Kenny Manigault leaving

[Good News]

Players like Kenny Manigault are not a "dime a dozen" at any level of college basketball, certainly not in the Valley. If anybody doesn't know who Tony Delk was, look him up. Kenny could be at least that good of a player, particularly on defense.

All of the relevant components - positive and negative - have been discussed here, but there's no doubt in my mind that he had a higher potential ceiling than anyone on the team. Even Garrett. Particularly on the defensive end, where he could have destroyed other opposing guards with tools (wingspan, quickness, and nose for the ball) that are difficult or impossible to teach.

If you're a scientific mind, think of the amplitude of a sine wave. Kenny had more amplitude (in both directions) on his performance wave.


If you're a banker, think of a fixed-floating interest rate swap and how volatility affects the pricing. Kenny was definitely more floating and volatile.

If you're a portfolio manager, think of a barbelled portfolio (Kenny) or a laddered portfolio (Demetric), each portfolio having the same duration, but how those portofolios react to interest rate shocks.

If you're a statistician, think of outcomes, degrees of freedom, and dispersion. Kenny had more.

If you're none of those, think of... I don't know... one of your kids making B's and C's and another one that makes A's and D's, but they have the same GPA. Or the old joke about the guy who has his head in the oven and his feet in the freezer (on average, he feels pretty good).

My point is - in a conference where one or two losses change the outcome of a season materially, and with games that are predominantly decided by one or two possessions, amplitude/volatility/degrees of freedom are not positive forces (or come at a potentially very high cost)

Coach Marshall made the decision based on the holes in his game and decided that the turnovers and shooting range weren't worth the extra steals, dunks, and footage for the highlight reels. I support him in that decision.

But I will still miss watching Kenny and think he could have been one of the most thrilling, productive, and destructive (to other teams) players that has put on a Shocker jersey since 1981.


For those wondering - yes I am extremely bored at work, and tired of thinking about tail risk as it relates to investment portfolios.



Wow...my already feable & underdeveloped brain just feel victim to a blah, blah, blah tornado; or maybe my thalamus failed to relay the information to my cerebrum, which by the way is intended to "lock out" irrelevant sensory input. Also, my neurons and neuroglia were caught in the electical synapse failing to attach itself to its appropriate binding receptor, therefore limiting my resting membrane potential, which at the end of the day makes me shake my head and simply say "Kenny, thanks for your contribution to Shocker basketball. Although brief, it was fun to look at your gifted physique and dream of your athletic potential. I hope you take all those gifts and apply them to performance at your next stop. :D



That is all.

As my old college dean, Mr. Wermer used to say:

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. I'm not even sure that a psychiatrist or Jon Stewart could come up with a diagnosis on someone who sarcastically describes their mind as "feable".



God Bless the Internet, though - where all hat, no cattle cowboys get to say things that they wouldn't say in person.

If you don't like a post... skip it, dude. I've done it many times, including some of yours. I was bored and wanting to comment. I suppose I could have typed an unformatted paragraph of generalities about how Kenny should "perform" and his shots should go "in" and he shouldn't "turn the ball over" and we want players who can "play" and a;ldskfjas;ldkfjasldkfj Larry Bird aldkfj;alskdfj irrelevant aldkfja;ldskfja;ldskfj other stuff, but I didn't.

We'll miss him, even if it's a "him" that wasn't going to materialize. In other words, I agree with ISASO's assessment.

And for what it's worth... tail REWARD is what keeps you up at night, not tail RISK.

:D

"Lighten up Francis," it's only a message board. Enough of Stripes though, You seem to like Animal House. As Bluto said to Flounder, "I'm appointing you pledge representative to the social committee." This message board is part social, so those of us, including "feable me," should get over ourselves and have a little thicker skin. Sorry to &%$@*!% in your post toasties. Farewell and good luck to Kenny at his next stop.

I could have said the same thing to your original response, Francis.

No worries.

We're all on the same side, no need to take this board back to the days of certain posters attacking well-meant original messages.

