SIU at WSU - 2/8

[beatingrillz]

Koch arena is officially the easiest place to play in the valley. 10000 fans means nothing if your team can't play at home.

Unfortunately due to a blizzard for another weekend game (UNI the other one), only 7,000 or so were able to make it. Please check your facts before making yourself out to be a you-know-what.

6-0 on the road. I guess that's the promising thing since we have 3 of em left. Sweep those and we still win. Pretty funny how that stuff works out, isn't it? lol.

Maybe you should drop the act and just admit that your team has blown it this year. You have mentioned how much better they are. How much deeper the shocks are. How much better their home arena is yet what will you have to show for it in the books?

[Ace Dad]

The Shocks should have won that game if only 10 fans were in the stands.

[Smooth007]

IMO, any individual who says that fans make no impact on sporting events had neither
1)Ever played sports at a real competitive level and
2)Knows very little about sports in general.

[DawgFan]

The value of the three suspended players is virtually nil.

Lowery always has done better with limited options. He is that simple minded a coach. Also, Gene Teague has been a pile of crap since hurting his foot. He's out of shape and a turnover machine. Cleveland is a borderline D1 guard, who in conjunction with Lowery's lil cousin form, what I've termed a MIDGET back court. That doesn't work against WSU's length. The other MIDGET, er Troy Long, has been of virtually no use all season.

If Lowery doesn't fall in love with his cousin and get off the MIDGET backcourt, we probably beat Creighton on Jan 7th and what has snowballed into an unmitigaged disaster, probably ends up at 9-9 in the league and a skipping of Thursday activiites. That also probably saves Lowery's job.

Now, I believe Lowery is sunk and in the end, probably moves the rebuilding project forward. if the move was made last March, the rebuild is a lot simpler, now it is a complete gut rehab. But, it is time to get to work on that.

[45otseoj]

IMO, any individual who says that fans make no impact on sporting events had neither
1)Ever played sports at a real competitive level and
2)Knows very little about sports in general.

I know Bradley plays better at home in front of 1,000 vs. 10,000.

[Aargh]

WSU had 10 guys waiting on each other to show up for the game. Once the Shox blew out to the big, early lead, they switched to "hero" mode. At first it was just guys taking whatever shot they could get whenever they got the ball. When SIU got back into the game, there were a couple of Shox who were going to be the "hero" and score every time they touched the ball, whether that meant they had to force a shot or not.

After watching WSU this year, they're unselfish when they're winning by double digits. When the game gets close, the team tends to start playing a lot of ad-libbed one-on-one ball that reminds me of JuCo ball.

Marshall got out-coached by the lamest of lame duck coaches. Teams are often a reflection of their coach, and WSU has been going into panic mode in contested games. Shocker fans are learning more about their coach. I wouldn't rate him as one of the top game coaches in the Valley.

The lack of progres and development of some players is disturbing. Stutz seems to be playing with less confidence than he had a year ago. A year ago (but not a year and a month ago), Demetric Williams was doing a fine job as the backup PG. This year he's spent half the season in Marshall's doghouse and was playing with no confidence or ability to make a basketball-related decision early in the season. Murry wanted the ball in his hands at the end of games in his Fr year and he hit a couple of game-winning shots that year. This year, he looks like he can't wait to get rid of it late in games.

I'm starting to see similarities between WSU and MSU under Hinson. Coming off a recent S16 and then doing precisely what was required to NOT get an invite to the NCAA's. A Hollywood script writer could not pen a more perfect plot for avoiding an NCAA invite than the Shockers have done in real life. This makes the second year in a row where that script was acted out to perfection at WSU. Last year it took two bad road losses (UE and DU) to avoid an invite. This year's team decided to be more efficient and avoid the invitation by grabbing an RPI 200+ loss AT HOME! Yeah, that's a real efficient way to avoid an NCAA invite.

[BirdmanBB]

IMO, any individual who says that fans make no impact on sporting events had neither
1)Ever played sports at a real competitive level and
2)Knows very little about sports in general.

There have been studies on this and other things in sports like momentum in games. Pretty interesting stuff with actual numbers and psychology put behind it. It's not the fans creating the advantage. It's the refs. These guys have a book that just came out on this, but here is a link to an article talking about it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-21/momentum-is-mirage-theory-threatens-jets-packers-facing-home-field-team.html

Home Field

One sports belief that held up under Moskowitz and Wertheim’s scrutiny is home-field advantage. It’s not a myth, according to the book, though the edge doesn’t come from loud fans boosting the spirits and performance of the home team. The advantage is “the referees seeing things the home crowd’s way,” Moskowitz said.

In the NFL from 1966 to 2009, the home team has won 58 percent of the time, according to the book. The research found that home teams are assessed fewer yards per penalty and fewer penalties per game.

“When humans are faced with enormous pressure -- say, making a crucial call with a rabid crowd yelling, taunting and chanting a few feet away -- it is natural to want to alleviate that pressure,” the book said. “By making snap-judgment calls in favor of the home team, referees, whether they consciously appreciate it or not, are relieving some of that stress.”

1) yes i have played sports at a competitive level
2) I do my research.

Sometime playing against a large crowd in any sport can pump you up to play harder. I know it did for me in my playing days. There's always 2 sides.

[Aargh]

From what I've seen at WSU games, the crowd better stay loud if the opponent gets a stop or a basket.

I've seen more than a few teams get new energy and focus by "shutting up" and "sitting down" a rowdy crowd.

If the volume levels disrupt communications, then I think WSU has an advantage. I've seen some really stupid things done by opponents when it was loud. Throwing a pass into the second row isn't uncommon. I suspect that is a result of missing communication of what's being run and where a player is supposed to be going.

A loud crowd has a potential negative effect on the home team. There can be a lot of pressure to "do something" when it gets loud. Sometimes WSU seems to get the yips when the crowd gets loud.