Am I the only one NOT in panic mode?

[WuDrWu]

I realize many of you get tired of my yellow colored glasses view of all things WSU, but I have a pretty decent understanding of the game and I've seen my fair share of Shocker teams over time and last night's game does not really concern me all that much.

Now I don't think we lost to Carolina last night and I don't think this team is going to come back and win the national championship but there are positive things to take away from the game last night.

Baylor is a decent team. Not great but solid and talented and well coached. I believe we were better prepared. There aren't many teams in the country that are going to beat ANYBODY shooting 32%, yet we were down 4 inside 4 minutes with the ball and had every chance to win.

We are a very solid defensive and rebounding team. With any offense we are going to be tough to beat. Its very early in the season and even though our shooting is struggling we are getting good shots. Eventually those shots are going to fall.

If you had told me PJ and Mantis were going to combine for 7 points, I'd have expected us to lose by 20-30. 3 points from PJ and we are even in the game????!!!!

This is not the most talented team of all time. However, they are better than I ever thought we would be after last season. They
are going to get better and better as the year goes on. If EO gets here we are going to be a handful for the Valley.

It's one game. We shot awful, got very little from our star and still managed to be competitive with a team that would contend for the top 3 in the Valley (at least). Now if we get beat by Monmouth today then there is more cause for concern but don't be surprised if this team is 8-1 going into the LSU game in a month.

Don't get too high, don't get too low. These guys are going to be ok, we are under TREMENDOUS leadership, this staff is going to be HUGELY successful and its going to happen sooner instead of later and even if you do think we are lousy this year, fear not, because help is on the way and it's big time help.

:wsu_posters: :goshocks: :posterwu: :posterwsu:

[jocoshock]

No, you are not alone.

To echo HCGM's comments in the post game, I was very happy with the effort, not as happy with the execution, but that will improve as they get into the flow of the season.

PJ will not let his performance last night become a habit, and others Ramon, Mantas, will start scoring more points. It's more of an issue of consistency than anything right now, but these guys have the talent and desire to get it done.

If the loss accomplished nothing else last night, let's hope it at least provides fans a bit of a reality check on how much work needs to be done to get the team into peak performance in February and March. Definitely doable, but not a done deal by any means,,,,yet.

The leaders have to step to the front, everyone else needs to start stepping up behind them. We will be fine, but it will take some time.

:goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks: :goshocks:

[ShockBand]

I'm with you Doc...

I do not believe for one minute that we are going to suck like that from the field the whole season. If our FG% gets into the 40s and our 3PT% into the 30s, then the game is much more hotly contested. Baylor was just killing it from outside the arc, we have to make sure that isn't our Achillees heel this year (again).

Now if we lose to Monmouth... :shock:

[shox8498]

Save a place for me on the "not panicking" bandwagon.

I know Turgeon is not our coach now, but we can all learn something from him. Many times after tough losses, and even hard-earned wins, he would put it all in perspective for me with the following words:

"Don't let your highs get too high or your lows get too low."

Everyone knew that this team had a lot of youth coming back, and that it would take some time for it to jel. Furthermore, we were dissed at the last minute by recruits who changed their minds, creating a short recruiting season for CGM. There is potential there, it just takes a little time.

The faces will change, but the entity remains the same. Relax and get behind the guys who are out there on the floor. Because it is OUR SHOCKER BASKETBALL TEAM.

[xazshox]

Patience

Ditto here. The only player with Div 1 experience at the inside positions (center & power forward, the 4 & 5 positions or whatever you want to call them) is Phil T. Yes, the Shocks lost Denzel Bowles to Texas A & M, and Brandon Sampay to Ill State. Bowles has been redshirted & we heard earlier that Sampay was in trouble during the summer for something.

Some time ago, I thought that Griskenas was recruited to be a swing for, but so far, I think he's playing at the 4 spot. Juco players typically take awhile to adjust to Div 1 play. Gris scored for the 1st time last night whereas he had zero pts in the prior 3 games, 1 of which he missed. It should help greatly for him to start hitting some outside shots. Clemente has a great attitude, but is a bit undersized to score inside Vs the size that Baylor has. GM mentioned after the game last night that it might be good to put Durley in there with Phil T at the same time but then the team won't have a back up center. It remains to be seen as to how this comes together but I have great confidence that it will.

[MikeShox]

No panic here

I'm with you too. As I stated in another post, Baylor had the advantage the Shox had last year when we played a tournament in Sept and had the extra 10 days of practice. They are close to mid season form while the Shockers are just starting.

They won 1 less game than the Shockers did last year against tough compatition and returned all their starters. They have recruited pretty well the past few years and are a pretty tough team. Better than the Shockers? I don't think so. I just think they're far more prepared at this point of the season than the Shox. If we played again in February, I believe the outcome would be quite different.

There is only one reason I can see for anyone wanting to panic after only 2 games. That reason is not being realistic. The Shox are not a great team at this point. They have some very good talent and when the get some more games and practices under their belt as a team, they will start running the offense better and will handle opponents screens better and will win games against this type of competition. However, it does not come overnight.

