Don't read if you are in a good mood about tonight's game

[MTXE]

From a casual fan's perspective, it was an exciting game. From a more knowledgeable fan's perspective, it was horrendous.

The coaching staff did a terrible job getting these young men prepared for a game that we simply couldn't afford to lose. When HCGM was asked how much time he spent in the week leading up to the game preparing the team to not take ISU lightly, he avoided answering at first and instead chose to talk about how they were still suffering a hangover from the Northern Iowa game. Then he started laughing about a not-so-funny analogy involving bears and sycamore trees.

This ISU team was missing 50% of their scoring and they totally dominated us for 32 minutes. Coaches were quick to praise the 4 turnovers. It isn't a miracle the night was low on turnovers because everybody was just standing around most of the time jacking up bricks. Next they lauded the 18 offensive rebounds. When you are shooting 29% for the half you are bound to pick up a few missed shots. I think GS got about 8 offensive rebounds on one possession where he bobbled it under the goal for what seemed like 10 minutes.

I know a win is a win but the Shocker's performance in this game is quite telling. It tells me that there is a lot of MTXE still left to be instilled into this group. There is definitely talent, but we are so far from being a hardened, tough team like a Southern Illinois a few years ago it is sad. This team just doesn't want it yet; down deep they just don't want it bad enough. If this game would have been lost, it would have wrecked everything they had been working for since the season started.

I'm happy we are 20-5, but tonight's performance was all on the coaching staff. Durley was asked about finally getting it started in the paint: he said the coaching staff didn't specifically focus on getting it in the post in the first half. Why? Why wouldn't you spend all your energy getting your players to feed the postmen to attempt to draw fouls on a critically thin line? Heck, even if you miss every shot you take, a foul is just like a basket when you are playing a team of 8 players.

On to Evansville. :(

[Ta town]

wow.....you should be a division 1 coach.

[newshock1234]

dam, i guess we lost then huh

[WstateU]

Re: Don't read if you are in a good mood about tonight's gam

From a casual fan's perspective, it was an exciting game. From a more knowledgeable fan's perspective, it was horrendous.

The coaching staff did a terrible job getting these young men prepared for a game that we simply couldn't afford to lose. When HCGM was asked how much time he spent in the week leading up to the game preparing the team to not take ISU lightly, he avoided answering at first and instead chose to talk about how they were still suffering a hangover from the Northern Iowa game. Then he started laughing about a not-so-funny analogy involving bears and sycamore trees.

This ISU team was missing 50% of their scoring and they totally dominated us for 32 minutes. Coaches were quick to praise the 4 turnovers. It isn't a miracle the night was low on turnovers because everybody was just standing around most of the time jacking up bricks. Next they lauded the 18 offensive rebounds. When you are shooting 29% for the half you are bound to pick up a few missed shots. I think GS got about 8 offensive rebounds on one possession where he bobbled it under the goal for what seemed like 10 minutes.

I know a win is a win but the Shocker's performance in this game is quite telling. It tells me that there is a lot of MTXE still left to be instilled into this group. There is definitely talent, but we are so far from being a hardened, tough team like a Southern Illinois a few years ago it is sad. This team just doesn't want it yet; down deep they just don't want it bad enough. If this game would have been lost, it would have wrecked everything they had been working for since the season started.

I'm happy we are 20-5, but tonight's performance was all on the coaching staff. Durley was asked about finally getting it started in the paint: he said the coaching staff didn't specifically focus on getting it in the post in the first half. Why? Why wouldn't you spend all your energy getting your players to feed the postmen to attempt to draw fouls on a critically thin line? Heck, even if you miss every shot you take, a foul is just like a basket when you are playing a team of 8 players.

On to Evansville. :(

[H8KU]

Your divine contribution is of such great importance, that you just had to make a separate topic instead of posting on the existing game thread. :roll:

[DUShock]

Details aside the concept of preparation and the location this team's MTXE is a valid concern. I do see several things cited in the original post differently but agree on that I too am somewhat perplexed. On the Evansville.

Go Shocks!

[lostshocker]

Re: Don't read if you are in a good mood about tonight's gam

From a more knowledgeable fan's perspective, it was horrendous.

and when one posts i will read it in its entirety looking for their insight.

[swish1]

Re: Don't read if you are in a good mood about tonight's gam

From a casual fan's perspective, it was an exciting game. From a more knowledgeable fan's perspective, it was horrendous.

The coaching staff did a terrible job getting these young men prepared for a game that we simply couldn't afford to lose. When HCGM was asked how much time he spent in the week leading up to the game preparing the team to not take ISU lightly, he avoided answering at first and instead chose to talk about how they were still suffering a hangover from the Northern Iowa game. Then he started laughing about a not-so-funny analogy involving bears and sycamore trees.

This ISU team was missing 50% of their scoring and they totally dominated us for 32 minutes. Coaches were quick to praise the 4 turnovers. It isn't a miracle the night was low on turnovers because everybody was just standing around most of the time jacking up bricks. Next they lauded the 18 offensive rebounds. When you are shooting 29% for the half you are bound to pick up a few missed shots. I think GS got about 8 offensive rebounds on one possession where he bobbled it under the goal for what seemed like 10 minutes.

I know a win is a win but the Shocker's performance in this game is quite telling. It tells me that there is a lot of MTXE still left to be instilled into this group. There is definitely talent, but we are so far from being a hardened, tough team like a Southern Illinois a few years ago it is sad. This team just doesn't want it yet; down deep they just don't want it bad enough. If this game would have been lost, it would have wrecked everything they had been working for since the season started.

