17 Valley Predictions

[electricmayhem]

Feel free to argue these, or add your own!

http://www.examiner.com/x-7020-Bradley-Braves-Examiner~y2009m8d12-17-Valley-predictions-for-200910

[ShockCity]

Dillard won't be an NBA player this year, next year, or ever. That's my prediction.

[Aargh]

My prediction is that this team will do pretty well when the media deals them the "no respect" card. This is a great start for that.

[vbird53]

I really like the fact that going into 2009-10, not many will fully appreciate the Shox front court.

[capnkirk]

If you are predicting Dillard as good enough to consider leaving a year early for the NBA and Freeman is the newcomer of the year, them why not predict SIU as winning the league title?

[electricmayhem]

If you are predicting Dillard as good enough to consider leaving a year early for the NBA and Freeman is the newcomer of the year, them why not predict SIU as winning the league title?

Someone asked a similar question on another board. I don't think SIU is deep enough with just Dillard and Freeman, and not much proven talent around them.

[SpanglerFan316]

As usual, this article is more about "what was" than "what will be."

For example:
8. Wichita State can't fully replace the rebounding of Ramon Clemente, but Toure Murry and Clevin Hannah develop into excellent players.
A. Does this prediction consider Coy? He will be available for the MVC season.
B. Does this consider a healthy Ellis? Aaron stepped in and played pretty well as a sub for Ramon.
C. I agree that we can't expect anything out of Gabe Blair until he shows he can play in the MVC. However, our 4 position has a 6'9" (Ellis), 6'8" (Blair), 6'8" (Coy), etc. No one player will get Ramon's rebounding numbers but the total number of rebounds for the team will be higher.

[electricmayhem]

As usual, this article is more about "what was" than "what will be."

For example:
8. Wichita State can't fully replace the rebounding of Ramon Clemente, but Toure Murry and Clevin Hannah develop into excellent players.
A. Does this prediction consider Coy? He will be available for the MVC season.
B. Does this consider a healthy Ellis? Aaron stepped in and played pretty well as a sub for Ramon.
C. I agree that we can't expect anything out of Gabe Blair until he shows he can play in the MVC. However, our 4 position has a 6'9" (Ellis), 6'8" (Blair), 6'8" (Coy), etc. No one player will get Ramon's rebounding numbers but the total number of rebounds for the team will be higher.

I'm not sure what the first part of your post is supposed to mean, but here's how I see this.

No one player will be able to replace the seven rebounds per game that Ramon got. You mention that. The player who could make the biggest impact is Coy, but he's not available until January.

Ellis is excellent off the bench, but how will he respond if he gets 25-30 minutes?

People also forget that Ramon didn't score much, but he did shoot almost 58% from the floor. Whomever replaces him has to establish the fact that he can finish inside.

I haven't seen much of Blair, so I have no idea what he'll contribute.

The X-factor is Coy. He's an absolute stud athlete. If he comes in and adjusts quickly, WSU will be tough down the stretch.

Any word on if he plans to continue playing baseball?

[tropicalshox]

He played baseball this summer instead of going to summer school and playing pick-up. I'm sure he will play both sports this coming year at WSU. IMO if Marshall decides he can use him at the 3, I think he will get more playing time this year. The Shocker staff has been pretty high on Blair and there are probably good reasons for that.

[SubGod22]

He will play baseball.

I expect him to step in in mid December and become a factor for this team at the 3/4.

Blair has been compared to Clemente by the staff in the past. A high energy guy who can rebound but is a little bigger and has a better offensive game. This doens't mean he's going to score a ton but I think he can do a lot to replace Clemente.

Ellis will do fine playing more minutes if he's healthy. Playing with the toe injury all last year wasn't easy but he still showed some good progress considering.

I do expect Hannah to have a good year and be a leader. We know that he can go off and be a lights out shooter. Luckily, he'll have a little more help this year as Murry and Kyles both step up and improve over last year. Personally, Kyles excites me more than any of the returners this year.

Part of me hopes Hamilton doesn't redshirt. I can't wait to see him as he reminds me a lot of Clemente. But with the post depth I'm not sure whose minutes he takes. But at the same time, who can keep him from getting minutes?... I'll probably have to wait another year.

This is going to be a good year :D

[OKC Shocker]

My prediction is I just wasted my time reading that.

Also, I believe we can find two guys to replace the 7.1 rebounds per game that Clemente provided. Frontcourt is deep and I don't think that will be hard to find, I think the rebounding should improve.

Any yahoo could of provided a bunch of baseless predictions. Eldridge is good but top 40 in the draft good, not sure about that. Also, I agree that Dillard will never touch an NBA court. Stutz has more of a chance, just for the fact he is 7 foot tall.


To add to this: Sam Young and Dejaun Blair were 36 and 37th picks in this years draft. Eldridge is not near the talent of either one of them.

[SpanglerFan316]

As usual, this article is more about "what was" than "what will be."