On topic:

I knew Kenny was leaving (and I told my Dad) after I went to the Bradley game. Having been a bench warmer in college, I know the facial expressions pretty well. I was sitting 10-12 rows up from the bench, watching my first game in Levitt (sorry, old habits die hard) in a long time. When all of the MTXE Shocks lined up after halftime to welcome the team out of the tunnel, X stepped forward.

Kenny basically ignored him; minimal recognition. No change of expression. A South Carolina basketball legend, jersey in the rafters, NBA career, etc.

And while I've never had anywhere near Kenny's ability, I could understand his frustration at playing junk time. I do believe what other people have said about the coaching staff giving him an ultimatum, and everything I've written I stil believe. And I still support Marshall's decision (if it was his).

Agreed on farewell to Kenny and best of luck at his next stop.

[wu_shizzle]

Kenny is headed to The Citadel.

[Txlen]

Good for him! That is quite a choice, attending a school with such a storied history! It certainly will be a different environment compared to that at Wichita State.

It will be interesting to follow his career, not only in college but afterwards, as well.

[t7017s]

The Citadel got one I wish we still had.

[SubGod22]

The Citadel got one I wish we still had.

:yes:

[WSUwatcher]

Citadel

It's probably no coincidence that Manigault has gone back closer to home. Maybe that proximity, the environment, and a little bit of added maturity will help him to focus and become the best player he can be.

He may be a very good player for them; we'll see. Sometimes guys just can't shoot, and if that's Kenny, he has a ceiling that his athletic ability won't allow him to penetrate. But whatever he does, it's probably going to be more than he'd have done at WSU.

Good luck to him. Life goes on.

[Good News]

The Citadel got one I wish we still had.

:yes:

Ditto.


Although I'm sure The Citadel has changed quite a bit since Pat Conroy wrote My Losing Season, it's still an institution known for it's rigorous and demanding schedule on ALL students.

If Kenny succeeds there, I'd have to say that the "he didn't want to work" argument won't hold water with me anymore.

Best of luck, KM.

[Kung Wu]

Re: Citadel

It's probably no coincidence that Manigault has gone back closer to home. Maybe that proximity, the environment, and a little bit of added maturity will help him to focus and become the best player he can be.

He may be a very good player for them; we'll see. Sometimes guys just can't shoot, and if that's Kenny, he has a ceiling that his athletic ability won't allow him to penetrate. But whatever he does, it's probably going to be more than he'd have done at WSU.

Good luck to him. Life goes on.

On the other hand, some guys just can't shoot at specific venues or time periods:

Ramon Clemente free throw percentage at WSU? %51.7.

Ramon Clemente free throw percentage the very next year playing pro? 68.4%

A nearly 17% boost, but even that's understating his improvement, because he only took 112 attempts his last year at WSU while taking 193 last year.

As has been stated ad nauseum -- best of luck to Kenny.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Re: Citadel

It's probably no coincidence that Manigault has gone back closer to home. Maybe that proximity, the environment, and a little bit of added maturity will help him to focus and become the best player he can be.

He may be a very good player for them; we'll see. Sometimes guys just can't shoot, and if that's Kenny, he has a ceiling that his athletic ability won't allow him to penetrate. But whatever he does, it's probably going to be more than he'd have done at WSU.

Good luck to him. Life goes on.

On the other hand, some guys just can't shoot at specific venues or time periods:

Ramon Clemente free throw percentage at WSU? %51.7.

Ramon Clemente free throw percentage the very next year playing pro? 68.4%

A nearly 17% boost, but even that's understating his improvement, because he only took 112 attempts his last year at WSU while taking 193 last year.

As has been stated ad nauseum -- best of luck to Kenny.

I may be screwed up like Hogan's goat, but here goes.

In Jamar Howard's first two years, he shot around 50% from the FT line.
In his junior year, his FT % increased to about 70%.
Then in his senior year, it fell back to about 50%.

I am off on the percentages, but in general I think my recall is about right.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Re: Citadel

It's probably no coincidence that Manigault has gone back closer to home. Maybe that proximity, the environment, and a little bit of added maturity will help him to focus and become the best player he can be.