I for one would be surprised and obviously delighted at 20 wins this year, but I do expect to see improvement from year to year as Coach continues to bring in top talent. He brought in some really nice talent this year and next year's recruiting class looks even better, possibly the best since the early late 70's (Carr Levingston, Ozell Jones, James Gibbs) , and early 80's, (McDaniel, Sherrod, Dreiling).

[Snapshot9]

PJ is a definate leader, but he can not put the team on his shoulders all the time. He will have off nights, and other team members have got to sense what is going on, and step up when they need to.

Defense must not have been too strong at the end, with all those perimeter shots going in. One thing I didn't like about Turgeon, is that he never had the guys contest the perimeter very much.

Ellis scored last night, and I think he will come on more and more. Gris needs to find his shot, but his rebounding has been great. I was wondering about playing Gris with Durley, and Ellis with Phil??? And don't forget we get Butler back next month.

I am marking last night off as a bad night with lots of effort. Lets hope they take the lessons from last night's game, and help them to become better.

[shockall]

Re: Patience

.......but then the team won't have a back up center.

Perhaps we should have retained at least one of the "big" guys that were on the team last year. Their fill in roll this year would be valuable.

[xazshox]

butler

Butler's name showed up in the box score from last night's game. It looks like he played less than a minute, perhaps at the end of the 1st half!? The box score shows he had 1 T. He was anxious to be back by this trnm.

[newshock1234]

i agree Dr., at the begining of the season i said, we will struggle in our non cof. and maybe the first part of valley play, but i think we will be a very dangerous team at the end of the year.

[wsu789]

We are at the games and Butler did not play. He wasn't even in uniform.

The effort was there, but we will need PJ to step up. Inside play just wasn't a problem, at least against Baylor.

The most striking thing about the games yesterday was to see the quality of athlete that Marshall recruited at Winthrop. It is truly a different type of player than MT recruited. Very, very athletic, long, and constantly moving on defense. Although I understood this from reading about it and watching Winthrop on TV, to see it up close and personal was really striking.

To whomever suggested it, none of the bigs that are no longer with the program would be helping us now, in my opinion. It would also mean that many fewer scholarships open for next year and/or that many more scholarship athletes leaving at the end of this year.

Lance Harris played hard and nicely. Preadom did not see much action.

[martymoose]

I'm not concerned at all...This is a rebuilding year. Our team has hardly played together at all. All along I've figured this year would be the oppisite of last year. Instead of starting fast and finishing badly, we'll start slow until this team gets the feel for each other then we'll finish the year strong.

[60Shock]

Doc, I always appreciate your comments and forward looking enthusiam and am willing to concede that you forgot more about basketball than I have ever known.

But, at the same time, I think there is a big difference between panicking and being realistic. In this case, I think the only fans who might possibly be panicking are the ones who sugar-coated our less than spectacular offensive performance against our first three weak opponents.

I thought that the general consensus prior to the season starting, was that we would probably take our licks early on and hopefully would start jelling by the time the conference games started. This was based on new coach, new system, new game plans, and host of inexperienced new players who have never played D-1, ball. But suddenly, as the season approached, anticipation naturally started growing and predictions began flying that we were going to be 20-24 game winners.

I, for one, still stick with the obviously outdated concept that we are going to lose more than just some games. I fear we are going to have a long, tough road to go before we get to where we want to be.

That's why we play the games in Nov, Dec, and Jan. But, by the time the conference tournament starts, I'm looking for us to be a force.

[MikeShox]

Re: Patience

.......but then the team won't have a back up center.

Perhaps we should have retained at least one of the "big" guys that were on the team last year. Their fill in roll this year would be valuable.

I certainly cannot agree with this thought. If it should happen that Orupke does not show, or shows and is redshirted, I could see one of the "bigs" from last year maybe getting a comple minutes in an emergency, but they simply do not compare with the inside people on the team now, even though they are taller. Neither were nearly as athletic as anyone there this year.

Plus, if we had one of them on scholarship, who on this team would you want to give up? In my opinion, nobody.

[forevershockerfan]

The Good Doc took the words right out of my windy mouth and the thoughts right out of my lil pea-brain. This team will have it's high's and low's all Season long. However, as time passes, we will improve, continue to jell, and come together. The tools are there and at work. We have just the Leader we need with Coach Marshall. When everybody gets well, and gets here, and we come together and begin to click----WATCH OUT opponets because we will be flat out tough to beat.

PJ will have very few games like last night and will have plenty of awesome games even with all the defensive attention he will receive. As the other players come along, then he will have more freedom to prevail. Mr. Clemete is cleaning the glass as clean as a whistle and I dig that immensley.. Last night, we rebounded, we had our chances, but they made their shots and we did not at the crucial moments. We have some shooters and scorers also and they will come around soon and become more consistant. We have some awesome guards coming but I still like this goup we have now also.

Let's just win out these tourney games from here, and come on home and keep the progress moving full steam ahead. Our future is so bright, I am already reaching for my shades. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) reply #14=7+7