jane to change lineup....

[1972Shocker]

So. Is there any hope tonight. UNI is a young team are they not? I was given a couple of free tix to tonights game so I'm just hoping that something breathes some life into these ladies and I can see a good game.

Yes, there is hope tonight. UNI is very young, only 1 senior and no juniors on their roster. They did upset Illinois State recently in Cedar Falls, but they have not played well on the road. I think they have lost 9 in a row on the road.

I'm not guaranteeing or even predicting a victory, but this is a game the Shocks should win.

UNI does appear to be getting better as the season progresses as you might expect from a very young team.

[Shock_You]

You all have it wrong with Bunton. She had been recruited by many schools, just not WSU. She wanted to go to WSU and was already enrolled. She decided to give up basketball for the business degree at her school of choice. Then Antoinette became pregnant, Rochelle needed back surgery, and the coaching staff was looking for a post real quick. Alex was available and was contacted. She agreed to play basketball in exchange for the business degree. A full scholarship was given to her before she ever set foot on the court. She was an all-state player who set records in rebounding and blocked shots at Goddard. She was not looked to for the bulk of the offense as another all-state player, Meagan Welch, averaged close to 30 points a game on the same team. She once blocked 16 shots officially, in a single game against then undeafeted defending state champions Andale, who were on a 25 game winning streak. Alex almost single handedly ended their winning streak blocking almost every shot taken by their all state player, a 6 footer named Patry. Alex has always owned the paint defensively, and her presence in the lane altered every teams offensive attack. It can still be said of her. She leads the Valley in blocked shots, and only plays one fourth of the game. If she had been developed the last 3 years, she could have become a more offensive threat, but she was allowed to be beat up by Antoinette in practice and languish on the end of the bench playing 3 minutes per game. If you watch any of the games, she fights for the post position very strongly, but the only guard who actually gets her the ball when she is open is Whitney. She is always setting screens for the others and contributing off the ball. If you look at the comparison in scoring stats between her and Marcy, pt wise, Marcy averages 6.5 points in 20 minutes of play. Alex averages 2.5 points in 11 minutes of play. Not hardly a major difference in scoring if you were to double Alex's playing time. As for the change in lineup, I agree with Whitney for Jacie, but keep the 4 Seniors in with her for a good 10 minutes before making substitutions. At this point, I think Jane is just reaching for anything that will possibly work. She played this 4 guard offense last game for most of the second half and it made no difference.

[1972Shocker]

Actually Marcy is averaging 12.5 Points Per 40 MPT this year while Alex is averaging 7.3 Points Per 40 MPT. So Marcy's PT adjusted scoring average is 71% higher than Alex's.

Furthermore, Alex scoring has been pretty much limited to shots right around the basket while Marcy has shown the ability to score away from the basket, although she is not very quick and she has not really shot the ball from the outside up to her capabilities this year IMO.

Alex is much more physical and a better defensive player, although one downside to her physical play is that she commits 6.6 fouls per 40 MPT vs Marcy at 4.5 per 40 MPT.

Marcy averages 12.1 rebounds per 40 MPT vs 9.5 for Alex.

Starting Marcy in place of Alex is not really a big change, if a change at all when you look at the season overall. Marcy has started 15 games this year and Alex has started 8 games.

Alex (and Sam) will definitely get some minutes. Hopefully, Jane will stay with whoever is playing the best.

[molly jabali]

now THAT was a wealth of information from Shock-You....and i thank you for it.very interesting....

[1972Shocker]

A late rally by the Shocks falls short as the UNI wins its 19th consecutive game over the Shocks by a 64-54 score.

Shocks had it to within 58-54 when Sam Smith scored and was fouled with about 1:00 minute left. Unfortunately, she missed the free throw and UNI put the game away at the free throw line.

UNI's 5'8" Freshman guard Jacqui Kalin with a career high 27 points (plus 8 rebounds and 4 assists) led the way for UNI.

UNI simply seems to have our number when it comes to Women's BB.

[WSUfan1975]

Touches....Double Digits?

Okay....so much for the "get Kiki touches" strategy. She took 8 shots while Marcy and Kyrie each had 9. Hoyt went 0-7 (OUCH!)

That being said, not a single Shocker scored in the double digits!?!?!?

Not looking good as we SHOULD have won this game. We should definitely beat Bradley on Saturday....any thoughts on that game?

[1972Shocker]

That would be the 4th game this year that we have not had a double digit scorer. On the flip side we have had only 2 games in which we have had more than 2 players in double figures (Texas State - 4 and Missouri State - 3).

Our starting guards (Hoyt, Rice and Steven) definitely struggled tonight going a combined 1-17.

Regarding the Bradley game, it is another game we "should" win. However, Bradley will be wearing Pink uniforms Saturday and there is a risk those might lull the Shocks subconciously into total passiveness.

[SubGod22]

Is it just me or does Kiki play lazy at times?

Also, every time she thinks she's fouled she just stands there and stares for a couple seconds as the other 9 girls on the court run the other way.

I know she's the option of choice on offense but I don't think she's as great as they make her out to be. Or maybe I just catch her on bad nights. I don't know.

All in all the girls did a good job trying to fight back. The offense has very little movement until late in the game when they get into catch up mode.

[WSUfan1975]

You are not the first person who has made that same statement about Kiki, SubGod. My wife and I have made that observation as well as others; it's very frustrating to see this type of behavior from our "star player".

Jane needs to get on her for this....they all need to be playing with 100% effort until a whistle is blown and not anticipate it being blown like Kiki seems to be doing.

