Missouri State's Jamar Gulley out for 2012-13 season

[CBB_Fan]

More like, who's not going to be good?

I think you will likely see SIU at the bottom, and probably Bradley right along with them. And even Bradley should be much better than they were last season. After that, I think that every other team is "good". I guarantee you that Creighton, Ill St, UNI, WSU, and maybe even Drake and Evansville all think they they can/will make the NCAA tournament this year.

I will give you CU, ISU(r) and UNI but after that there are a lot of questions marks...and for the record I think the Valley will be down some after those teams and it will be a mess in the standings 4-10.

Losing Gulley was a big blow for us but it is a position we have some experience with Pickens and Scheer able to play it. I really like our new guys just like everyone else likes theirs...we will find out in Nov.

I would say I have high expectations of at least Creighton, Wichita State, and UNI. Ill St. should be good as well, but I place reservations because of coaching and personnel changes (just like I feel the Saints should be good in the NFL, but may be hurt by the coaching and player suspensions).

Wichita State will be inexperienced, but they will be on a different level than the other MVC schools from a size and athleticism standpoint. I'm guessing their starting line-up will be Armstead (6'2), Wiggins (6'6), Early (6'8), Hall (6'8), and Orukpe (7'0). And all of those players are either above average or great athletically. They should be focused on defense and transition points, though the weakness so far has been half-court offense. But I don't think you can leave them out of the top 3 because of how nasty the combination of Orukpe + the long athletic perimeter players will be.

I think the Valley could be a legitimate 3-bid league next year. Of course, one of the problems is that no one in the MVC has a decent OOC schedule from an RPI standpoint (think Long Beach State), so they have to win their OOC games against the few good teams to have a chance.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Is there any single player that, entering his senior year, has more hype based on fewer accomplishments than Orupke?

[Wufan]

Is there any single player that, entering his senior year, has more hype based on fewer accomplishments than Orupke?

Nope.

FWIW, I'm not convinced anyone knows what WSU's starting line-up will look like. Injuries aside, you can be assured that Armstead, Williams, Wiggins, Early, and Hall will play significant minutes. Then there are the 18 other players that one Shocker fan or another is predicting will be the savior of the team.

[CBB_Fan]

Is there any single player that, entering his senior year, has more hype based on fewer accomplishments than Orupke?

When he was in last year, he held opposing teams to 30-35% FG% in the lane. That is an accomplishment. Besides, this is only really his second year of DI ball, and about his 5th of playing basketball. It isn't like he's been at Wichita State for 4 years.

His defense intimidation is what makes him valuable, and he was at times dominant last year (@Tulsa, vs Drake). Personally, if he can average 3-4 blocks, scare opponents out of the lane, and rebound he'll be one of the more valuable players in the MVC. All of which he is capable of doing.

[cpacmel]

Is there any single player that, entering his senior year, has more hype based on fewer accomplishments than Orupke?

When he was in last year, he held opposing teams to 30-35% FG% in the lane. That is an accomplishment. Besides, this is only really his second year of DI ball, and about his 5th of playing basketball. It isn't like he's been at Wichita State for 4 years.

His defense intimidation is what makes him valuable, and he was at times dominant last year (@Tulsa, vs Drake). Personally, if he can average 3-4 blocks, scare opponents out of the lane, and rebound he'll be one of the more valuable players in the MVC. All of which he is capable of doing.

3-4 blocks per game? That's pretty lofty. So he is going to get 90-120 blocks this next season? Only Benoit Benjamin has done that in the MVC.

[CBB_Fan]

3-4 blocks per game? That's pretty lofty. So he is going to get 90-120 blocks this next season? Only Benoit Benjamin has done that in the MVC.

He averaged a block per game last year and played 8 minutes per. If he plays 20+ minutes, I think he could see 3-4. He had 30 blocks last season in 243 minutes. If he plays the same minutes as Stutz did last season (786 over the season), he should get 97 blocks. And that's assuming he hasn't improved at blocking shots, which is a fair assumption, but perhaps not a correct one.

Basically, I think he'll be important mainly as a defensive anchor, ie Tyson Chandler for Team USA. Not saying he's Chandler, but he won't be required to score to have a big affect.

[PantherSigEp]

It's pretty impressive to see that he was able to accumulate that many blocks in that limited amount of time but he accumulated even more fouls. Orukpe will need to be more disciplined in order to remain an effective presence on the court. He picked up a foul every 6 minutes (twice as much as Mr. Stutz did) but with more minutes on the floor I would bet that average gets worse. I would say he would still be able to get in 18-20 good minutes before reaching 4-5 fouls but its just something to add to the equation.

[CBB_Fan]

It's pretty impressive to see that he was able to accumulate that many blocks in that limited amount of time but he accumulated even more fouls. Orukpe will need to be more disciplined in order to remain an effective presence on the court. He picked up a foul every 6 minutes (twice as much as Mr. Stutz did) but with more minutes on the floor I would bet that average gets worse. I would say he would still be able to get in 18-20 good minutes before reaching 4-5 fouls but its just something to add to the equation.

That is the biggest question for Wichita State going into the season. Without Orukpe, they'll be an average to below average team at defending the paint (no offense to Hall, Early, or White), but with them they have the best defensive team in the MVC. It makes me excited about their potential and worried about them at the same time.

Luckily, it looks like Orukpe has improved over the offseason considerably (all but locked the starting spot), but until he shows it in a game it is just speculation. However, this is a little bit of a thread derail. It shouldn't be about Orukpe or the shockers, but MSU and Jamar Gulley. Hope he recovers quickly and is able to play as soon as possible.

[jackwagon]

EO is a great athlete but what many ppl are missing is he is very foul prone and if he is going to be relied on to be a 30+ a minute anchor on D he will be spending a lot of time on the pine due to foul trouble.

[TNMSUFAN]

Armstead (6'2), Wiggins (6'6), Early (6'8), Hall (6'8), and Orukpe (7'0)

Like I said before you have to give it to the Wichita fan base...they see an NCAA tournament and Valley championship contender from a starting 5 who averaged 9pts per game last year in DI.