I'm happy we are 20-5, but tonight's performance was all on the coaching staff. Durley was asked about finally getting it started in the paint: he said the coaching staff didn't specifically focus on getting it in the post in the first half. Why? Why wouldn't you spend all your energy getting your players to feed the postmen to attempt to draw fouls on a critically thin line? Heck, even if you miss every shot you take, a foul is just like a basket when you are playing a team of 8 players.

On to Evansville. :(

your hatred for marshall is over the top. it might be fair to blame him for possibly taking this game lightly, but when he called that time out in the first half it was pretty clear he was all business. he is the type of coach that wants players to learn how to play through the bad spells. i watched this game on tv but the best part of the game for me was when durley took that charge when wsu was still down 6 or 8 points but obviously on the comeback trail and he was super excited about it until he looked at the scoreboard and then his face changed. that is because of coaching. dont get to up or to down and marshall seems to do a pretty good job of reflecting that.

imo, these are the types of wins that separate the good teams from the decent teams. i am far from a homer, and personally think graham hatch's first half performance is the real reason wsu won tonight, but this was one of the most impressive wins of the year.

[ShockerFever]

Re: Don't read if you are in a good mood about tonight's gam

There is definitely talent, but we are so far from being a hardened, tough team like a Southern Illinois a few years ago it is sad.

The vaunted NCAA-bound Salukis of 2006 lost at home to a bad Indiana State team without their leading scorer David Moss to end a 30-something home winning streak.

Thanks for sparking that thought in my head, wise one. :good:

[shockmonster]

Analyze away. Finding perfection can be like looking for the Fountain of Youth and I'm sure that MTXE will be the one to find it. :posterwu:

[DUShock]

I'm glad I remembered my great grandpappy Galloway, took a moment to step out to the corridor and whistle up some luck for our beloved Wheat Shockers.

The negative juju working against them of late had to be put to rest. If I coulda found a chicken and crows feet I'da danced a dance to shuck this curse. Heck, I still may have to...

[MTXE]

I created a separate thread so those that don't appreciate my sometimes negative spin on things could avoid my thoughts.

As someone already mentioned in this thread, Graham was definitely the glue that held this team together through the first half. He is the epitome of MTXE.

Some sarcastically mentiond that I should be a coach. I guess we are all pseudo coaches when we start to take a critical approach to the games. It's all fairly harmless and mostly theraputic in relieving tension.

Of course I have no idea what was said behind the scenes, but if I would have been in charge of mentally motivating the players, I would have focused more on getting the team into a killer mode instead of preaching the importance of taking ISU seriously or the wounded bear analogy.

When Gene Smithson talked to the team he talked about how he wanted his teams to make the opposition fear they ever got on the bus to come visiti Levitt Arena. He literally wanted to scare the heck out of them. I want the Shockers to have this same killer instinct. I want the Shockers to not only want to win, but to want to humiliate and even frighten the opposition. The Shockers should have been thinking feast tonight, instead they were thinking it was an opportunity to coast. Where is the competitive drive? Where is the thirst for "blood"?

My gameplan would have been to do whatever is necessary to make the Sycamores realize that they are in for a very long, physical night right from the opening tip. I would have instructed my players to be extremely aggressive and go for blocks, steals, and hard traps in the early minutes. I don't care if we can't hit the broad side of the barn on offense, we can definitely scare them on defense. I mean literally scare them. Not only was the first few minutes like tiptoeing through the tulips for ISU, the next 30 minutes was much of the same.

I'm so sick of teams getting comfortable in our building I could vomit for days and I still wouldn't get it all out. Teams should never be comfortable in our building.

[swish1]

I created a separate thread so those that don't appreciate my sometimes negative spin on things could avoid my thoughts.

As someone already mentioned in this thread, Graham was definitely the glue that held this team together through the first half. He is the epitome of MTXE.

Some sarcastically mentiond that I should be a coach. I guess we are all pseudo coaches when we start to take a critical approach to the games. It's all fairly harmless and mostly theraputic in relieving tension.

Of course I have no idea what was said behind the scenes, but if I would have been in charge of mentally motivating the players, I would have focused more on getting the team into a killer mode instead of preaching the importance of taking ISU seriously or the wounded bear analogy.

When Gene Smithson talked to the team he talked about how he wanted his teams to make the opposition fear they ever got on the bus to come visiti Levitt Arena. He literally wanted to scare the heck out of them. I want the Shockers to have this same killer instinct. I want the Shockers to not only want to win, but to want to humiliate and even frighten the opposition. The Shockers should have been thinking feast tonight, instead they were thinking it was an opportunity to coast. Where is the competitive drive? Where is the thirst for "blood"?

My gameplan would have been to do whatever is necessary to make the Sycamores realize that they are in for a very long, physical night right from the opening tip. I would have instructed my players to be extremely aggressive and go for blocks, steals, and hard traps in the early minutes. I don't care if we can't hit the broad side of the barn on offense, we can definitely scare them on defense. I mean literally scare them. Not only was the first few minutes like tiptoeing through the tulips for ISU, the next 30 minutes was much of the same.

I'm so sick of teams getting comfortable in our building I could vomit for days and I still wouldn't get it all out. Teams should never be comfortable in our building.

so in your opinion is there only one way to coach?

[ShockerFever]

Somebody should go over to the Chickenhawk board and tell em their place/building/fans suck for having their No.1 team give up a lead throughout portions of the second half against a conference cellar dweller.

[martymoose]

Hey MTXE...have you seen the last few games played by the #1 team in the country?....I think we're ok.