Any news on Orukpe?

[shockmonster]

Snapshot You were all over GS in November/December and said that he wasn't making progress at all and you didn't know if he'd amount to anything. You'd think that you had learned something.

I've never seen EO play but he has three years to practice and play against taller and more talented players than he's ever played against and the light just turn on for him too.

[SubGod22]

And just because you play doesn't mean you're learning from people. I have no idea what kind of instruction he was getting in Africa. My guess is not much. Sounds like a few basics and then throw him out there and use his natural ability to do what he does.

Also not sure how much instruction he got at 3R. JUCO isn't known for a lot of teaching and development. It's mostly for late bloomers and those simply overlooked to get another shot at getting to D1.

Everything we've seen says he's smart and a hard worker. Now that he has people working with him constantly and know what they're doing I expect progress to come. However, nobody has expected him to come in this year and be a big factor on offense. If anyone did they were fooling themselves.

Ehimen will be fine.

[Txlen]

Well said Sub.

From the many games that I watched on the Internet from Three Rivers regular-season and the Hutchinson Junior College Tournament, it is obvious that EO has innate skills that other players do not have. He just needs some additional time and coaching as Sub mentioned. Cripes crowbar

[Aargh]

EO is HUGE! The man has some shoulder on him. He still looks like a very muscular player about 6'6" in pictures. My mind just adjusts the height of everyone else and then the picture makes sense. The picture in the Eagle included Ragland and Smith. I believe they're 6'3" and 6'5". Adjust upward from that and keep the proportions the same and EO is going to intimidate just because of his sheer size and build.

I'm expecting Orukpe will end up being a larger version of Odiakosa. I'd be comfortable and happy with that type of performance from Orukpe.

Everyone in Nigeria plays soccer. A few play basketball. I supect basketball in Nigeria is played like soccer, except with hands instead of feet. You don't see many successful efforts to dribble to the goal and stuff it in soccer. The defenders collapse on you.

In basketball in Nigeria, the defenders around the goal ARE ALL 6'8" - 7', and they can all jump. Soccer seems to be played mostly man-to-man, but get close to the goal and it becomes a zone with the defenders stacked between the dribbler and the goal.

With that setup, we can guess how basketball is played in Nigeria. My guess is the big guys just block the approach to the goal to prevent the other big guys from scoring, so the offense is probably generated from some distance - a little more like Euro-ball, except with big, fast guys.

Other teams will keep track of where Orukpe is at all times. With his size, that would be hard to avoid. Just his physical presence on the court will change how an opponent plays the game. That's worth some points that will never show up in the stat sheets and will happen this year.

By the time he's a senior and has a chance to refine his defensive skills, he will alter an opponent's game all the way back to the game plan. To use an old-time Valley football player as an exampke: If you line up and have Mean Joe Greene on the other side and on your left side, you're going to run your plays to the right side.

[Txlen]

If you go back and watch some of the tournament games that he played in, at Hutchinson, you can see how the opposing players were constantly looking to see where EO was on the court, when he was in the game. In those instances, you can begin to see what kind of influence that he is going to have on games in the future. It is something that Wichita State has not had in a long while.

No, he is not anywhere near the player that he will be in the future, if he keeps progressing as he should. The raw talent is there that will be exploited to his advantage and Wichita State's advantage.

[WuDrWu]

To use an old-time Valley football player as an exampke: If you line up and have Mean Joe Greene on the other side and on your left side, you're going to run your plays to the right side.

Was that intentional? If it was, well done.

[Ricardo del Rio]

To use an old-time Valley football player as an exampke: If you line up and have Mean Joe Greene on the other side and on your left side, you're going to run your plays to the right side.

Was that intentional? If it was, well done.

I am sure it was intentional.

Mean Joe Greene - North Texas State University, circa 1965.

And it was a very nice job.

[SubGod22]

Just because. I'm bored and really excited to see him in action for the first time as an official Shocker! Good times are coming!!!

[shockar25]

Just because. I'm bored and really excited to see him in action for the first time as an official Shocker! Good times are coming!!!

Hang in there buddy. It won't be much longer... Shocker Madness is now less than THREE weeks away! Then we'll start hearing more and seeing more in the media.

We're all in withdrawl right now!
:wsu_posters: :yahoo:

[pogo]

Actually triple G was on the Press Box last friday. Missed most of it but he was talking about EO when I started listening. Said he doesn't miss from 5 feet in, improves every day, and is a huge presence on the defensive end. Apparently some of the conversation was about Joe Ragland and how he is making this his team. Marshall said he had never coached a team with this much talent ever. When practice starts they will not be behind like in years past but because of the influence of the veterans they will know what is expected and will lead the new guys.

[SubGod22]

Actually triple G was on the Press Box last friday. Missed most of it but he was talking about EO when I started listening. Said he doesn't miss from 5 feet in, improves every day, and is a huge presence on the defensive end. Apparently some of the conversation was about Joe Ragland and how he is making this his team. Marshall said he had never coached a team with this much talent ever. When practice starts they will not be behind like in years past but because of the influence of the veterans they will know what is expected and will lead the new guys.

And that's why anyone who thinks Ehimen will only get a handful of minutes is fooling themselves. He will continue to improve and will contribute to this team. This is also why JT will play more PF and Ellis will see even less court time.

[WuDrWu]

Actually triple G was on the Press Box last friday. Missed most of it but he was talking about EO when I started listening. Said he doesn't miss from 5 feet in, improves every day, and is a huge presence on the defensive end. Apparently some of the conversation was about Joe Ragland and how he is making this his team. Marshall said he had never coached a team with this much talent ever. When practice starts they will not be behind like in years past but because of the influence of the veterans they will know what is expected and will lead the new guys.

Grrrr......Chris (or someone at KGSO) has always been good at giving SN'ers a heads up on this kind of interview.

I see there are no podcasts available.......grrrrrr.


There are only 2 really new guys (Ben and Joe) as Ehimen has been involved for quite some time. I believe Joe is going to lead this team, so that leaves Ben who has quite a motor.

This team needs chemistry and not much else imho. If they can gel and be a TEAM, the sky is the limit and by sky I mean just that. This group should have no ceiling.

Eddie Fogler, when I asked him if he believed in setting goals, gave me the following answer:


"Today we have 2 goals. Our short term goal is to beat Central Michigan and our long term goal is to win the National Championship."



Substitute Texas Southern for Central Michigan and you have my goals for the 2010-2011 season. Eddie was not terribly realistic with his limited talent, but I liked his thought process. This current team has no such talent issues.

[Zardoz]

As of now EO is raw. We don't need to rush we, like we did Stutz a bit. However Stutz responded really well and it quite a bit ahead of where we expected at this time. EO will earn his time in practice and if he beats out Durley and Stutz color me surprised. We will need him and hamiliton read for next year though.

Durley is finally learning how to put that ample backside to use and post people up. Stutz is adding size and was showing some 'tude" towards the latter part of last season. We also have Blair, Ellis and Hamiliton in the wings. Next year twin towers!

[1979Shocker]

I see there are no podcasts available.......grrrrrr.

They used to have podcasts at one time. I guess they gave up on them.

[vbird53]

For the Shocker intro on the video board this year, I think Orukpe needs to star. It only needs to showcase him bringing down the house. Nothing else is needed.