The Team of Missed Opportunities

[forevershockerfan]

What we all could wonder in retrospect is this: "What if, what if, what if we would have beaten UConn after leading them for 36 minutes?" Michigan State was quite beatable as was Kentucky. Would it have gave us the confidence to take care of business at home as we have done in the past? Even so, 8 out of 9 road Valley wins was cool. The what if's are history lessons and now the Shocks have to plunge into the "We Can Do The Lew Mentality."

[SFL]

Right, SB Shock. Overrated, without a doubt. We didn't know, nobody knew, that WSU was basically center-less (okay, compared to top-40 teams, SB), and that Toure Murry would turn into Moe Howard. What is with him?

He's lost his mojo! :D

[ISASO]

I'm sure we will hear that they still have all their goals available to them. A Missouri Valley Conference Championship. Whatever.

[SHOXAAC]

A team with good solid talent, but is just too soft. It was frustrating to see us fight back, just to see us self destruct late with undisciplined shot selection.

[forevershockerfan]

We also was fouling way to much.

[ABC]

Look, we've missed every opporunity except possibly UNI on the road.

That means to me, the team simply wasn't as good as we thought.

It is quite possible that it is not anyone's fault - not GM or the players.

They just aren't as good as we all thought.

[ISASO]

Yea, pretty much. We will soon move past Marshall's first crop of players. The second group needs to be noticeably better. And the coach needs to get the most out of them.

Marshall wasn't handed a Conference POY. He needs to find one. When that happens, missed opportunities will be no longer missed.

[KC Shox]

Look, we've missed every opporunity except possibly UNI on the road.

That means to me, the team simply wasn't as good as we thought.

It is quite possible that it is not anyone's fault - not GM or the players.

They just aren't as good as we all thought.

I hate to say it but this is absolutely correct. The UNI win on the road lost all its luster when L.O. went down so really, we have missed every opportunity.

[WuDrWu]

No doubt.


Look up and down the roster (and the bench)...where is the overachieving this year?


The only team that's done less with more is Creighton. 14-4 is just a failure.

I hope the kids can find something, anything in the next 6 days that will spark their interest and fire their motor or it's going to get really bad around these parts.

[kochHead]

When Adam Leonard hit that 3 I felt like a loss was inevitable. Call it a lack of killer instinct, being soft, bad decision making, bad shot selection, folding under pressure, low basketball IQ, inconsistent play, or whatever you want to call it. Whatever it is, it is who they are at this point and it shows up on a regular basis in the first half and in the last minute of the second half. I don't expect to see a different team show up on Friday. I am however proud of the effort they made in coming back, I just wish they could have cashed in on the opportunity they earned. I hope we get another shot at MSU Sunday, maybe that opportunity will not pass them by, maybe.

[WuDrWu]

And by the way, not challenging ourselves early in the year is absolutely one of the primary reasons this team didn't get better.

I am sure it helped the bottom line, but it did bupkis getting the team ready for the big games.

[calfan]

The way this team played today, I don't see any reason to expect them not to blow there last opportunity in St. Louis.

This team right now looks like a first round loser in the NIT.

Kind of reminds me of last year's team!!!

[ShockTalk]

Look, we've missed every opporunity except possibly UNI on the road.

That means to me, the team simply wasn't as good as we thought.

It is quite possible that it is not anyone's fault - not GM or the players.

They just aren't as good as we all thought.

I hate to say it but this is absolutely correct. The UNI win on the road lost all its luster when L.O. went down so really, we have missed every opportunity.

No doubt that the Shocks haven't been as good as most of us thought they'd be.

The question is, could/should they have been better than they've been?

A year ago, the Shocks were 12-6 in a Valley conference that was better over all than this year. The Bears were 8-10 and lost to the Shocks 3 times.

We lost Hannah, but replaced him with Ragland and Smith. The Bears lost Fuehrmeyer and Pickens and added Scheer. We lost more, but also added more and MSU's bench actually got shorter than the previous year.

This year, we improve by 2 games to 14-4, however, the Bears improve 7 games, going 15-3 and beating WSU twice. The Bears did this with basically the same team as the previous year, but with a shorter bench.

First, I'd submit that the Shocks really didn't improve at all and the two games difference is more due to the weaker Valley.