For example:
8. Wichita State can't fully replace the rebounding of Ramon Clemente, but Toure Murry and Clevin Hannah develop into excellent players.
A. Does this prediction consider Coy? He will be available for the MVC season.
B. Does this consider a healthy Ellis? Aaron stepped in and played pretty well as a sub for Ramon.
C. I agree that we can't expect anything out of Gabe Blair until he shows he can play in the MVC. However, our 4 position has a 6'9" (Ellis), 6'8" (Blair), 6'8" (Coy), etc. No one player will get Ramon's rebounding numbers but the total number of rebounds for the team will be higher.

I'm not sure what the first part of your post is supposed to mean, but here's how I see this.

No one player will be able to replace the seven rebounds per game that Ramon got. You mention that. The player who could make the biggest impact is Coy, but he's not available until January.

Ellis is excellent off the bench, but how will he respond if he gets 25-30 minutes?

People also forget that Ramon didn't score much, but he did shoot almost 58% from the floor. Whomever replaces him has to establish the fact that he can finish inside.

I haven't seen much of Blair, so I have no idea what he'll contribute.

The X-factor is Coy. He's an absolute stud athlete. If he comes in and adjusts quickly, WSU will be tough down the stretch.

Any word on if he plans to continue playing baseball?

Ellis had turf toe last year. Hopefully he is completely healthy this year and my comments are based on that assumption.

Have you seen Ellis shoot? Have you examined his shooting technique?

He has a high release and what looks to me to be excellent form. He is long and the only way someone will block his jump shot is as he is lifting the ball to shoot. Did you see his game in the 2007-8 MVC tourney? If so, what did you think of his potential?

[BostonWu]

As usual, this article is more about "what was" than "what will be."

For example:
8. Wichita State can't fully replace the rebounding of Ramon Clemente, but Toure Murry and Clevin Hannah develop into excellent players.
A. Does this prediction consider Coy? He will be available for the MVC season.
B. Does this consider a healthy Ellis? Aaron stepped in and played pretty well as a sub for Ramon.
C. I agree that we can't expect anything out of Gabe Blair until he shows he can play in the MVC. However, our 4 position has a 6'9" (Ellis), 6'8" (Blair), 6'8" (Coy), etc. No one player will get Ramon's rebounding numbers but the total number of rebounds for the team will be higher.

I'm not sure what the first part of your post is supposed to mean, but here's how I see this.

No one player will be able to replace the seven rebounds per game that Ramon got. You mention that. The player who could make the biggest impact is Coy, but he's not available until January.

Ellis is excellent off the bench, but how will he respond if he gets 25-30 minutes?

People also forget that Ramon didn't score much, but he did shoot almost 58% from the floor. Whomever replaces him has to establish the fact that he can finish inside.

I haven't seen much of Blair, so I have no idea what he'll contribute.

The X-factor is Coy. He's an absolute stud athlete. If he comes in and adjusts quickly, WSU will be tough down the stretch.

Any word on if he plans to continue playing baseball?

Ellis had turf toe last year. Hopefully he is completely healthy this year and my comments are based on that assumption.

Have you seen Ellis shoot? Have you examined his shooting technique?

He has a high release and what looks to me to be excellent form. He is long and the only way someone will block his jump shot is as he is lifting the ball to shoot. Did you see his game in the 2007-8 MVC tourney? If so, what did you think of his potential?

Give the guy a break. I'm not sure what he said that could be considered too far flung or derogatory. In response to this post Ellis still has tons to prove in order to evolve past one great game and come close to realizing his potential. I'm tired of the talk.

[SpanglerFan316]

Give the guy a break. I'm not sure what he said that could be considered too far flung or derogatory. In response to this post Ellis still has tons to prove in order to evolve past one great game and come close to realizing his potential. I'm tired of the talk.

"I'm tired of the talk."

I'm not sure how you mean this comment. It could be that you're anxious for the season to start; you want actual games, not talk. It could also be that you're tired of Shocker fans talking about how great someone is going to be; you want to see it proved on the court. Or your meaning could be something else.

This Peoria reporter wrote about the upcoming MVC basketball season. He might even be paid to do this. In any case, he had the responsibility to do the research. From his brief comment about WSU, I have to wonder if he did.

For example, did he know Ellis was playing hurt last year? Did he remember Coy? Blair? Hamilton?
Given our frontline size [7'0" (Stutz), 6'9" (Ellis), 6'8" (Blair), 6'8" (Coy), 6'7" (Durley), 6'7" (Hamilton)] and athleticism, it seemed strange that he pointed out rebounding as a problem for WSU. Even poor shooting can be overcome by great rebounding and WSU has been a great rebounding team.

ADDED: http://redbirdfan.com/msgforum/viewt...146102#p146102

[Snapshot9]

Spangler makes some valid points, and it seemed as if the writer took
'early information' about our team, and disregarded later information, i.e., Hamilton, Coy.

It looked like to me that the writer did not do enough research before making comments.