Airforce flies to Wichita

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

0-3 Airforce comes to Koch Arena Sunday. We should run them off of the floor. Jody is pushing the team very hard this week. Closed practice, can't take a peek.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

0-3 Airforce comes to Koch Arena Sunday. We should run them off of the floor. Jody is pushing the team very hard this week. Closed practice, can't take a peek.

Not a lot of competition. We show a pretty good press with Michelle, Alex and Kelsey up front getting steals. Their zone hurt us a bit. Nice to see little Dap play well. Sam Houston will give us more of a challenge. Like most years, need to work on our offense.

[1972Shocker]

I wasn't able to make the game Sunday but it was nice to see the freshmen get some floor time (a combined 51 minutes) and it was good to see Baby Dap take advantage of her 23 minutes contributing a very efficient 8 points and 8 rebounds. Hopefully, that will prove to be a springboard to more consistent and productive playing time for Moriah.

The 11 assists to 18 turnovers for the Shocks was rather disappointing and needs to be cleaned up.

I agree SHS will present more of a challenge than did Air Force. Not only is the game on the road but Sam Houston has a 6-3 Junior with a big frame, Angela Beadle, who is averaging 17.0 PPG and 10.6 RPG to contend with. She is making 55.6% of her FGA and 75.0% of her FTA. Hopefully, Michelle and Kelsey can offset Beadle's size advantage with better quickness.

All-in-all though I think the Shocks match up pretty well with SHS and this is a very winnable game for the Shocks. Our defense will keep us in most of the games remaining on our schedule with perhaps Wisonsin-Green Bay being the lone exception. We just need to generate enough offense to make that defense pay off.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

I wasn't able to make the game Sunday but it was nice to see the freshmen get some floor time (a combined 51 minutes) and it was good to see Baby Dap take advantage of her 23 minutes contributing a very efficient 8 points and 8 rebounds. Hopefully, that will prove to be a springboard to more consistent and productive playing time for Moriah.

The 11 assists to 18 turnovers for the Shocks was rather disappointing and needs to be cleaned up.

I agree SHS will present more of a challenge than did Air Force. Not only is the game on the road but Sam Houston has a 6-3 Junior with a big frame, Angela Beadle, who is averaging 17.0 PPG and 10.6 RPG to contend with. She is making 55.6% of her FGA and 75.0% of her FTA. Hopefully, Michelle and Kelsey can offset Beadle's size advantage with better quickness.

All-in-all though I think the Shocks match up pretty well with SHS and this is a very winnable game for the Shocks. Our defense will keep us in most of the games remaining on our schedule with perhaps Wisonsin-Green Bay being the lone exception. We just need to generate enough offense to make that defense pay off.

I have been most impressed with both our full court and half court defense. Our offensive sets have improved with more movement. Sometimes we pass up wide open 15 foot jumpers for some unknown reason. I know we have a tendency to what until the end of the shot clock to shoot as opposed to shooting the best open shot; I don't know if this is by design. Still liking this team.

[1972Shocker]

I will be a little disappointed if the Shocks don't finish their non-conference schedule at 8-3. Primarily because it is just not that tough.

Looks like they should also be in the hunt for another Valley title, if for no other reason the Valley looks to be down this year. At this point the Shocks are the only Valley team with a better than 0.500 record and Indiana State is the only Valley team at 0.500.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Missouri State tonight when they visit Louisville who is currently ranked #1 in the RPI.

Southern Illinois did beat Central Arkansas last night 39-37 for its 1st win of the year.

It is quite clear the Valley will be a 1-bid league this year. Win the regular season for pride and a chance to go to the NIT if you don't win the Valley Tournament, but if you want to go to the big dance you will need to win the Valley Tournament.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

I will be a little disappointed if the Shocks don't finish their non-conference schedule at 8-3. Primarily because it is just not that tough.

Looks like they should also be in the hunt for another Valley title, if for no other reason the Valley looks to be down this year. At this point the Shocks are the only Valley team with a better than 0.500 record and Indiana State is the only Valley team at 0.500.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Missouri State tonight when they visit Louisville who is currently ranked #1 in the RPI.

Southern Illinois did beat Central Arkansas last night 39-37 for its 1st win of the year.

It is quite clear the Valley will be a 1-bid league this year. Win the regular season for pride and a chance to go to the NIT if you don't win the Valley Tournament, but if you want to go to the big dance you will need to win the Valley Tournament.

We can do it. Again, we need some help from the bench. If we can go eight deep we'll be fine.

[flyingMoose]

It will be interesting to see what happens to Missouri State tonight when they visit Louisville who is currently ranked #1 in the RPI.

Louisville, 91-49. Ouch!! Will anyone in the Valley have an RPI less than 100 this year?

[1972Shocker]

Louisville, 91-49. Ouch!! Will anyone in the Valley have an RPI less than 100 this year?

