Shocker WBB 2016-17 Valley Regular Season Games

[flyingMoose]

Maybe too many Juco players in the mix that still exhibit a bit too much of undisciplined juco play. I don't know. With 4 seniors (not including Jaleesa Chapel) and 7 juniors this is not a young team in terms of chronology. However, it is a pretty inexperienced team in terms of D-1 experience especially with Jaleesa on the shelf). All 4 of the seniors and 4 of the juniors are juco transfers.

With 9 players returning next year (assuming all return) the cabinet would not seem to be empty although hard to guage what the ceiling for next year's team would be. But the new Shocker head coach will have a challenge filliing the cabinet after next season. Jody was going to be facing the same challenge and with her reputation on the recruiting circuit no doubt somewhat tarnished perhpas she could see the writing on the wall. I am not a fan of trying to or having to build a D-1 women's program primarily on Jucos.

I think a result of the Big Blowup was that it was going to be difficult to get four-year players of sufficient quality to come here for awhile. So you get juco kids who are grateful to go to any D-I program. But they have been the star of the team, the go-to player on their team for at least the prior two years, and getting them to assume a role and mesh as a team is always going to be difficult, going to take time and you only have two years.

[molly jabali]

I think a result of the Big Blowup was that it was going to be difficult to get four-year players of sufficient quality to come here for awhile. So you get juco kids who are grateful to go to any D-I program. But they have been the star of the team, the go-to player on their team for at least the prior two years, and getting them to assume a role and mesh as a team is always going to be difficult, going to take time and you only have two years.

Very astute observation...program was toxic for stable players...only really appealing to kids needing a 'chance'....

[1972Shocker]

Very astute observation...program was toxic for stable players...only really appealing to kids needing a 'chance'....

Actually the level of talent Jody and her staff was able to bring in was not that bad especially when you compare it to the talent level of the Valley as a whole. But for whatever reason the whole just seems to be less than what you would expect from the sum of the parts.

Perhaps the talent level may not be quite as good as I first thought.

The biggest decline from our Championships teams IMHO has been in defensive ability and intensity and in team leadership. Most Juco kids are not that atune to playing aggressive defense and leadership is hard to develop with so much turnover and so few 4-year players.

The Shocks may have lost their on the court leader when Sr. Jaleesa Chapel went down for the season with her knee injury. Maybe the loss of Jaleesa hurt us more than we realize. Jaleesa hasn't been a big scorer in her career but she did do a lot of the little things you need, was a good defender and she was a very unselfish player.

Assuming most of the current underclassmen return next year we should find out pretty quickly if the new coach will make a positive impact on the program.

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks have 6 games remaining in the regular season. At Illinois State (Friday at 7:00 pm) and at Bradley (Sunday at 2:00 pm) this weekend with home games the following weekend against Loyola and Indiana State. They close out the season on the road at UNI and Drake.

The Shocks (6-6) are currently tied for 4th place with Indiana State with SIU (6-7) lurking only a half game back and Bradley (5-8) is alone in 7th a game and a half back. The balance of the season will determine which one of these teams will join Evansville, Illinois State and Loyola in the play-in round of the Valley Tournament. If that is of any importance to the Shocks they may want to make hay over the next 4 games because chances of picking up a win at UNI or Drake are poor at best.

I think the Lady Shocks are better than all 4 of the other teams remaining on their schedule. Illinois State and Loyoal in particular are pretty bad. The Shocks should be able to take care of business in those games but who knows for sure. Bradley and Indiana State aren't particularly good either but the Shocks have shown they are capable of losing to those teams.

Winning all 4 of these games would allow the Shockers to finish abover 0.500 in Valley play at 10-8 probably good enough for 4th place and give them a 15-14 regular season record assuring them they won't have a losing season, they would avoid the play-in game in the Valley Touranment, and they would improve quite a bit on their 8th place of a year ago which helps the Shocks with All-Sports standings and they would finish 1 notch higher than preseason expectations. All modest goals for sure but at least something to shoot for.

[1972Shocker]

The aroma emanating from Normal early on is not good. The game is tied 5-5 after 5 minutes but the Shocks have turned the ball over 5 times already as they are on pace to turn the ball over 40 times.

End of 1st Quarter: WSU 12 - ILS 12. Shocks only picked up 2 more turnovers so they are only on pace for a 28 turnover game now.

It's possible Rangie may be out for the remainder of the game with a concussion. An Illinois State player sliding to save a ball from going out of bounds flipped it up over her shoulder and Rangie who was trailing the play took the ball square in the face and she was pretty wobbly when she left the court.

I would say Illinois State wants this game much more than the Shocks do at this point. Shocks just kind of going through the motions.

Rangie came back in 2 minutes into the 2nd quarter and a minute later she was tripped in the paid and hit her head on the floor and had to leave the game again.

Rangie did make it back into the game.