He may be a very good player for them; we'll see. Sometimes guys just can't shoot, and if that's Kenny, he has a ceiling that his athletic ability won't allow him to penetrate. But whatever he does, it's probably going to be more than he'd have done at WSU.

Good luck to him. Life goes on.

On the other hand, some guys just can't shoot at specific venues or time periods:

Ramon Clemente free throw percentage at WSU? %51.7.

Ramon Clemente free throw percentage the very next year playing pro? 68.4%

A nearly 17% boost, but even that's understating his improvement, because he only took 112 attempts his last year at WSU while taking 193 last year.

As has been stated ad nauseum -- best of luck to Kenny.

I may be screwed up like Hogan's goat, but here goes.

In Jamar Howard's first two years, he shot around 50% from the FT line.
In his junior year, his FT % increased to about 70%.
Then in his senior year, it fell back to about 50%.

I am off on the percentages, but in general I think my recall is about right.

I was screwed up.

01-02 - 63.7%
02-03 - 50.5%
03-04 - 55.9%
04-05 - 53.2%

Sorry I wasted so much band width.

[pogo]

The biggest disappointment for me was the senior years of RB JH and Kampman. Each had a less than stellar year an in many ways digressed from their junior season. I may be like Hogans/RDR's goat also but that was my memory of that last year.

[The Mad Hatter]

The biggest disappointment for me was the senior years of RB JH and Kampman. Each had a less than stellar year an in many ways digressed from their junior season. I may be like Hogans/RDR's goat also but that was my memory of that last year.

I would agree about Jamar and Rob, but Randy had a better senior year than junior year. If there was any problem with Randy it was that he came into the program ready to contribute at a high level and did so for 4 years, but didn't show much growth in his game between his freshman and senior seasons. On the whole, I don't find that to be much to complain about given what a good player he was for us.

Also, didn't Jamar suffer through a back injury that season that affected his play?

[Aargh]

This is getting way of topic, but here goes.

I think we've accepted the fact that Turgeon, while he loved Wichita and enjoyed his time here, was building his resume at WSU.

Go back to 2005 (Sr year for JH, RB, and RK) and take a look at the players in te program. Wilson was clearly the PF of the future, but needed time on the court. Kampman was a player who peaked early and probably hit his ceiling prior to his Sr year.

Then you've got the young guys - Cooz, Ogirri and Braeuer, who look like gems. All those guys needed minutes.

From a coaching standpoint, what do you do? Go with the guys who got you there and should get you to the NCAA that year, or do you give the newer players more minutes and build for a run in 2006?

If it appeared to the players that Turg was looking past their Sr years, that would explan the drop in performance of some of the Srs that year.

If anything like that happened, then in hindsight, it was a brilliant move for all concerned. It gave Turg a wonderful resume boost and gave WSU some attention and respect we desperately needed. It may not have been in the best interests of that Sr class, but sometimes that's the way things work out.

[Snapshot9]

Most coaches are trying to build up their resume. Most want to go on up the ladder and make the big bucks, if nothing else but for their family's security. People need to quit faulting Turgeon for being human.

And as far as leaving the cupboard bare, well, it was just the timing of it. Many other coaches have done the very same thing as Turgeon did, that's just life.

And the most likely truth is, if Marshall has good success with the team in the next 3 years, he will probably be getting offers from bigger schools.

Now, what is this devoted 'lovefest' for Manigault. First off, we did not see him play enough to make a full assessment of his abilities. He just played spot minutes, and his performance was not up to the hype that proceeded him. He is athletic, you could see that, but basketball requires a lot more than just being athletic. Some guys just never develop a 'feel' for shooting, and he seemed to be one of them. Think of where we would have been last season if Hannah hadn't had a good outside shot.

I think the right decision was made, and I wish Kenny luck in the future.

[Kung Wu]

From a coaching standpoint, what do you do? Go with the guys who got you there and should get you to the NCAA that year, or do you give the newer players more minutes and build for a run in 2006?

I think you are reading too much into it. A coach always tries to put the best player at the moment in.

The best way to guarantee your future (i.e., "a run in 2006") is to win TODAY with any and every weapon you have.