Shocker defense

[trufan]

The women Shockers again almost won against a top tier Valley team today. And again, it was the defense that pulled the majority of the weight of the effort. They held Drake to 53 points today...almost 17 points below their scoring average. They also held Drake to 39.3% shooting...slightly below their 43.8% usual shooting percentage.
WSU is #1 in the Valley in FG% defense and in blocked shots....#2 in the Valley in 3 pt FG% defense....and #3 in both offensive and defensive rebounds.
I think that it would be hard to have SEEN these 2 games this week and not see that this program is on the right track...really COMPETING with top-tier Valley teams...and as mad as people may be about how long it seems to be taking for this turnaround to occur, the bottom line is still that people just want the turnaround to happen, even if it is later than they wuld have wanted. :wsu_posters:
I am anxious to see how the Shocks do at the tournament....they obviously will have a tough draw, but who knows??? :wsu_posters:

[rrshock]

Any draw for them would be tough. The Goddard or Andover Central girls would be a tough draw for them.

[trufan]

rrshock--seems like that might have made more sense before the Shockers were within a bucket of beating two top-tier Valley teams in one week, maybe......

[McShocker]

rrshock--seems like that might have made more sense before the Shockers were within a bucket of beating two top-tier Valley teams in one week, maybe......

Way too little, way too late. Here is a stat for you.

SCORING MARGIN
## Team                  G    OFF   DEF Margin
----------------------------------------------
 1.Illinois State...... 29   78.0  64.3  +13.7
 2.Drake............... 29   69.0  60.9   +8.1
 3.Evansville.......... 29   70.9  66.2   +4.7
 4.Creighton........... 29   67.7  65.3   +2.4
 5.Bradley............. 29   63.7  65.2   -1.6
 6.Indiana State....... 28   68.8  70.5   -1.8
 7.Southern Illinois... 28   67.4  70.1   -2.8
 8.Northern Iowa....... 29   59.8  63.9   -4.1
 9.Missouri State...... 29   67.3  72.6   -5.3
10.Wichita State....... 30   55.1  65.4  -10.2

[WSUfan1975]

Seems like NOW Jane should be making the "Moral Victory" statements. Still losses, but at least they showed that they were still alive on the floor.

At any rate, despite showing that they are not completely terrible for a couple games, they were not able to consistently do it throughout the season.

Coming close to winning is not good enough....even if it is a moral victory.

Even though the games were close, the numbers/stats rarely portray what the game looked and felt like to the fans. The image burned in my head of the women this year was the lack of conditioning they had, or appeared to have. They always looked tired and lifeless on the floor, from buzzer to buzzer.

[rrshock]

rrshock--seems like that might have made more sense before the Shockers were within a bucket of beating two top-tier Valley teams in one week, maybe......

They might have played 2 teams tough this weekend, but most of the others, they couldn't have come close to it. I stand by my statement that those HS teams would be able to compete with the Shockers this year.

[SubGod22]

I don't think a couple of close games make up for so many 20+ point losses. I wanted Jane to succeed but she hasn't and doesn't appear to be moving any closer. The close game could have just as much to do with Drake thinking they can just roll over us without even trying. That's usually how bad teams hang with good teams.

I agree that the Central girls might be able to take the Shox. They do have better shooters.

[boyshocker]

The defense got better because a certain asst. coach was hired and he did not act like all the others. He pretty much forced his defense on this team and it payed off. JA has not done anything to help this defense except finally giving in to the wishes of the asst.

[1972Shocker]

Here is an update of career winning percentages for Shocker women's basketball coaches:

Larry Thye (4 seasons) 1974-1978: 32-56 (0.364)
Kathryn Bunnell (5 seasons) 1978-1983: 71-73 (0.493)
Karen Harden (6 seasons) 1983-1989: 63-98 (0.391)
Linda Hargrove (9 seasons) 1989-1998: 113-136 (0.454)
Darryl Smith (5 seasons) 1998-2003: 74-70 (0.514)
Jane Albright (5 seasons) 2003-2007: 48-94 (0.338)

Jane's teams were 41-33 (0.554) at home (a fair, but not good performance) and 7-61 (0.103) in road or nuetral site games.

Her career MVC record is 24-66 (0.267)

This year's team included 4 experienced Seniors and 4 experienced Juniors. The 4 Seniors accounted for 45% of the Shockers scoring and 40% of their rebounding. That is as much or more production than anyone else in the MVC is losing, so to make any headway next year we will need to see some major step ups from returning players and or newcomers.

It is very hard to make a case that we will be significantly better next year.

Fan interest is waning and falling fast (especially if you look at actual fan attendance and not "paid" attendance).

[rrshock]

I still can't believe that Smith has had the only winning record here. They pulled the pin on him, so I'm sure they'll do it to Jane now too. If 4 games over .500 isn't good enough to retain a job, then 46 games under .500 should damn sure get you canned.

[SubGod22]

It wasn't just about the record with Smith though either.

[rrshock]

It wasn't just about the record with Smith though either.

I understand that, but the records should take care of it by themself.

[WuDrWu]

Running a clean program and doing things the "right way" become a bigger piece of the puzzle the further you go down the food chain of Shocker athletics.

A changing of the guard is by NO MEANS a done deal, despite the frustration of many, many fans.

[WSUfan1975]

Running a clean program and doing things the "right way" become a bigger piece of the puzzle the further you go down the food chain of Shocker athletics.

A changing of the guard is by NO MEANS a done deal, despite the frustration of many, many fans.

Being employed in the legal field, and also having spoken with several of the former players who played under Darryl Smith, I must point out that "The Smith Situation" was largely based on hearsay and outside speculation.

Many of the girls had a great amount of respect for, and loved playing for Darryl. A few girls made the situation bad and based on my conversations with Jim Schaus, my instinct has led me to believe that he had something personal against Darryl.

[boyshocker]

[
Many of the girls had a great amount of respect for, and loved playing for Darryl. A few girls made the situation bad and based on my conversations with Jim Schaus, my instinct has led me to believe that he had something personal against Darryl.[/quote]

amen, DS made some personal decisions that did not suit JS. They had nothing to do with bball. DS has helped a program win twenty games this year, first time in school history. I look for him to be a head coach again at the d1 level, hopefully very soon.