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What a good basketball team needs (and why the 07-08 Shox will be better than anybody thinks)
1. A Team Leader - A good team MUST have an alpha dog, somebody who takes personal responsibility for the team on the floor and off, gets after them when they're soft, praises them when they're on, and takes the brunt for the mistakes with the media. As good as P.J. is as a player, the real leader of this team is Matt Braeuer. Both in the locker room, and on the floor, Matt takes care of business for the good of the team.
2. A Superstar - This is where P.J. fits in. Where Matt is the team leader, P.J. is the day-in, day-out star that opponents have to worry about. Matt hits big 3's to fire up the team, but P.J. does WHATEVER he needs to for the team. 20 points? Done. 14 boards? Done. Half-a-dozen assists? Got 'em. Blocking some rat-faced Blue-Pigeon to ice a game, been there, done that, have it on YouTube.
3. Boards - It's a simple mathematical relationship: If you get more shots than your opponent, you have more chances to score, and thus for teams with identical shooting percentages, the better rebounding team WILL win. We have won the rebounding war in every game we've played this year, and now that our shooting percentage is heading north into normal territory, that is turning into W's. Ramon, in particular, is a beast on the boards who is playing the Dennis Rodman/Charles Barkley/Rebounding Forward role for us well.
4. Defense - In the last two games we have shut down the other team's best scorer. Other than the few breakdowns that are bound to happen over the course of any 40-minute game, the Shox have been fantastic on defense. Moreover, there really isn't a player on the team you can point to and call a defensive liability. Everybody is playing in the system and playing well. Some are naturally better defenders than others, but the system is working well for everybody.
5. Scoring - Of all the players that get significant minutes, the only one who may not be a legitimate scoring threat is Wendell, and he may prove that wrong yet. Everybody else is a legitimate threat to score anywhere on the floor. Gal can drive and shoot the 3. So can Matt. P.J. can apparently even score from Maize (which is where he was he launched that 3 against Wyoming). Ellis, Griskenas, Durley, and even Phil are all legit inside-outside threats. As we saw Saturday, Gal can have an off night shooting and we can still win by double digits. Also, not many people have mentioned this, but we scored 75 points against Wyoming, and we did it shooting under 50%. This team can score.
6. Toughness - As big a difference as the up-tempo style may make, the one thing Coach Marshall brings to the table is a culture of mental toughness. Even when Wyoming was surging on Saturday, it never felt like the game was getting out of control. Gal had a bad shooting night, Aaron had a bad night offensively, P.J. fouled out, and we won by 12. People are stepping up and making plays when they need to, and they're making ADJUSTMENTS when they need to. Just by virtue of the mental toughness, I think this team will go deeper into the Valley tournament than in recent years.
Put all of this together and you have a team that is a legitimate threat to win the Valley right now, and that's playing effectively down 2 people. Add an effective Butler and/or Orukpe to the team, and that threat just gets bigger.
Thoughts?
:clap: :wsu_posters: :yahoo: :clap:
1. A Team Leader - A good team MUST have an alpha dog, somebody who takes personal responsibility for the team on the floor and off, gets after them when they're soft, praises them when they're on, and takes the brunt for the mistakes with the media. As good as P.J. is as a player, the real leader of this team is Matt Braeuer. Both in the locker room, and on the floor, Matt takes care of business for the good of the team.
2. A Superstar - This is where P.J. fits in. Where Matt is the team leader, P.J. is the day-in, day-out star that opponents have to worry about. Matt hits big 3's to fire up the team, but P.J. does WHATEVER he needs to for the team. 20 points? Done. 14 boards? Done. Half-a-dozen assists? Got 'em. Blocking some rat-faced Blue-Pigeon to ice a game, been there, done that, have it on YouTube.
3. Boards - It's a simple mathematical relationship: If you get more shots than your opponent, you have more chances to score, and thus for teams with identical shooting percentages, the better rebounding team WILL win. We have won the rebounding war in every game we've played this year, and now that our shooting percentage is heading north into normal territory, that is turning into W's. Ramon, in particular, is a beast on the boards who is playing the Dennis Rodman/Charles Barkley/Rebounding Forward role for us well.
4. Defense - In the last two games we have shut down the other team's best scorer. Other than the few breakdowns that are bound to happen over the course of any 40-minute game, the Shox have been fantastic on defense. Moreover, there really isn't a player on the team you can point to and call a defensive liability. Everybody is playing in the system and playing well. Some are naturally better defenders than others, but the system is working well for everybody.
5. Scoring - Of all the players that get significant minutes, the only one who may not be a legitimate scoring threat is Wendell, and he may prove that wrong yet. Everybody else is a legitimate threat to score anywhere on the floor. Gal can drive and shoot the 3. So can Matt. P.J. can apparently even score from Maize (which is where he was he launched that 3 against Wyoming). Ellis, Griskenas, Durley, and even Phil are all legit inside-outside threats. As we saw Saturday, Gal can have an off night shooting and we can still win by double digits. Also, not many people have mentioned this, but we scored 75 points against Wyoming, and we did it shooting under 50%. This team can score.
6. Toughness - As big a difference as the up-tempo style may make, the one thing Coach Marshall brings to the table is a culture of mental toughness. Even when Wyoming was surging on Saturday, it never felt like the game was getting out of control. Gal had a bad shooting night, Aaron had a bad night offensively, P.J. fouled out, and we won by 12. People are stepping up and making plays when they need to, and they're making ADJUSTMENTS when they need to. Just by virtue of the mental toughness, I think this team will go deeper into the Valley tournament than in recent years.
Put all of this together and you have a team that is a legitimate threat to win the Valley right now, and that's playing effectively down 2 people. Add an effective Butler and/or Orukpe to the team, and that threat just gets bigger.
Thoughts?
:clap: :wsu_posters: :yahoo: :clap:
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