Shocker Madness

[lemuel777]

Clemente will be Clemente – I know he will go after every rebound and play hard – but how did his offensive game look?

Welcome to SN. I can't commit on Ellis and Butler, I couldn't tell who they were while I was recording the scrimmage.

Clemente made his presence known and had at least 6 rebounds of which some where offensive put backs. He scored serveral times driving right to the basket and scored on a couple of nice reverse layups. It seemed the other players have a lot of confidence in his scoring ability and worked to get him the ball.

I will try to post some video highlights of the scrimmage. Unfortunely, I had to save video space for the dunk contest and missed the last six minutes of the scrimmage where the best of passing and shots were not recorded (ie: a sweet drive by PJ to the basket who then dished it to Durley for a dunk)

[Maggie]

Welcome to SN. I can't commit on Ellis and Butler, I couldn't tell who they were while I was recording the scrimmage.

Clemente made his presence known and had at least 6 rebounds of which some where offensive put backs. He scored serveral times driving right to the basket and scored on a couple of nice reverse layups. It seemed the other players have a lot of confidence in his scoring ability and worked to get him the ball.

Thank you. I didn't post over here last year because I thought many of the posters were way to optimistic about the start of the season. While I grew up watching Carr, Levinsgston, Sherrod and X, I also attended WSU in the early 90s going to every basketball game. Therefore, I couldn't quite by into the hype.

Well it will be interesting to see how Clemente does against the taller players, I assume, he will be facing this year. One thing I do know is that he effort will be there, which in my book counts for a lot. I already think he will be an upgrade over Ryan Martin (a player I had a lot of respect for) basketball wise but it also sounds like he is a positive force off the court. A good sign – the team will need a leader and I think Clemente will step into this role as the season progresses.

This season is exciting to me because it is so unpredictable. I respect GM as a coach and think he has done a very good job so far. It is a good sign that the players seem to be buying into his system but I do think it will take time. I guess I would simply be happy if WSU comes into its own late into the season and starts to peak around the MVC tournament. Anything else would be a bonus.

[MikeShox]

Expectations

"I guess I would simply be happy if WSU comes into its own late into the season and starts to peak around the MVC tournament. Anything else would be a bonus."

In my opinion, you hit the nail on the head. I am excited as anyone about where the program is headed, however I want to be realistic as well. I hope that those who are expecting great things from this team don't turn on Coach Marshall and the team when they don't jell right away. We need to keep in mind that this is a very young team and an entirely new system for the veterans to learn.

I have very high expectations too, but cannot help but believe there will be some growing pains.

Boy, did I have a fantastic time last night. I love the new talent as well as the progression of some of the returning talent. PJ seems to be completely at home at the 2 and Durley certainly impressed me more than I expected.

I find myself believing that Butler will probably be a player who will only play in the exhibition games and possibly some of the weaker early season opponents. I do not expect to see him playing against the better competition at least this year. I feel like he has a long ways to go to move from a kid with wonderful athletic ability to a complete basketball player. I just don't see it happening this year. By the way, he may have put on a few pounds, but he can still sleep on the edge of a 1 X 4 board.

That being said, I cannot wait until Arch Madness because I do believe this team will be one that improves noticeably during the season and could possibly be something special come March.

[rjl]

Compared to last years squad, are they a better team or not?

Can't tell until they play against real competition. They are more athletic and in better shape all around, but how good won't be known for a while.

Agree.

Last year's squad had played together, more or less, for 2 years or more. Phil had his redshirt year to practice with the team. Gal was the only major contributor who was "new".

I would rate last year's Shocker Madness as a little better than this year's in terms of "team play", most likely for that reason alone.

This year's team has so many new faces who've had limited time for organized practice with one another. That said, I saw a ton of potential out on the court that could very well be realized in a relatively short time.

[wsu789]

In regard to Butler, I was not particularly impressed. He did not appear much bigger than last year, his shot does not look natural, and I don't remember him as being particularly strong on defense or on the boards.

I think the block of Grisenkas's three ball early on caused him problems. He had a nice move inside late, but does not appear at all to be a back to the basket player.

Clemente's play inside reminded me of his youtube video where he scored so many points. He seems to have an uncanny ability to score underneath from a variety of angles. It reminded me some of the moves of Howard and, to a lesser degree, PJ, Bret Wise and Ryan Martin, underneath. Time will obviously tell if he is able to score that way against bigger players, but the success of the guys I listed above gives me some hope that he can do that. He is certainly fun to watch.

I am curious if anyone noticed a step up in defensive intensity? That has obviously been a major theme of the talks Marshall has given so far. With the obvious caveat that this was only a scrimmage, my untrained eye did not notice a significant difference in the defensive style, intensity, or flat out hustle. I haven't seen those characteristics mentioned in this thread and I am curious what others think of that.

In regard to the first scrimmage, I think the women have come up with a way to avoid their record setting turnover pace of a year ago: take threes early in the shot clock.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Yeah thats something I didnt put in my first post.

I did see the players hands up more than in the past.

Which is always always good

[Shockair]

Did anybody notice, on the roster sheets that were available last night at Shocker Madness, the picture of Orukpe? Did anybody notice that the background was same on his picture as it was on the rest of the roster? :o

I know that we can do a lot with computers but I have never seen a picture of Orukpe and then seeing him on the roster with the same background as the rest of the guys that are already here, just made me all the more anxious to get him here.

[DPruett2333]

Like I posted the other day, Orukpe has been in town... He doesn't have all the papers and what not to be able to stay yet, but hopefully that will come soon!!!

[RoyalShock]

Like I posted the other day, Orukpe has been in town... He doesn't have all the papers and what not to be able to stay yet, but hopefully that will come soon!!!

Didn't you recant that and clarify that he will be in town in December?

[DPruett2333]

Yeah, he will be in town in December. But my source also said that he could have been in town already, which would make sense, considering his roster pic was the same as the others...

[RoyalShock]

Yeah, he will be in town in December. But my source also said that he could have been in town already, which would make sense, considering his roster pic was the same as the others...

Now that I can certainly believe. Thanks for clearing it up.

We did not receive those roster sheets last night. Would someone be willing to scan Orukpe's pic and post it? Or PM me and I can give you an e-mail address to send it and I can post it.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

I took a pic of it but its not that great

[RoyalShock]

I just got a PM from someone to volunteer to scan it for me.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

heres a cell phone pic in the meantime

[WstateU]

heres a cell phone pic in the meantime

Good try ASM... no cigar! :D