Final Home Game vs. MSU

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Any thoughts or predictions?

[1972Shocker]

Not really. At this point I really don't know what to think. The only thing I can do is show up and support the Ladies, but how they play Sunday will come almost exclusively from within the team and the individual players.

Nothing can be done about the 4 losses in the last 5 games. Hopefully, they can figure out what has caused them to derail and get things back on the track.

We will see.

[1972Shocker]

Copied from the Evansville/SIU thread:

UNI won 99-97 over Drake in OT in Des Moines while Indiana State won at home by 13 over Bradley.

UNI hosts Illinois State next Thursday and Indiana State plays at Drake. On Saturday Indiana State plays at UNI.

I think UNI will beat Illinois State. We need Drake to beat Indiana State which is possible and then for Indiana State to beat UNI.

If that happens the Shocks will clinch a co-championship and a win over MSU on Sunday will give them the outright championship.

If UNI and Indiana State both win Thursday, then the Shocks will need a win over MSU on Sunday for a co-championship with the winner of the Inidana State - UNI game on Saturday.

In any case the Shocks will know exactly where they stand going into the MSU game as that is the only game on Sunday and everyone else winds up regular season play on Saturday. Not exactly sure why they aren't playing on Saturday.

[1972Shocker]

Three possibilities for the Shocks this weekend:

1. They win an outright regular season Championship (requires some help at this point).

2. They share a regular season Championship with either INS or UNI (requires a Shocker win or some help).

3. They finish tied for 2nd with either INS or UNI. (the end of the season will OFFICIALLY be a collapse).

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Three possibilities for the Shocks this weekend:

1. They win an outright regular season Championship (requires some help at this point).

2. They share a regular season Championship with either INS or UNI (requires a Shocker win or some help).

3. They finish tied for 2nd with either INS or UNI. (the end of the season will OFFICIALLY be a collapse).

How is the #1 seed for the Valley Tourney determined if there is a co-championship.

[1972Shocker]

I can't get the link to the 2013-14 Women's Basketball Procedures to open on the Valley site but generally the 1st tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. Since the Shocks split games with both INS and UNI they would have to go to the next tiebreaker. IIRC, that is point system that assigns points for beating teams with more credit going for wins over higher finishing teams and more credit for road wins than home wins.

The Shockers loss to last place SIU hurts them badly in the tiebreaker and probably dooms them to lose any tiebreakers. There is little to no difference from being seeded #1 or #2. My guess is the only way the Shocks secure the #1 seed is to win the championship outright which will require some outside help..

However, if the Shocks lose Sunday and fall into a 2nd place tie I can see a #3 seed in their future because of the loss to SIU.

[WuShock16]

I can't get the link to the 2013-14 Women's Basketball Procedures to open on the Valley site but generally the 1st tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. Since the Shocks split games with both INS and UNI they would have to go to the next tiebreaker. IIRC, that is point system that assigns points for beating teams with more credit going for wins over higher finishing teams and more credit for road wins than home wins.

The Shockers loss to last place SIU hurts them badly in the tiebreaker and probably dooms them to lose any tiebreakers. There is little to no difference from being seeded #1 or #2. My guess is the only way the Shocks secure the #1 seed is to win the championship outright which will require some outside help..

However, if the Shocks lose Sunday and fall into a 2nd place tie I can see a #3 seed in their future because of the loss to SIU.

Actually, wouldn't a loss to the last place team actually be a good thing in terms of a tiebreaker? A road game against the last-place team would have the lowest point value attached to it. I think on this basis, we'd probably want to be tied with Northern Iowa so that we can get credit for the road win at Indiana State (which UNI did NOT do), rather than that win getting cancelled out in a head-to-head with Indiana State who would have beaten UNI on the road (which we did NOT do) to get into a first-place tiebreaker with us.

[flyingMoose]

I can't get the link to the 2013-14 Women's Basketball Procedures to open on the Valley site

Here it is for 2009-2010, and I suspect it has not changed.

[1972Shocker]

Actually, wouldn't a loss to the last place team actually be a good thing in terms of a tiebreaker? A road game against the last-place team would have the lowest point value attached to it. I think on this basis, we'd probably want to be tied with Northern Iowa so that we can get credit for the road win at Indiana State (which UNI did NOT do), rather than that win getting cancelled out in a head-to-head with Indiana State who would have beaten UNI on the road (which we did NOT do) to get into a first-place tiebreaker with us.

Maybe. Hard to get into it too much when the Valley probably deserves to be a no-bid league this year. The Shocks are the only Top 100 RPI team in the Valley and they are now sitting at 99 in the RealTimeRPI.com ratings. Considering SIU's RPI is now up to 334 I'm surprised we are still inside the Top 100 after losing to the Salukis.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Maybe. Hard to get into it too much when the Valley probably deserves to be a no-bid league this year. The Shocks are the only Top 100 RPI team in the Valley and they are now sitting at 99 in the RealTimeRPI.com ratings. Considering SIU's RPI is now up to 334 I'm surprised we are still inside the Top 100 after losing to the Salukis.

Bottom line is we need to play like there is no tomorrow; because there is no tomorrow. All 12 players and four coaches need to bring their "A" game. Let's go Shox.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Bottom line is we need to play like there is no tomorrow; because there is no tomorrow. All 12 players and four coaches need to bring their "A" game. Let's go Shox.

Saw part of a practice this week. Ouch!!! They are practicing like they're getting ready for the start of the season. Very grueling. Maybe it will shake us up and get us going, maybe not. Sunday will be the proof in the pudding.

[1972Shocker]

Saw part of a practice this week. Ouch!!! They are practicing like they're getting ready for the start of the season. Very grueling. Maybe it will shake us up and get us going, maybe not. Sunday will be the proof in the pudding.

Hard to make any conclusions from seeing part of one practice. If they go very hard and long for 3 or 4 consecutive practices before a game this time of year that could sap some energy and wear down some legs, especially for a team that doesn't go very deep. However, I think you can go hard once or twice over a weeks time as long as it is interspersed with some lighter workouts and more brain work.

I think the Shocks will win Sunday. They need play hard but they also need to play smart. I think they will get it done.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Hard to make any conclusions from seeing part of one practice. If they go very hard and long for 3 or 4 consecutive practices before a game this time of year that could sap some energy and wear down some legs, especially for a team that doesn't go very deep. However, I think you can go hard once or twice over a weeks time as long as it is interspersed with some lighter workouts and more brain work.

I think the Shocks will win Sunday. They need play hard but they also need to play smart. I think they will get it done.

I think they will get it done as well and you're right, I don't know if this is every day all practice or just the 15 or so minutes I saw.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

I think they will get it done as well and you're right, I don't know if this is every day all practice or just the 15 or so minutes I saw.

Best we can hope for is a tie for the MVC title with either UNI or ISU. Very disappointing, but hopefully we win big Sunday and get on a roll.

[1972Shocker]

Best we can hope for is a tie for the MVC title with either UNI or ISU. Very disappointing, but hopefully we win big Sunday and get on a roll.

Yes. Did not get the help we were hoping for. UNI won easily at home over Illinois State as expected. I had hoped Drake might be able to beat Indiana State in Des Moines but they fell just short losing to the Sycamores 73-71.

So, yeah the best we can do is a co-championship with the winner of Saturday's game between Indiana State and Northern Iowa if we can beat Missouri State on Sunday.

No other way to describe the Shockers late season swoon as anything but a huge disappointment. Hopefully, we can right the ship.