Finally KU basketball plays WSU

[RHshoxfan]

http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=205116280

[kcshocker11]

Kick some butt Ladies!

[1972Shocker]

I'm a little surprised the Ladies made the WNIT, but perhaps their strong finish did the trick.

Hopefully, I will be able to catch the 2nd half on the radio after the Shocker Men finish off Nebraska.

I assume KU will be favored to win this game by about 10 points. Carolyn Davis will be quite a challenge for the Lady Shocks on the inside.

Anyway, congratulations to the Lady Shocks. Progress is being made.

MSU, ILS and CU also in the WNIT from the MVC.

Good Luck, Ladies.

:goshocks:

[1972Shocker]

Interesting -- tickets are a whopping $5 for this game.

[RoyalShock]

WSU, Missouri St. and Illinois St. are all in the same region. Interesting.

[1972Shocker]

The WNIT, unlike the Men's NIT, is not owned and operated by the NCAA (probably not enough money to be made to be worthwile to the NCAA).

While relative team strength is a factor the teams are not formally seeded.

http://www.womensnit.com/postinfo.asp

I'm sure geogaphic location comes into play in trying to keep travel costs minimal. Teams from the same conference will not meet in the 1st round and they also try to avoid that in the 2nd round, if possible. They also try to avoid re-matches of regular season non-conference games in the 1st round.

The host site for each game is selected by the WNIT committee based on several factors such as fan base, host bids, facility availability, tournament seed, travel constraints, etc. (My guess is host bids is the primary factor).

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks drilled KU 84-58 on December 29, 2002 at O'Shaugnessy Hall on the campus of Newman University. This was the year of the Roundhouse reconstruction and it was Darryl Smith's final year.

I kind of liked the games in the friendly confines of O'Shaugnessy Hall. Sat about 1,200 and was usually full or close to full. Close to the action and much easier for the fans to create some excitement.

After beating KU, a game in which the Shocks really looked good, they were 5-2. They went on to build an 11-4 record overall and were sitting in 1st place in the MVC. Then all of a sudden the wheels came off and the Shocks limped home losing 10 of their last 13. Apparently, that was enough for Jim Schaus who I don't think was real wild about Darryl's MIB personna and perhaps was looking for an excuse to cut him loose. That team had some very good players including Angela Buckner, Carlesa Dixon, Raeven King, the late Tisharria Huggins and April Banks. But something snapped midway throught the season and the team chemistry appeared to go down the drain.

It has pretty much been a lost decade since then. I'm not expecting the same ressult this time around, a WSU win would be a big upset, but hopefully the aftermath won't be repeated either.

[flyingMoose]

(My guess is host bids is the primary factor).

And with the men in the NIT and our hosting the NCAA Women's Regional, I suspect our bid was $0. :)

[Shirley Schmidt]

But something snapped midway throught the season and the team chemistry appeared to go down the drain.

I don't think Darryl showering with the players helped at all.

[RoyalShock]

GameTracker here if you want to follow along:

http://www.kuathletics.com/index-main.html#00

[RoyalShock]

You can watch it online for free, as well:

http://www.kuathletics.com/allaccess/?media=237035

[RoyalShock]

Down 21, still 11:34 to play.

[1972Shocker]

Final: KU 79 - Shocks 58

I was a little concerned whether the Shocks could handle Carolyn Davis and the concerns came to fruition. Actually to fruition squared.

Davis scored 33 points on 14-15 shooting.

KU shot 13-19 from the line which is so-so, but the Shocks only shot 4 free throws in the game (all by Michelle and all were missed).

Jessica with 18 points and Haleigh with 13 points led the Shocks. Shocks need to find some offensive help for these two to take a step forward next year. Chynna scored 8 on 4 of 6 shooting.

Shocks did a pretty good job taking care of the ball with only 10 turnovers.

Still we finished the season on an uptrend (despite our last two games) and, hopefully the Shocks will continue to build on that next year.