RealTimeRPI.com projects the Shocks at No. 78 and that's projecting them to go 16-2 in the Valley (probably a little optimistic).

[1972Shocker]

Shocks win over Sam Houston State lowered their RPI (per RealTimeRPI.com) to 96 with a projected RPI of 67.

To get to that RPI RealTimeRPI.com has us going 8-3 in the non-conference and 16-2 in the Valley. The 8-3 non-con record is very doable, but I don't know about 16-2 in the Valley even though it is down this year.

I worry a little about our free throw shooting costing us a game or two. Probably already cost us a win against St. Joseph. The Shocks, who are shooting 64.1% over 7 games, have been a little Jekyll & Hyde from the line this year. We have 3 games (all blowout wins) where we hit 77.8% (49-63) but in our other 4 games we only have shot 56.1% (60-107). St. Joseph's is probably the only game where that FT shooting may have cost us a win.

If we had held on to beat St. Joseph's, currently ranked #13 in the RPI, we might be in the Top 50 in RPI.

It looks to me like we are capable of being a decent FT shooting team, we just need to develop more consistency from game to game.

Valerierose is only 2-8 on the year and is surely a better than a 25% FT shooter, but the key will be for Michelle and Kelsey to pick up the pace because they are getting the most opportunities at the line. Michelle is 15-36 for 41.7% and Kelsey is 19-31 for 61.3%. I think both Michelle and Kelsey are capable of being 65% FT shooters or better.

If we keep holding teams to under 50 points, as we have in all 5 of our wins so far this year (opponents average of 44.4 PPG in those 5 wins), it may not matter how well we shoot free throws. However, I would anticipate there will be those games where we will need those points from the line in order to win.

[flyingMoose]

Shocks win over Sam Houston State lowered their RPI (per RealTimeRPI.com) to 96 ...

As I write, Warren Nolan has our RPI at 82. Drake is next out of the Valley at 119.

[1972Shocker]

Louisville, 91-49. Ouch!! Will anyone in the Valley have an RPI less than 100 this year?

That was an Ouch!! But not as bad as Sunday's Bradley game at Missouri. Final Score: Missouri 126 - Bradley 55.

Missouri plays at Missouri State on the 19th. Other than that and Northwestern @ Loyola, the Shocks @ Green Bay, Drake @ Iowa, Indiana State vs Northwestern, Illinois State @ Fordham and DePaul @ Bradley there is very little meat left on the Valley's non-conference slate. And I don't see any Valley wins in these 7 games. The Valley will need to do very well the rest of the non-con schedule if they are going to improve on its current #17 conference ranking. I figure they will go 17-10 or 16-11 in those games and that is with WSU, DU and INS going 8-0.

[1972Shocker]

In that Missouri - Bradley game UM hit 18-32 treys and had 7 players in double figures. It was not like they didn't play their bench either as they played 13 players. 11 players played 13 minutes or more with the most minutes being 21.

Bradley only played 7 players so in this case that may have worked against Bradley as they were probably gassed and demoralized by halftime. The score at halftime was 65-23. So it could have been worse.

The Shocks lost to Missouri last year in Cancun but the score in that game was 49-44.

[WuDrWu]

Shocks win over Sam Houston State lowered their RPI (per RealTimeRPI.com) to 96 with a projected RPI of 67.

To get to that RPI RealTimeRPI.com has us going 8-3 in the non-conference and 16-2 in the Valley. The 8-3 non-con record is very doable, but I don't know about 16-2 in the Valley even though it is down this year.

If we had held on to beat St. Joseph's, currently ranked #13 in the RPI, we might be in the Top 50 in RPI.

If we keep holding teams to under 50 points, as we have in all 5 of our wins so far this year (opponents average of 44.4 PPG in those 5 wins), it may not matter how well we shoot free throws. However, I would anticipate there will be those games where we will need those points from the line in order to win.

I really wish they would have hung on and won that game that they should have won against SJU. At 9-1 the Hawks are up to #7 in the RPI. I'm not suggesting they're the 7th best team in the country, but like you said, a win for our ladies probably means around a top 50 RPI for the Shocks. It doesn't mean anything except to get the ladies to believe they belong. I think this team, IF they can stay healthy, can be really good, right now.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

I really wish they would have hung on and won that game that they should have won against SJU. At 9-1 the Hawks are up to #7 in the RPI. I'm not suggesting they're the 7th best team in the country, but like you said, a win for our ladies probably means around a top 50 RPI for the Shocks. It doesn't mean anything except to get the ladies to believe they belong. I think this team, IF they can stay healthy, can be really good, right now.

ARK State will be a nice test. They are very athletic and can match us in athleticism at some spots. We need to shoot a decent percentage from the field and most especially at the line. I can't believe we lead the Valley in Field Goal Percentage.

[RoyalShock]

I can't believe we lead the Valley in Field Goal Percentage.

Not only that, I read a tweet from the MVC twitter account that said WSU leads the nation in 3-pt FG% defense.