Newman game thread

[shockerfan]

I thought both Smith and Ragland showed (in the first half) why you should never rely on JuCo players early in the season. Ragland started out pretty bad. I counted 3 consecutive plays (2 offense - 1 defense) where he made a critical error.

They both had much better games in the second half. At least some of that could be from playing in front of 10,000 people for the first time in their lives. There's only about 1,500 going to be attending in Hawaii, so that factor should be gone.

Fewer TO's in the second half was an entire team effort.

Stutz and Orukpe on the floor together happened several times. You could see they've practiced that set. Once they had Stutz, Orukpe, and Smith playing together for a couple minutes. I think that's next year's front court. Smith can step out and hit a 3, he's quick and strong going to the basket, and he's an extraordinary leaper. That front court combo could present matchup problems at all 3 spots.

I agree and I felt that Stutz, Orukpe and Smith were our best defensive trio to have out there also. That kind of goes without saying though.

[WuDrWu]

I thought Joe and Ben started nervous, but relaxed and played much closer to potential in the 2nd half.

I thought after the first half that by sitting on the bench, Demetric just won the starting job.......he lost it even faster in the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half.

Rags starts.

I have no issues with Ben Smith. He plays HARD and he has game. 6'5" lol......6'3" MAYBE but it's all heart.

Crowd was AWFUL. HOWEVER, the student section was nails I thought, especially for an exhibition. Well done guys!

[Speed]

I really enjoy watching #24. That block was awesome. It looked like the only foul was spiking the ball back too hard. I hope we can get some consistency & 2/3's of that potential.

[WuDrWu]

Grade the players?


I can't give anyone an A. I would like to give Ehimen an A, he deserves it, but what do I give him when he goes for 14 and 15 in 20 minutes in a December game?

As our President might say.....Good solid B+.

[ShockerFever]

I also love Kyles' potential. He just looks ready to explode when he's on.

Anybody catch a couple of Coach's reactions after some of our boneheaded plays? He's quite the entertainer, even during our times of frustration.

[Aargh]

I really enjoy watching #24. That block was awesome. It looked like the only foul was spiking the ball back too hard. I hope we can get some consistency & 2/3's of that potential.

That play got replayed on the video screen to a chorus of boos. Kyles missed the player he "fouled" by at least 8" and it really looked like all ball on the top of the ball for the block.

I chalked that call up to a referee seeing something he thought was impossible so he blew the whistle. That can happen when an official isn't familiar with an individual player's skills.

If that call had been made in a league game - that mattered - in a close game - and been replayed on the video screen - it would not have been pretty. In an exhibition game, it just appeared to be a bad call. Some boos (to keep in practice for when it counts) and then it was forgotten.

[tropicalshox]

From what I can tell, Kyles is by far the most athletic player we have. He makes the most NBA type plays also. A'm I wrong on wanting him on the floor more?

[WuDrWu]

From what I can tell, Kyles is by far the most athletic player we have. He makes the most NBA type plays also. A'm I wrong on wanting him on the floor more?

Well, when his head is on straight. David just checks out too often. Tonight he was pretty darned good, but here are just a few brain spasms.

30+ foot 3. That was not the shot we were looking for....it was deep into the shot clock, but it wasn't that deep.

Shirt untucked (which he did on purpose) and caused the game to stop while he tucked it back in. That's a no no David and you should know that by now.

Driving to the basket, found himself unguarded on the way to what should have been a massive dunk, decided to pass outside to a player who promptly turned it over.

[Speed]

We have speed! Both options at point, EO, Smith and of course Kyles. Murry is a smooth kind of fast. Ellis is quick. If this team can learn to take care of the ball, we could push it.

[ShockerFever]

From what I can tell, Kyles is by far the most athletic player we have. He makes the most NBA type plays also. A'm I wrong on wanting him on the floor more?

Well, when his head is on straight. David just checks out too often. Tonight he was pretty darned good, but here are just a few brain spasms.

30+ foot 3. That was not the shot we were looking for....it was deep into the shot clock, but it wasn't that deep.

Shirt untucked (which he did on purpose) and caused the game to stop while he tucked it back in. That's a no no David and you should know that by now.

Driving to the basket, found himself unguarded on the way to what should have been a massive dunk, decided to pass outside to a player who promptly turned it over.

Those few things you listed were definitely discouraging, considering Kyles' potential. Hopefully he's getting these things tweaked out in the exhibition. On your last observation however, I can rarely fault a guy who is willing to share the basketball and make the "extra pass". I absolutely LOVE when players do this. I'm sure Kyles would love to dunk the ball (We all know he does). Even though that particular play didn't end well, I thought the idea was good and selfless. We need more of that kinda thinking down the road.. IMO. Now granted, he probably hurt us more by not being selfish in that specific instance. But like I said.. it's hard to knock a guy for giving up the ball.




Did anyone see any of that "high-paced" offense that was supposedly talked up? We sure seemed content on the "PG slowly brings up the ball, waits for guys to get set, then crosses half court" mode.

[Snapshot9]

My take on the game and team:

First, this team does not look any better than last year.
Sloppy first half - 13 turnovers.
Rags will be okay after 3-4 more games.
Smith was not good 1st half - was good 2nd half.
DWill was too anxious after sitting out 1st half.
A pleasure to watch Orukpe. The coaches are bringing him along. (and probably Stutz and Durley too)
Kyles had his 2 plays of glory and disappeared as usual.
Murry played a good game.
Ellis seemed energized as well as improved.
Durley didn't do a whole lot.
Hatch was a little quiet tonight too.

Team seemed hesitate to shoot from outside. We lack Offensive flow, and stall. Don't seem to have a go to guy. Definately need direction and floor management from our point guards, and poise. Our height and depth will give other teams problems though. Right now, they could probably beat Texas Southern, but they are nowhere even ready for UConn.

[vancedave56]

...that's what the next couple of weeks of practice are for. We may not look as good right now as we did towards the end of last season, but I feel we look better than we did last season at the BEGINNING of last season.

We ran a LOT of offensive sets tonight - for practice. It wasn't as much up and down as I believe we will see during the season. It will be OK, probably better than OK. :wsu_posters:

[newshock1234]

-Murry was taking hard to the basketball almost everytime he got the ball, especially when the first half, and he was finishing.
-Ellis was aggressive for the first time in his 4 years hes been here. Ragland looked pretty bad in that first half, but settled down in 2nd.
-I will not be shocked if Stutz is a 1st all MVC player this year. Also has he grown an inch since last season?
-EO will be a nice guy to come off the bench this year, some of the boards he grab, his chest was at rim level.
-Kyles, imo is the perfect guy to come off the bench, he provides a nice spark.

[RoyalShock]

My main observation is that it felt like we played back on our heels most of the game. Newman was more aggressive on both ends of the floor and it got them open looks and created turnovers.

I'm hoping that is an exhibition game phenomenon and that we will impose our will against Texas Southern next week.

[pinstripers]

I think Newman is pretty good, actually.

There are simply not enough minutes. It will be somewhat better once we go uptempo, but somebody (or multiple somebodies) will be very unhappy.

I have never seen them show replays of a foul before. Last night they did it twice.

Silent Bob? Where was he?