WSU Short Some Players in Exhibition Against Emporia State

[WSUbballer]

Crappy first half; very nice second half. It was still an exhibition game with a lot of experimenting going on.

I will say it was nice to see some basketball played and I'm already starting to like this team.

[MVCfans]

Another 39 point win? Creighton and Illinois State also won their most recent exhibitions by exactly 39 points. Odd.

[SubGod22]

Not sure that I'd say Stutz had any problems in the first half. He simply missed on a couple of hooks that you'd like to see go in. Especially with a smaller defender. But his moves were strong and quicker than in the past.

Ehimen didn't come close to out playing Stutz, but he looked effective. Not sure he committed a foul and blocked a few shots and caused a number of misses around the basket. He and Hall can dominate the boards.

Hall is a BEAST. He's one of those guys that can just rebound. He very well could challenge Seck for that title this year.

I'd be surprised if Cotton redshirt. Very good defender and doesn't screw up much of anything.

Wessel and Baker could both contribute this year if needed. But they're not needed with the depth we have.

White struggled on D. But I'm not too concrerned. He can contribute this year if he's needed. Definitely needs to bulk up some in the long run.

Anacreon looked better. Would love if he gives the coaches enough confidence to redshirt White. Not sure that's the case though.

I'm excited. Can't wait for the games to matter.

[ictjay]

Not sure that I'd say Stutz had any problems in the first half. He simply missed on a couple of hooks that you'd like to see go in. Especially with a smaller defender. But his moves were strong and quicker than in the past.

Ehimen didn't come close to out playing Stutz, but he looked effective. Not sure he committed a foul and blocked a few shots and caused a number of misses around the basket. He and Hall can dominate the boards.

Hall is a BEAST. He's one of those guys that can just rebound. He very well could challenge Seck for that title this year.

I'd be surprised if Cotton redshirt. Very good defender and doesn't screw up much of anything.

Wessel and Baker could both contribute this year if needed. But they're not needed with the depth we have.

White struggled on D. But I'm not too concrerned. He can contribute this year if he's needed. Definitely needs to bulk up some in the long run.

Anacreon looked better. Would love if he gives the coaches enough confidence to redshirt White. Not sure that's the case though.

I'm excited. Can't wait for the games to matter.

Your right! Bring on the real games and real competition. Hard to judge the newbies vs the likes of Rockhurst/Emporia St. I know Shock/Jay fans feel both teams are 10-12 deep, but with so many new players, either team could feature a 7-8 man rotation.
Still think White's a 3.

[2livewu]

Still think White's a 3.

Cannot refute that one iota, based on last night.

[2livewu]

ictjay, you always have good insight and perspective on WSU from the standpoint of a Jay....I assume you were in attendance last evening, anything stand out to you, one way or the other?

[ictjay]

ictjay, you always have good insight and perspective on WSU from the standpoint of a Jay....I assume you were in attendance last evening, anything stand out to you, one way or the other?

Hall looks like he can step right in which is rare in D1. Juco transfers usually have alot of bad habits and need time to learn the system. He looks real comfortable and knows his role. Be interesting to see how long Gregg's leash is in PR. Does he play 7-8 or 10-12? Orupke? He's better than last year. Be interesting to see what opponents stradegy is with him. Rest of the returners are solid.

[Khan4Cats]

Since it's not an Indiana State or Missouri State thread where boundless optimism is discouraged, what concerns are there from WSU's standpoint following their exhibitions or is it just smooth sailing until they lift the trophy?

[SubGod22]

Concerns right now. Murry's health. How long will it take to get him back and going at near full capacity?
Can Ehimen give us 15 minutes a game and not hurt us? I believe he can, but time will tell when the competition gets better.
Which FR don't we redshirt and will he get enough time to not make it a waste of a year?
Who will be the backup PF? White or Anacreon? White is still a PF but needs to bulk up. He doesn't have the foot speed to be a 3.

I feel very good about all the other returners. Without question, our depth is good. I think we can 100% rely on Stutz, Hall, Murry, Kyles, Smith, Ragland, Williams and Cotton. That's 8. I feel good about Ehimen so I'll put it at 9. Anacreon and White are the big questions right now. I hope they can RS White so he has a year to bulk up and Anacreon showed a lot of progress from Shocker Madness. But he needs to continue progressing.

By conference season, I'm confident we'll go 9 or 10 deep. We'll be redshirting at least 2 FR if not 3. Or possibly 4 if Ede returns....

[Aargh]

I'm not too concerned about Charleston Southern at home Sunday, but it's Puerto Rico after that. There's no way Murry will be 100% by then. Can WSU handle the likes of Colorado, Alabama, Purdue with possibly the best player on the team gimpy?

A season-long concern is that Hall, Stutz, and Orukpe are all physical players who will have the ability to pick up fouls in a hurry. Especially in the Valley, where physical play around the basket is called more often than outside the Valley. In close calls, Valley officiating tends to favor the small guy in big/small encounters and tends to favor the finesse guy in finesse/physical encounters. WSU's front court is big and physical.

Marshall's Plan B (to deal with foul problems or small, quick Valley teams) is to use Smith (6'4") at PF and spread the floor for, essentially, a 4-guard offense. That adds more sets and reads to Marshall's already complex system. Hall (4/5), Smith (3/4), Kyles (2/3), Murry (2/3), and Williams (1/2) have to know multiple positions. There are many possibilities for missing a read, responding to a read with an action from the wrong position, or just simply forgetting what to do. The half-court offense could have some problems because of that.

It appears both Kyles and Murry will get minutes at SF. SF and SG aren't that much different in philosophy in Marshall's system, but the SF tends to attack from the baseline more and the SG tends to attack from on top more. The background on a shot from the corner is completely different than it is from on top and that can affect shooting. The baseline acts as a defender when driving from the corner. Rebounding angles also change based on coming form on top or from the corner. That could affect the play of Kyles and Murry.

The big concern is probably offense against a zone. Force the Shox to play D for 30 seconds and then defend with a zone. I think that's going to be used against the Shox a lot - especially in the Valley.