shox21]

To contain my excitement, I keep telling myself === Self, you must remember that as much improved as WSU appears to be, so appear some of the other MVC teams. We may need to throttle back a little about where we might wind up in relation to teams like CU and SIU and several others. They are not going to lie down and die for us. CU and SIU both have good looking classes coming in. I just hope our guys learn faster than their guys do (and I frevently hope our guys are better).

[rayc]

Another point to keep in mind is that the adjustment period for the new players should not take as long this season.

Last year 100% of the squad (and assistant coaches?) were looking at a new system, this year 50% of the squad is already experienced with it. That should accelerate the learning process.

[SubGod22]

Only 50% of the assistants were new to it. Ford and Grant were both with GM at Winthrop

[Maggie]

I am not so much worried about the new kids adjusting to CGM's system. I think that will go easier because it will be the only thing they know – it was probably more difficult for some of Turgeon's players (MB, notwithstanding) to adjust to CGM.

I am more concerned about the adjustment to the speed and intensity of D-1 ball. That could take some time.

[NYshocker]

In my view, this is the biggest number of ATHLETIC players that I have seen recruited here in one class. With the numnbers we've got it appears to me that HCM wants to be able to keep intense pressure on opponents for the whole game. If these guys are as good as they appear to be to me after just a couple of visits, the pressure will definitely be on. We will have to be patient but I think "watch out!".

[SFL]

Re: Next year

There are definitely some significant losses from last year -- some in talent, mostly in experience.

But surely there's no doubt that the talent level is up, and probably way up in terms of just sheer raw talent and athleticism. That being the case, and considering how many tough breaks the Shocks had -- how many games they managed to lose that could easily have been won -- the Shocks could very well pick up 4-5 more wins just by staying healthy and not snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

By the way, for those who have successfully blocked it out, changing just four of last year's unlikely losses -- and there were at least four, and probably more -- to wins makes the Shocks a .500 team (15-15) going into St. Louis and almost certainly gets them out of the play-in round. A 17-18 win season next year is really not that large a reach, inexperience notwithstanding.

I just peeked into the future and see 18 wins! You can take it to the bank... bet the farm, the house, the car and the wife.
:good:

You'll owe me $50 bucks! :yahoo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ_m6cdrvWU&feature=related

[Colorado Shock]

Welcome To Shockerland, Gabe! With all the new recruits we've got now, The Missouri Valley Conference will have something to fear. :wsu_posters:

[DUShock]

Welcome To Shockerland, Gabe! With all the new recruits we've got now, The Missouri Valley Conference will have something to fear. :wsu_posters:

Welcome to Shockernet Colorado Shock!

[Aargh]

One thing you've got to remember about this recruiting class - there was a lot of PT available, which is attractive to recruits. That helped Turgeon with his first class. It gets harder to keep recruiting the type of players Marshall got this year when PT is occupied by returning players.