WSU trip to Brazil

[Haha]

I will say that WSU just blew out what was one of Brazil's top pro teams last year, and did it with mainly their new players, who need D1 on-court experience. You can choose to not believe that. I really don't care.

I like getting stupid over here, otherwise boring....however to claim an under 19 team is one of the top pro teams in Brazil just silly.

[Aargh]

I will say that WSU just blew out what was one of Brazil's top pro teams last year, and did it with mainly their new players, who need D1 on-court experience. You can choose to not believe that. I really don't care.

I like getting stupid over here, otherwise boring....however to claim an under 19 team is one of the top pro teams in Brazil just silly.

That's right. I thought the third team scheduled was an upper-tier pro team. Once I read the news article, I edited my post to indicate my mistake.

[Aargh]

The first half was close, but Tijuca must have missed out on the conditioning drills.

WSU made something like a 36-9 run in the 3rd quarter on their way to a 103-61 win. This is a pro team. I don't know their level, but the average age listed on their roster is 26+.

http://www.latinbasket.com/team.asp?Cnt ... 484&Page=1

It was reported that Tijuca was missing two front court players due to injury. There is no box score available, but reports are that WSU's front court got a lot of points.

A few very unofficial stats:
Carl Hall - 16 points, 8 boards
Jake White - 13 points
Stutz - 14 points
Orukpe - 8 points, 8 boards, 3 blocks

I should mention that the guy we're getting these tweets and game info from does not post on ShockerNet or MVCFans. That should raise his credibility some.

[Snaggletooth]

I don't care if they are playing the "Little Sisters of the Poor" or the Boston Celtics, the Shockers have had their ass handed to them so far in Brazil.

oh wait, WSU just beat Tijuca 103-61

[SycamoreFanatic]

I don't care if they are playing the "Little Sisters of the Poor" or the Boston Celtics, the Shockers have had their ass handed to them so far in Brazil.

oh wait, WSU just beat Tijuca 103-61

WOW ! Happy days in Shockerland again................................

[oneNEIGHBOR]

The shockers trip is over and it seems they had a very good time.
Here is a video with some of their reactions to the trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9GxAByi ... ture=feedu

[MVCfans]

The shockers trip is over and it seems they had a very good time.
Here is a video with some of their reactions to the trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9GxAByi ... ture=feedu

It had to have been better than Goergetown's trip to China:

At the same time as Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Beijing in hopes of improving relations between the U.S. and China, another group on a goodwill trip from Washington, D.C., encountered an unexpected diplomatic hiccup.

Georgetown had to leave the court during the fourth quarter of its exhibition game against the Baiyi Rockets on Thursday night in Beijing after both benches emptied and a wild brawl erupted between the two teams. None of the Hoyas were seriously injured despite trading punches with the opposing players and having to dodge chairs thrown onto the court and water bottles hurled from the stands.

[MVCfans]

The video of this was pretty wild:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... ends-brawl

[Aargh]

Shox played Tijuaca again. Tijuaca added some players between games (probably to replace the injured front court guys). WSU won a close game. If I really cared what the score was - other than it was a close game - I'd check. Since I'm not that concerned, I think the score was 96-91.

One of the team's off-court activities was to climb up to the statue above Rio. They also put on a basketball clinic in one of Rio's slums. They had something like 50 players attend their basketball camp. The players were proud they had chance to contribute to the lives of some very disadvantaged kids from a bad part of Rio where prostitutes and drug dealers are more common than success stories for anyone who lives there.

The players were proud of being able to do something for some disadvantaged kids. I imagine WSU built some goodwill in Brazil from this trip. 5 games in 10 days probably gave the team a chance to check some scenery in Rio. Building some goodwill probably means WSU will find it easier to schedule another trip to Brazil.

The appearance is that WSU is setting it up so that any 4-year player gets a 10-day trip to Rio in August. That's one of the nicer legal recruiting inducements.

[Aargh]

Gary Parrish publishes his take on WSU's trip to Brazil.

http://eye-on-college-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/31515360

Not a lot of meat in there, but it is August and basketball news is pretty rare this time of the year.

Quick recap: Marshall had to stop worrying about winning in order to give minutes to newer players. The new guys now know what's expected of them at the D1 level. The new guys looked better than Marshall expected them to look. Veterans were a little up-and-down in their performance. Marshall thinks WSU could have 5 or 6 potential all-Valley players on the roster, but they need to step up, commit to it, and have a monster year for any of them to achieve that.

Plus some comments about the basketball clinic in one of Rio's disadvantaged areas in order to promote sports and keep kids in school. And some comments about scheduling.

Marsahll described the trip[ into Rio's slums as "eye-opening". The following pics are not associated with WSU's trip, but give you an idea of what those opened eyes saw.