Just wait till next year

[rlh04d]

The team next year will be very talented but their is a huge if as to whether or not they can replace the toughness and leadership of the senior class.

I REALLY don't want to discount the contributions of Hall, Armstead, Williams, or Orukpe at all when I say this, because I think especially the first two were tremendous this season, but: that huge if has existed for each of the last two seasons as well. I think at some point you just have to assume that Marshall is going to put together a winner regardless of who leaves, until proven otherwise.

We lost four starters two seasons ago. Four of our top five scorers last season. We return far more next season than we have in the last two. We lose those four, but only two were major contributors, and we've got the combo of FVV/Wessel/Baker for the next three seasons, Cotton for the next two, Early as a likely POY candidate for next year, Wiggins as an elite offensive threat if he can get his defense up to the level where he can actually get playing time, Coleby should be a big threat, Shaq is supposed to be a good player, etc. We've had major question marks the last few years ... our question marks are WAY smaller next year.

[rlh04d]

I think MVCFans may find WSU fans to be a kinder, gentler bunch next year. I think the ones who are the worst (probably including myself) will find basketball success to be calming, where the lack of success sometimes led to confrontations.

I agree. I think there's been an issue for a few years now where WSU fans felt like the program deserved a lot more respect than it was getting. I think that's gone now. Being recognized for what a lot of us have seen for a while now should make most WSU fans significantly calmer.

I think that same disrespect issue has made a lot of us disrespect others in return, and not be willing to acknowledge the quality of other Valley programs. While I think this postseason has really shown the real quality of WSU to others in the Valley, it's also shown how much major progress Evansville has made, the quality of UNI, IlSt, and Indiana State, and the potential of SIU to WSU fans.

[Wufan]

Kadeem Coleby is a 6'9" guy who started for Louisiana-Lafayette. He's paying his own way this year while sitting out a trfr year. He's got 3 years of D1 experience. Word is that he's better than EO - actually a LOT better than EO. He was something like a 13 points, 6 boards guy at La-Laff. Word is that he's a lot better than that if he's surrounded with better players.

Shaquille Morris is a 6'8", 250 pound recruit who was the MVP of Oklahoma's big-school state tournament. He's a dunking machine. At 250, he can run the court and has a decent vertical. He doesn't appear to have any baby fat left, but I suspect he will drop some pounds before he starts gaining some pounds.

Earl Watson is a 6'7" athletic freak who had a disappointing year at Chipola JC. Chipola had a great team and a lot of competition in the front court. If Watson shows up, I don't expect much from him. I think it's more likely that Nick Wiggins (6'6"), with another year under Marshall, will be a front court contributor.

Then there's the really small chance, but it's possible, that Nick Wiggins little brother (#1 recruit for next year) might want to play with his brother. Andrew Wiggins will play 1 year. He's probably the most obvious early NBA pick since LeBron.

Andrew Wiggins wants a chance to play for a D1 title in his one year. Signing him is a long shot but Kentucky appeared to be his choice a year ago. Kentucky had a nice run in the NIT. WSU had a great run in the NCAA's.

Darius Carter is the other JUCO PF (6-7, 230) that has verballed to the Shockers this spring. He has an inside out game similar to Early and will be an NJCAA All-American.

Shaq Morris is being undersold here. He is 6-8, 260 and very athletic. I believe he was the Oklahoma POY. As a freshman big, it's hard to know if he will contribute next year.

Coleby played two years at JUCO before going to LA Lafeyette. He was a top 50 player and at 6-9, 260, he will start if healthy.

Derail Green is a 6-7 perimeter oriented RS freshman. With some weight, he could play inside.

6-7 Earl Watson is unlikely to see the court at WSU next season due to academic questions.

[Wufan]

I didn't want to start a new thread, so I'll just post it here.

Marshall's record at WSU with post season:

2007-08; 11-20, Thursday night loss in St. Louis
2008-09; 17-17, CBI second round
2009-10; 25-10, NIT first round
2010-11; 29-8, NIT Championship
2011-12; 27-6, NCAA second round (round of 64)
2012-13; 30-9, NCAA Final Four

Demetric Williams won 111 games in four years at WSU.
Ehimen Orukpe won 86 games in three years at WSU.
Carl Hall won 57 games in two years at WSU.
Malcolm Armstead won 30 games in his only season at WSU.

Go Shockers!

[musiccitybulldog]

Was Demetric out with an injury last night?

[Haha]

Demetric messed his knee up in Saint Louis. So much so he couldn't bend it the first few days after arch madness. He played limited minutes thru NCAA tourney.

[Ace Happy]

The Shock will rule the Valley next season. The Aces lose 3 valuable seniors and around 80% of their offense. UE has their work cut out for them with only sophomores and freshmen carrying the load.

[rlh04d]

The Shock will rule the Valley next season. The Aces lose 3 valuable seniors and around 80% of their offense. UE has their work cut out for them with only sophomores and freshmen carrying the load.

Will be rough without Colt and the others, but you've got a good coach.

Will more Valley teams try to imitate Marshall's plan of going after transfer/JUCO guys as bridges in the future? Could be a winning formula for the conference. I don't think there is any argument now that it works.

[AndShock]

The Shock will rule the Valley next season. The Aces lose 3 valuable seniors and around 80% of their offense. UE has their work cut out for them with only sophomores and freshmen carrying the load.

Will be rough without Colt and the others, but you've got a good coach.

Will more Valley teams try to imitate Marshall's plan of going after transfer/JUCO guys as bridges in the future? Could be a winning formula for the conference. I don't think there is any argument now that it works.

It's been stated that other Valley schools prefer 4-year players as opposed to "dumb" JUCOs.

[rlh04d]

The Shock will rule the Valley next season. The Aces lose 3 valuable seniors and around 80% of their offense. UE has their work cut out for them with only sophomores and freshmen carrying the load.

Will be rough without Colt and the others, but you've got a good coach.

Will more Valley teams try to imitate Marshall's plan of going after transfer/JUCO guys as bridges in the future? Could be a winning formula for the conference. I don't think there is any argument now that it works.

It's been stated that other Valley schools prefer 4-year players as opposed to "dumb" JUCOs.

Stated before it was proved to work so well

There's no doubting that juco players are giving WSU a consistency we wouldn't have with just four year guys. It's given us constant senior experience and talented guys with limited time to prove themselves. I can understand ignoring it when we were "just" finishing second in conference, but not now. This could be a new conference wide strategy now. Be beat by WSU's combo of four year guys, transfers, and jucos, or join us.

Could very well be a route for us to get the Valley back to 2006 numbers. Oregon with Altman does this well, too, and we saw it works there.