They need to redo Toure's Jersey

[xazshox]

Murry

I like the way he can dribble low and change directions. Also, since someone mentioned Aubrey Sherrod, he holds the current record for frosh steals, a record Murry is about to break with 1-2 more steals. Murry is currently #3 in steals in the MVC.

[150946shox]

Ramon's Screen

Lest we forget, Ramon's screen gave Toure' just enough time to get the shot off. Watching the replay, Ramon barely got there just in time.

Great job Ramon! :posterwu:

[WSUwatcher]

Toughness

I'm delighted that Murry is willing to take shots like these, even more so that he's making them.

Still, as someone observed elsewhere, what would the reaction here have been if Laurie had scored, as he easily could have? Would people have been thrilled with Murry for hitting the shot or mad at him for losing his man?

Luckily, that's just a subject for speculation. But I have a hunch that among the coaching staff and in practice and game prep for UNI, this is being presented to TM as a lesson in the sort of toughness Jay Bilas talked about in his now celebrated column -- as in, tough players don't just take and hit big shots; they get right back and defense to make sure their man doesn't get a chance to retaliate quickly.

After all, hitting (and celebrating) what looks like the game winner can turn empty pretty fast if it ends up not being the game winner after all -- kind of like spiking the football just before you reach the end zone, only worse. I suspect Marshall is more forgiving today than he would have been if the Shocks had snatched defeat from the jaws of that apparent victory, but I'll bet he has made it clear to Murry and the others that in the future such euphoria should be saved until the last five seconds have been successfully navigated.

[Smooth007]

Re: Toughness

I'm delighted that Murry is willing to take shots like these, even more so that he's making them.

Still, as someone observed elsewhere, what would the reaction here have been if Laurie had scored, as he easily could have? Would people have been thrilled with Murry for hitting the shot or mad at him for losing his man?

Luckily, that's just a subject for speculation. But I have a hunch that among the coaching staff and in practice and game prep for UNI, this is being presented to TM as a lesson in the sort of toughness Jay Bilas talked about in his now celebrated column -- as in, tough players don't just take and hit big shots; they get right back and defense to make sure their man doesn't get a chance to retaliate quickly.

After all, hitting (and celebrating) what looks like the game winner can turn empty pretty fast if it ends up not being the game winner after all -- kind of like spiking the football just before you reach the end zone, only worse. I suspect Marshall is more forgiving today than he would have been if the Shocks had snatched defeat from the jaws of that apparent victory, but I'll bet he has made it clear to Murry and the others that in the future such euphoria should be saved until the last five seconds have been successfully navigated.

I agree the with your comments listed above but would like to mention that our coach had the option to call a time-out and get the team set up to play defense better. IMO, if that LAYUP had gone in, Toure would not be the only individual to question.

[WSUwatcher]

Hmmm

Nice hindsight, Mr. Bond, but the next time I see the defensive coach call a quick time out in a frantic last-second situation like that will probably be the first. Normally you don't give the offense a chance to figure out what they're doing and run a play as opposed to letting them take whatever desperation shot they can manufacture. Unfortunately, in this case, Murry's premature enjoyment allowed the shot not to be exactly a desperation heave.

Bottom line: keep up the big shots, Toure'. But in the future remember that tough players play till the clock expires, not till it says 5.1 seconds.

[Smooth007]

Re: Hmmm

Nice hindsight, Mr. Bond, but the next time I see the defensive coach call a quick time out in a frantic last-second situation like that will probably be the first. Normally you don't give the offense a chance to figure out what they're doing and run a play as opposed to letting them take whatever desperation shot they can manufacture. Unfortunately, in this case, Murry's premature enjoyment allowed the shot not to be exactly a desperation heave.

Bottom line: keep up the big shots, Toure'. But in the future remember that tough players play till the clock expires, not till it says 5.1 seconds.

I have seen several defensive "quality" college coaches call time-outs in that situation (Coach K and Bruce Weber to name 2 off hand) . After the basket was made, I immediately thought that we should call a time-out to set up a weak press(I thought the same thing during the Evansville game). It just seems to me that we have almost given up 2 lay-ups to win games at the end. (In the Evansville game Hollsinger kicked it out instead of the drive to the basket) If we had set up our defense, it is more likely a three pointer is shot to win to lose the game.

[ShockBand]

IIRC, we did not have any timeouts left at the end of the game, but I could be wrong.

[Steeleshocker]

OK, I'm sorry because I missed that game, but I watched the replay of the shot. And as soon as Toure made it, you can see him looking around for somebody to defend. I know he lost his man, but I don't think it was because of the celebrating. Laurie was not defending him on the play, and was therefore somewhere else on the floor, and MSU wasted no time getting the ball in-bounds. Also, it appears that Murry was playing a spot on the floor (perhaps part of the "weak zone" mentioned to contain MSU). Just my two cents. Maybe somebody with a better vantage point can clarify. I'm just basing this off of the video footage posted online.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

We had timeout's.

MSU did not.

[SubGod22]

We had timeout's.

MSU did not.

With SWOMO out of TOs I can definitely understand why you don't give them an opportunity to draw something up.

The guys know the situation and know what they need to do. Or at least they should.

[Smooth007]

Really this is the point I am trying to make...

If have more confidence in HCGM to set up a defense, to stop a play, that involves the opponent going full court in 5 seconds than Cuonzo Martin setting up an offensive scheme to score in that situation.

In addition, it was to Missouri State's advantage that they could quickly inbound the ball where our players were not in good defensive position in a chaotic situation.

Edit: Even so, you can't argue with the results.

[Smooth007]

OK, I'm sorry because I missed that game, but I watched the replay of the shot. And as soon as Toure made it, you can see him looking around for somebody to defend. I know he lost his man, but I don't think it was because of the celebrating. Laurie was not defending him on the play, and was therefore somewhere else on the floor, and MSU wasted no time getting the ball in-bounds. Also, it appears that Murry was playing a spot on the floor (perhaps part of the "weak zone" mentioned to contain MSU). Just my two cents. Maybe somebody with a better vantage point can clarify. I'm just basing this off of the video footage posted online.

I think Earl Grant said in the post- post game show that they were in man and Clevin had to pick up Laurie because Toure was out of position.

[Steeleshocker]

And that is my point. Toure took that shot on the right wing, Laurie got the ball on the left baseline and was flying up the floor as fast as possible. Toure lost his man, but it wasn't because he was celebrating. He was just out of position since Laurie was not defending him on the shot. If they didn't bring it in quite as quickly, I'm sure Murry would have recovered.

Thanks for the additional details, Smooth

[WSUwatcher]

Fair enough

I certainly don't intend to argue with the results, 007, but Laurie's shot may have been a better percentage chance than Murry's was -- not exactly the kind of combination you want to rely on to win a game, especially a home game against the last-place team in your league (although for whatever reason this MSU team seems to be a tough matchup for WSU, which can also have a big impact on the outcome).

Still, I didn't see the video or hear Coach grant, so I'll defer to those who did as to whether Supermurry was caught celebrating -- and if not, so much the better. Sorry if my complaint was off base.

[ShockerGorilla]

BTW, it would be great to have an emoticon with Toure' on it. We have :poster_ramon: :poster_hawk: :poster_eo: , but no Toure'. If you need to get rid of one of the emoticons, Hawk would be my vote.