Shockers vs. Emporia State game thread

[Aargh]

As I recall - gotta set some background.

ESU had a guy who was nailing open 3's in the first half. I imagine there was some emphasis on covering him at half-time.

Opening the second half, he nailed another open 3 and immediately Hatch checked in and Hawk got some bench coaching.

From listening to the game, it seemed that Hatch was doing a better job on D than Hawk.

[newshock1234]

Stutz has some work to do, but i felt that just his presence in the middle will be a difference maker

[mulligan]

I saw something in Durley I haven't seen before. About the 7:18 mark of the second half he picked up a cheesy foul because Toure let his man go. After picking up the foul he not-so-kindly told Toure that is unacceptable. Leadership from Durley..... Awesome.

[Aargh]

In the post-game with Marshall, he wants to play Ellis at SF. Then in the post-game call-in, they're working for an 8-man rotation.

The battle for PT is going to be pretty tough.

Last year Marshall kept trying to send Durley a message. This year, I think the message is being sent to Hawk.

[Ed Harley]

Who would have guessed that Hatch would step up and be the defensive stopper?

I agree that quicker guys will eat his lunch but he was able to shut down #22 after he scored most of his points on AJ.

Then, late in the game, they put Hatch on #24 and he didn't score again.

Hatch's D was the thing that surprised me the most tonight.

[forevershockerfan]

Here's the deal . We have some quality depth. "Condition and practice" HCGM just said for the Shocks this week. Ramon "windex" Clemente had 14 bounds. If he is grabbing the rebound, stay clear or he may throw you arm out of socket. Graham was 'right down the Hatch' tonight with solid play. Did I not say to watch Reggie "the stilt" Chamberlin? Both he and Hannah can stroke it. I was surprised they did not play together much if at all tonight. Torray Torray Toure' was smooth like silk and looked like a Soph. already tonight. Kyles made the pass of the night and will get plenty of minutes. AJ was like a Hawk finding lanes to drive.

Now for the inside game. Few teams will have 2 Centers that can stroke it from the outside like Durley and Stutz. Who knows who will win this battle because they are both assets. Clemente will be a catalyst this year. We really missed not having Ellis and Mantas tonight.

Free throws, Free throws, Free throws!! We will do better. Tonight we only made 5 trays and normally we will have more. This will be a very fun team to watch and by Valley time, they will look much more seasoned than tonight. The 1st half--I was thinking of the song by "3 Dawg Night" called "I just want to be your 1 Man Band" as Emporia's #22 was shooting the lights out. These Shockers will be better than advertised!!!!!!!

[1972Shocker]

At times we looked great and at other times not so hot.

Not unusual for a young team to be inconsistent.

Graham definitely put some work in on his body since last year.

Hannah and Chamberlain solid at the point.

Stutz will have problems with smaller, quicker post players for now. Also needs to toughen up on the boards.

JT with a very nice assist to Graham cutting through the lane. I could hardly believe my eyes. JT did get a charge in the 2nd half when he should have kicked the ball out (Stutz was wide open), but overall much better discipline by JT and he is a load to stop inside.

I'm confident free throw shooting will come around.

Probably more drop off than normal with 2nd team since Mantas and Aaron did not play.

Still optimistic that we will do better than projected in the MVC.

:goshocks:

[mulligan]

Aargh, I agree. You would have thought playing against Cooz all last year, Hawk's defense would be nails. At this point his defense is suspect. You sure can tell who has taken a game time tongue thrashing from Marshall. Durley, Clemente and Hatch play to please the coach. The others have much to learn.

[1972Shocker]

I'm glad no one was injured due to the wet spot from the roof leak near mid-court.

I assume that will be fixed once the rain stops.

[shockerfan]

I was pretty happy with the shooting (other than FT's), we did well holding on to the ball for a bunch of young players and our quickness.

We definately need to work on defense (yeah we held them to a fairly low percentage, but there was quite a few defensive breakdowns tonight), rebounding and FT's.


All in all, I can see the potential and the brand of basketball will be more exciting this year at times. And I didn't expect to have very good defense cause that is something Freshmen usually take the longest to learn. Especially young players who are so skilled offensively. The competition gets tougher Sunday and EXTREMELY tough just a week and a half after that. Lots to work on, but quite a few positives for a young team.

[kcshocker11]

We definately need to work on defense (yeah we held them to a fairly low percentage, but there was quite a few defensive breakdowns tonight), rebounding and FT's.

I think HGCM said 39% :posterwu: 8)

[shockerfan]

I saw something in Durley I haven't seen before. About the 7:18 mark of the second half he picked up a cheesy foul because Toure let his man go. After picking up the foul he not-so-kindly told Toure that is unacceptable. Leadership from Durley..... Awesome.

I also liked the rebound he went after in the 2nd half where it was Stutz and 1 or 2 others bobbling it and it looked like ESU was going to come away with it. JT just jumped in the middle and snatched it from all of them. Very aggressive overall tonight. He also played alot smarter for the most part. Those charges he drew were great! Hopefully he can keep it up as the competition becomes stiffer.

[shockerfan]

We definately need to work on defense (yeah we held them to a fairly low percentage, but there was quite a few defensive breakdowns tonight), rebounding and FT's.

I think HGCM said 39% :posterwu: 8)

Yep, the percentage was decent. But even Marshall mentioned that they did miss some open shots too. We play defense like that against a good team and we would be in trouble. The intensity was good, just didn't play very smart defense. But again, what more can you expect from a team of mostly freshmen and JC transfers in their 1st year.

[pinstripers]

I was shocked by Hatch's play. He will get time. Stutz has lots of promise, needs to board some. I can see what all the fuss about Murry was.

[SubGod22]

I did feel sorry for #50 after JT threw down and then landed on his chest. But I was glad to see JT didn't hurt himself when he landed on him either.