[boyshocker]

After watching the game tonight I am convinced that JA has recruited a very good NAIA team. I have not seen the women play in quiet sometime but went tonight. What amazed me most was how bad our conditioning was. Does Rosenboom work with this team? By the time you are a sophmore and surely by your junior year you should be looking more athletic. I really don't see this happening consistently in this program. If you don't have a well conditioned and strong team you will not compete at the D1 level.

[rrshock]

So they lose a game by 10 that most thought they "should" have won.

How did the lineup changes go?

[1972Shocker]

So they lose a game by 10 that most thought they "should" have won.

How did the lineup changes go?

Obviously not very good, but the truth of the matter is that there really were not many significant lineup changes.

The distribution of playing time was pretty much the same as it has been throughout the year, except Whitney played more than she has been playing, partially due at least to her improving health and Alex played significantly less (only 3 minutes) than she has been. This despite Jane's pre-game comment that she was going to shorten her bench. I guess she was referring to playing time for Alex.

Jane commented in her post game show that she thought her team came out flat and that the season may be starting to wear on the team.

Must have been a pretty ugly second half with the two teams combining for 17 of 61 from the field (2-17 from the arc) and the Shockers were the better of the two teams. UNI was nails from the free throw line though hitting 13-14 in the 2nd half and 17-18 for the game.

If Jane really wanted to shake things up she might think about the following lineup (subs):

Samantha Smith (Alex Bunton)
Kiki Stephens (Marcy Sudbeck)
Daria Frazier (Kyrie Kinder) - Equal Minutes
Jennifer DeGarmo (Frannie Vathauer)
Taylor Steven (Whitney Rice) - Equal Minutes

If you are truly shortening your roster than Jacie Hoyt, Shantel Pointer and Jadhon Kerr will get mop up time only unless you get into severe foul trouble.

Before the season I posted that I thought Jadhon would be a good redsshirt candidate. With the limited minutes both Jadhon and Shantel received this year perhaps both could have benefited from a redhsirt year.
To late now of course.

Attendance reported at 1,121. Any guesses as to actual number in attendance.

[boyshocker]

Your not going to redshirt a kid if your job is on the line.
I think attendance was considerably less than 1200. I sat with some team parents who said that have traveled the valley and MSU is the only school who has bigger crowds. Said some of the places there were almost as many Shocker parents than home fans. Just think what would happen if we had a good product.

My thoughts from last night...
*Rice plays too much, weak on defense. She was actually matched up with their stud at times , couldn't believe it.
*Bunton is the fourth best inside player, this explains the lack of minutes.
*Stephens, disapointed she is not in shape. Works hard at times but can't do it all the time.
*No help defense, do not rotate. UNI went cold from the outside then started going inside for open shots.
*Bad rebounding team.

Have to end on a positive...
*I really like DeGarmo, and Smith seems to have a good upside, especially if she learns to play hard.
*Frazier showed show nice moves last night, especially going to the bucket.
*How much will VS help this team next year?

This team has some good young talent, which is what we said 4 years ago and look what happened. I have not seen much improvement in many of the girls. This is why I believe we need a change.

[SubGod22]

I'd say actually attendance was around 500.

DeGarmo could be a decent player. She can shoot anyway.

Smith could be a player as well as she learns the game more.

Val WILL help if she's allowed to.

I think Rice will never live up to what she could be.

Kiki needs to work hard. She almost reminds me of JT in some ways.

Daria is probably the best athlete on the team. But needs to be more aggressive with the ball.

Kyrie played more aggressively but her shot just wasn't falling. That happens but she needs to not let it get to her.

I was surprised that Taylor didn't get into the 2nd half until about 8 minutes were left. Then she only played a couple minutes anyway.

Both Rice and Hoyt try WAY to hard to draw fouls that they don't have a prayer on getting called and throw up crap. Both could be decent players if they wanted to be and would play with their heads.

Alex barely played so I can't really comment.

I think Marcy does a pretty good job for the most part. Her shot didn't fall tonight but I've seen her shoot better than she did.

And yes, there is some talent on this team, but for some reason it's not producing and really hasn't ever done too much. At some point it falls on the coach if she wants to accept responsibility or not.

[1972Shocker]

Have to end on a positive...
*I really like DeGarmo, and Smith seems to have a good upside, especially if she learns to play hard.

I agree. Samantha, if she works hard, should become a dominant rebounder in this league and tough matchup inside.

Jenn DeGarmo leads this team in 3-Pointers Made and in 3-Point FG% despite only playing 11 minutes per game. She has nice size for a guard. She needs work on her defense and rebounding.

*Frazier showed show nice moves last night, especially going to the bucket.

Daria has always intrigued me. IMO she is the best athlete Jane has recruited. Has tended to turn the ball over too much in her career, but she simply can do some things athletically that few girls in the MVC are capable of. She is a very good slasher, a good defender and usually plays hard. I've never thought she has come close to fully realizing her potential.

*How much will VS help this team next year?

Val will definitely help, however, I don't expect her to do any more than replace Kyrie Kinder's production absent a change in the system or some other catalyst

This team has some good young talent, which is what we said 4 years ago and look what happened. I have not seen much improvement in many of the girls.

Agreed. However, I will add that from all appearances the team consists of a very fine group of young ladies that have taken care of business in the classroom and in the community. It is really too bad that they have not been more successful on the court.

I think the Ladies may be starting to show the grind of back-to-back losing seasons. At this point hard to see much more than another 1 to 2 wins (at most) on the radar to finish out the regular season.