So what has happened? Did most of our players hit their ceiling last year? Who visibly improved? Ellis for sure. Kyles for the first half, but not the second half of the season. Everyone else pretty much stayed the same or did worse. Even if they did hit a ceiling athletic wise, shouldn't they have improved their ability to better run the offensive and defensive systems?

They may not have been as good as we expected, but I think we should have expected, and seen, more than we have. It's perplexing to say the least.

I still believe they can win in St Louis and have as good, or better, a chance than any other team. Go Shocks.

[shox1989]

Look, we've missed every opporunity except possibly UNI on the road.

That means to me, the team simply wasn't as good as we thought.

It is quite possible that it is not anyone's fault - not GM or the players.

They just aren't as good as we all thought.

I hate to say it but this is absolutely correct. The UNI win on the road lost all its luster when L.O. went down so really, we have missed every opportunity.

No doubt that the Shocks haven't been as good as most of us thought they'd be.

The question is, could/should they have been better than they've been?

A year ago, the Shocks were 12-6 in a Valley conference that was better over all than this year. The Bears were 8-10 and lost to the Shocks 3 times.

We lost Hannah, but replaced him with Ragland and Smith. The Bears lost Fuehrmeyer and Pickens and added Scheer. We lost more, but also added more and MSU's bench actually got shorter than the previous year.

This year, we improve by 2 games to 14-4, however, the Bears improve 7 games, going 15-3 and beating WSU twice. The Bears did this with basically the same team as the previous year, but with a shorter bench.

First, I'd submit that the Shocks really didn't improve at all and the two games difference is more due to the weaker Valley.

So what has happened? Did most of our players hit their ceiling last year? Who visibly improved? Ellis for sure. Kyles for the first half, but not the second half of the season. Everyone else pretty much stayed the same or did worse. Even if they did hit a ceiling athletic wise, shouldn't they have improved their ability to better run the offensive and defensive systems?

They may not have been as good as we expected, but I think we should have expected, and seen, more than we have. It's perplexing to say the least.

I still believe they can win in St Louis and have as good, or better, a chance than any other team. Go Shocks.

Maybe it is harder to improve when you are averaging between 14 and 26 minutes a game. That may be a downside to playing 10 guys a lot.
The other big downside is not developing the one guy you can go to when you really need a basket.

[kochHead]

Look, we've missed every opporunity except possibly UNI on the road.

That means to me, the team simply wasn't as good as we thought.

It is quite possible that it is not anyone's fault - not GM or the players.

They just aren't as good as we all thought.

I hate to say it but this is absolutely correct. The UNI win on the road lost all its luster when L.O. went down so really, we have missed every opportunity.

No doubt that the Shocks haven't been as good as most of us thought they'd be.

The question is, could/should they have been better than they've been?

A year ago, the Shocks were 12-6 in a Valley conference that was better over all than this year. The Bears were 8-10 and lost to the Shocks 3 times.

We lost Hannah, but replaced him with Ragland and Smith. The Bears lost Fuehrmeyer and Pickens and added Scheer. We lost more, but also added more and MSU's bench actually got shorter than the previous year.

This year, we improve by 2 games to 14-4, however, the Bears improve 7 games, going 15-3 and beating WSU twice. The Bears did this with basically the same team as the previous year, but with a shorter bench.

First, I'd submit that the Shocks really didn't improve at all and the two games difference is more due to the weaker Valley.

So what has happened? Did most of our players hit their ceiling last year? Who visibly improved? Ellis for sure. Kyles for the first half, but not the second half of the season. Everyone else pretty much stayed the same or did worse. Even if they did hit a ceiling athletic wise, shouldn't they have improved their ability to better run the offensive and defensive systems?

They may not have been as good as we expected, but I think we should have expected, and seen, more than we have. It's perplexing to say the least.

I still believe they can win in St Louis and have as good, or better, a chance than any other team. Go Shocks.

Maybe it is harder to improve when you are averaging between 14 and 26 minutes a game. That may be a downside to playing 10 guys a lot.
The other big downside is not developing the one guy you can go to when you really need a basket.

Another downside is chemistry and rhythm. I don't feel like this team has a core. They are not a selfish team, they share the ball well, but something is missing.