Northern Iowa vs. WSU game thread

[1972Shocker]

Hopefully, JT is not out for the season, but 3G sounded pretty down in the post-game show. If D-Will and JT are both hurt then there goes our vaunted depth advantage (which did little for us tonight).

Hoping for the best (although not expecting it) on the injury front and setting my sights for a run in St. Louis (although our history there is not good at all).

[Dan]

I hate underachieving.

As do I, although I don't know if this team is underachieving or were simply overrated.

We clearly miss Clevin's leadership at the point.

Not sure this team really thinks the prize is worth a max effort.

We miss a leader that says "give me the damn ball and I'll make the shot". We have a couple guys that like to try to be heros but they just aren't good enough to pull it off. I wish Joe or Dwill would step up and be the man, they both look like they have the goods to do it, but are just not there yet. This reminds me of the year we lost Miller. Everyone says we just lost one guy and way underestimated how important that one guy was to the team.

[Kung Wu]

Defense looked pretty good tonight overall.
Every game is winnable from here on out.
No reason to worry at this point -- we gonna auto-dance still!
I can't believe the old tide didn't turn our way!
All we gotta do is win the tourney, just like we planned it.
Lose one here, lose one there, no matter -- we got this!

[SFL]

really frustrating game. we got their late, like many, and the energy was lacking. I'll still never understand the whole stand up and cheer until the other team scores and then sit down thing... just an odd crowd thing to do.

I would like to have seen more zone played but I'm not the coach. I would like to have seen Ben play more but... oh well. Tough loss and a really tough loss if JT is gonna be gone.

I don't see this team winning the valley tourney. I hope they do and I hope I'm wrong.

Smith, Murry & Ragland with 2 turnovers. Ben and Joe's seem to come during crunch time. Oh, Hatch also had a killer turnover. At least Murry gets his out of the way during the first 2 minutes of every game. :(

[DUShock]

Good night Shockernet, tomorrow brings a new day.

[ShockTalk]

I hate underachieving.

As do I, although I don't know if this team is underachieving or were simply overrated.

We clearly miss Clevin's leadership at the point.

Not sure this team really thinks the prize is worth a max effort.

Overrated in this year's Valley. I don't think so. This team has depth, it has athleticism, and is a veteran team. Not just a normal veteran type team, but one that has a lot of DI experience in both its seniors and juniors, ones who've played a lot as freshmen or sophmores. I also believe this team has players who, on teams with less depth, would be averaging 12-15 points per game.

What do they not have? Well, for one, chemistry. Is it the coaching, lack of player leadership, a steady PG? Probably a little of a number of things.

Another thing is confidence. They have these bursts where they play great defense or rack up a lot of points, but their not consistant. Maybe more than confidence, it's a lack of swagger. I'm not sure how one instills this in a team. Maybe it's just something that has to be felt in the gut by players and the more playres that do fell it, the more of "IT" they have as a team.

[ShockTalk]

I hate underachieving.

As do I, although I don't know if this team is underachieving or were simply overrated.

We clearly miss Clevin's leadership at the point.

Not sure this team really thinks the prize is worth a max effort.

We miss a leader that says "give me the damn ball and I'll make the shot". We have a couple guys that like to try to be heros but they just aren't good enough to pull it off. I wish Joe or Dwill would step up and be the man, they both look like they have the goods to do it, but are just not there yet. This reminds me of the year we lost Miller. Everyone says we just lost one guy and way underestimated how important that one guy was to the team.

Not underestimating Miller's importance, but we lost more than one guy that effected how that team played and practiced.

[shockall]

I hate underachieving.

As do I, although I don't know if this team is underachieving or were simply overrated.

We clearly miss Clevin's leadership at the point.

Not sure this team really thinks the prize is worth a max effort.

Overrated in this year's Valley. I don't think so. This team has depth, it has athleticism, and is a veteran team. Not just a normal veteran type team, but one that has a lot of DI experience in both its seniors and juniors, ones who've played a lot as freshmen or sophmores. I also believe this team has players who, on teams with less depth, would be averaging 12-15 points per game.

What do they not have? Well, for one, chemistry. Is it the coaching, lack of player leadership, a steady PG? Probably a little of a number of things.

Another thing is confidence. They have these bursts where they play great defense or rack up a lot of points, but their not consistant. Maybe more than confidence, it's a lack of swagger. I'm not sure how one instills this in a team. Maybe it's just something that has to be felt in the gut by players and the more playres that do fell it, the more of "IT" they have as a team.

You can have all the swagger you can dream about, but without fundamental defense skills, that swagger means nothing!

[vancedave56]

how the hell does a team like UNI, in the middle of nowehere, with zero resources, continue to pump out players, coaches and teams a tier above Wichita State? We must be doing something terribly wrong.

That is the RUB!

They don't - they just won this game.

[1979Shocker]

UNI is so much better coached than WSU its not even funny. They were clearly the better team tonight. Emphasis on the word team. We have more individually talented and athletic players for the most part, but UNI is light years ahead of us in terms of basketball IQ. They had 6 turnovers. Six! And they knew exactly what they were going to do with every single offensive possession. It wasn't even like they just hit a bunch of guarded shots. Most of their jumpers were wide freaking open.

Having said that, the officiating on drives to the basket was absolutely horrendous. The refs had no clue what to do when UNI drove the basket.

I wouldn't say UNI played better as a team. Just look at the number of assists for each basket. They played better one on one basketball and we couldn't stop that.

It would be nice if we had someone big inside who could swat away some of those shots when UNI drove it inside, or at least alter their shots.

Actually we do. We have EO. And before anyone says we'd lose something on the offensive end, just look at all the points Stutz put up, a big fat zero. I think EO could do at least that good, and maybe defend a little better, too.

[shox1989]

I hope JT is okay. We need to keep him in our prayers.

3g got badly out coached tonight. Ben Jacobsen (as he seems to do every year) is able to take a bunch of less gifted athletes, mold them into a team and then find a way to beat teams with superior athletic ability.

There is no way that UNI team should have beaten WSU, but Coach Ben finds a way.

[SHOXJOCK]

UNI is so much better coached than WSU its not even funny. They were clearly the better team tonight. Emphasis on the word team. We have more individually talented and athletic players for the most part, but UNI is light years ahead of us in terms of basketball IQ. They had 6 turnovers. Six! And they knew exactly what they were going to do with every single offensive possession. It wasn't even like they just hit a bunch of guarded shots. Most of their jumpers were wide freaking open.

Having said that, the officiating on drives to the basket was absolutely horrendous. The refs had no clue what to do when UNI drove the basket.

Dead On.

Double Dead On

[ShockBaller]

Defense looked pretty good tonight overall.
Every game is winnable from here on out.
No reason to worry at this point -- we gonna auto-dance still!
I can't believe the old tide didn't turn our way!
All we gotta do is win the tourney, just like we planned it.
Lose one here, lose one there, no matter -- we got this!

What are you smoking?? Our defense was AWFUL! We cannot keep any guards from driving through the lane at will. UNI passed up TONS of open shots in the second half because they wanted to kill the clock and knew they could get an open look every time down the floor. They picked apart our defense all night long. Nothing good about it!!

[forevershockerfan]

KUNG WU knows exactly what happened. He was just pumping in some sunshine at our darkest hour. Kung Wu knows basketball and was being contrary.

[tropicalshox]

I think its called sarcasm.