The road to 6th place

[Aargh]

I think DU is toast. Plus, they have probably the toughest schedule the rest of the season. WSU passes them for 7th. That leaves UE and SIU to pass. Both have fairly tough schedules to finish and both look to win 2 more games the rest of the season.

If that prediction holds up, then WSU has to win 4 more Valley games to get past SIU. I have no idea how the tie-breakers work but to avoid a tie-breaker with SIU, we need 2 more wins than SIU in the rest f the season.

UE looks too good to have an implosion and self-destruct. Best-case right now is passing SIU and DU and tying Evansville.

[newshock1234]

If we could pull out a win in Evansville next Saturday that would be huge

[shockar25]

While this scenario is far from impossible--the way I see it, we need to just take one game at a time, and count our blessings that it's looking fairly likely that we'll do better than the predicted 9th place finish, and better yet--we're on pace to beat last year's Valley win total and overall win total. Modest progress, but progress none the less.

The rest is just 'gravy' to me, but avoiding that dreaded play-in game would be nice.

[ShoxFan45]

Maybe I'm confused but don't we just have to beat Missouri State, Indiana State, Drake, and SIU?

Why do we have to tie Evansville since being sixth gets us out of the play-in round?

[KC Shox]

This is a pipedream unless the Shox can win on the road, which by the way they are 0'fer in the last 16 road games. Don't even count ISU Blue as a gimme either. They played UNI tough today at home so that game is not in the bank. One game-at-a-time people.

[wsubball96]

I think the win today by Evansville is going to end up forcing us to win at SIU in the last regular season game enabling us to win the tiebreaker for 6th.

[ShockerFever]

If we could pull out a win in Evansville next Saturday that would be huge

Uh, forgetting about Indiana State on Wednesday?

Losing to ISU blue on Wednesday makes the EU game absolutely meaningless. As KC said, one game at a time please.

[shockerfan]

Personally I don't see us finishing any higher than 7th. But telling fans to take it 1 game at a time is stupid. There is no reason different scenarios can't be discussed on a fan message board.

[ShockerGorilla]

Personally I don't see us finishing any higher than 7th. But telling fans to take it 1 game at a time is stupid. There is no reason different scenarios can't be discussed on a fan message board.

That's right. If there is a possiblility, you gotta have hope.

[Aargh]

WSU doesn't have to tie UE. It just looks like a strong possibility if WSU moves above 7th.

Winning at InSU is an important part of any scenario that moves WSU out of the bottom 4. Even though InSU has a horrible record, they are not as bad as their record indicates. Their conference wins are over UNI and IlSU. The W over UNI was in Baja Canada. InSU is the only team to beat UNI and did it on the road.

[forevershockerfan]

We are playing with confidence most games at home. However, where will we finish? This team is fully capable on winning on the road. However, we HAVE to get our first road win to build on it. We have some winnable road games on the horizen and the sooner we right this ship on the road, the better our finish will be which would also improve our seeding in St. Louie.

[newshock1234]

If we could pull out a win in Evansville next Saturday that would be huge

Uh, forgetting about Indiana State on Wednesday?

Losing to ISU blue on Wednesday makes the EU game absolutely meaningless. As KC said, one game at a time please.

Im not forgetting them, but im saying it is huge because of possible tie breakers

[WuDrWu]

This week is huge.


The way the schedule sets up, there are huge implications in the results of the next 7 days.

We could be locked into the play in game if we don't find a way to win on the road. We also could be tied for 6th by Wednesday.

While admittedly unlikely, you do not have to stretch your imagination at all to think that we could take the floor at Evansville with the chance to win and be tied for 5th (with the tiebreaker over the Aces) and a game clear of Drake and SIU, or even lose and be in a 3 way with Drake and SIU for 6th.

The only thing that seems likely at this point is that something will be surprising by the end of the week. Let's hope it's WSU getting their first 2 Valley road wins and not SIU and Evansville making a run at 2nd place.

[ELI THE SHOCK]

Re: The road to 6th place

I think DU is toast. Plus, they have probably the toughest schedule the rest of the season. WSU passes them for 7th. That leaves UE and SIU to pass. Both have fairly tough schedules to finish and both look to win 2 more games the rest of the season.

If that prediction holds up, then WSU has to win 4 more Valley games to get past SIU. I have no idea how the tie-breakers work but to avoid a tie-breaker with SIU, we need 2 more wins than SIU in the rest f the season.

UE looks too good to have an implosion and self-destruct. Best-case right now is passing SIU and DU and tying Evansville.

I like my DU toast with peanut butter! :D :D

[Ricardo del Rio]

Personally I don't see us finishing any higher than 7th. But telling fans to take it 1 game at a time is stupid. There is no reason different scenarios can't be discussed on a fan message board.

Here is my scenario. If the Shockers win out, they avoid the play-in round.