Halftime: Redbirds 24 - Shockers 23. When you see a score like that you might say at least the Shocks played decent defense. You would be wrong. They are not a very good defensive team at all. It appears they have never been introduced to the concept of team defense and help defense.

3rd Quarter: Shocks 39 - Redbirds 39

Final: Redbirds 54 - Shockers 50 Not much good to say. Both teams shot below 30% from the field. Shocks stayed in it primarily on Rangie Bessard's 10-10 night at the free throw line. Both Rangie and Angiee missed a flurry of shots in the paint down the stretch. Keke Thompson did not play. Out with a concussion I think. Perhaps having Keke would have made a difference.

Taquandra Mike was 4-10 including 2-4 from behind the arc for 10 points. The other 5 guards who played (Stovall, Lockhart, Preston, Lee and Williams) combined to shoot 4-23 (17.4%) from the field including 2-14 from behind the arc and 1-3 from the line for a grand total of 11 points.

Opponents, rightly so, simply pack the paint and dare the Shocks to beat them from the perimeter. Once reason the Shocks turn the ball over so much (18 times tonight) is that they try to force the ball inside those packed-in defenses to Rangie, Angiee and Sabrina. That group did not exactly light it up tonight shooting 9-27 (33.3%) from the field.

Bottom Line: This Shocker team is just not very good.

Tamara Lee went down with an apparent knee injury with about 7 minutes left in the game. Her availability for the rest of the season may be in question.

[1972Shocker]

Other Valley Scores:

Missouri State 56 @ Bradley 62
Evansville 74 @ Southern Illinois 61
Drake 64 @ Indiana State 45
Northern Iowa 89 @ Loyola 43

The Bradley win over Missouri State doesn't particular bode well for the Shocks on Sunday. If the Shocks lose that one, and the way the are playing that seems likely, then a 7th place finish is definitely a possibility. I'm not sure the Shockers haven't pretty much mailed it in at this point.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks snap back from a poor performance in the loss to Loyola on Friday to pick up a needed 76-69 win over Bradley.

[flyingMoose]

Per the box score Rangie did not play, but Angiee had 18 and Sabrina had 13 on the inside. Other double-digit scorers were Jeliah with 15, Aundra with 14 and Tamara with 10.

Any word about Rangie?

[flyingMoose]

Other Sunday Scores

Drake 86-42 at Loyola

Northern Iowa 61-59 (OT) at Indiana State

Missouri State 77-44 at Illinois State

[flyingMoose]

Per the box score Rangie did not play, but Angiee had 18 and Sabrina had 13 on the inside. Other double-digit scorers were Jeliah with 15, Aundra with 14 and Tamara with 10.

Any word about Rangie?

Game writeup. Rangie sustained an injury at Illinois State, and Keke remains out with her concussion. Sabrina also had 17 rebounds.

[1972Shocker]

Per the box score Rangie did not play, but Angiee had 18 and Sabrina had 13 on the inside. Other double-digit scorers were Jeliah with 15, Aundra with 14 and Tamara with 10.

Any word about Rangie?

I have not heard anything but based on a couple of head shots she took against Illinois State my guess would be concussion protocol. I was a bit surprised when she was allowed to re-enter the Illinois State game on the two occasions where she took a good hit to the head. One with the basketball to the face and a later one with the floor.

Makes you wonder if the team perhaps defers to and relies on Rangie too much. Opponents certainly focus on Rangie when she is in the game. Today's 76 points was one of the better scoring outputs for this team this year.

[flyingMoose]

Makes you wonder if the team perhaps defers to and relies on Rangie too much. Opponents certainly focus on Rangie when she is in the game. Today's 76 points was one of the better scoring outputs for this team this year.

I have wondered at times if it can be difficult to run an offense with Rangie on the floor. If she gets a little frustrated with what is going on with the offense, she just takes some shot, not necessarily something from the offense. If there happens to be any rebounders anywhere near the key, then that is gravy. Angiee can do the same thing.

[1972Shocker]

That's about as well as we shot the ball this season.

Turnovers were about even which is something this team has struggled with. Bradley did outrebound the Shocks 39-31 despite Sabrina's 17 boards.

[1972Shocker]

Missouri State 77-44 at Illinois State

Still chaps me that we lost to such a bad Illinois State team.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks should handle a young and totally rebuilding Loyola team (2-23, 1-13) tonight at 7:00 pm.

I hope to see the Shocks show the same kind of offensive diversity and balance they should agaisnt Bradley with 76 points and 5 players in double figures.

The defense needs to improve as well although they can probalby get away with less than a stellar defensive effort against a this Loyola team.

Not sure if Rangie and Keke will be available to play tonight or not. Rangie missed the Bradley game and Keke has missed the last 3 games. Keke from a concussion and I think Rangie may have had a concussion as well but haven't seen anyhting definitive on her injury.