There are so many ignorant posts in this thread, I have no clue which I should quote.
I know Cold doesn't have a great reputation on any Valley message board, but he's pretty much posting what I saw at Shocker Madness.
Let's go through the "legitimate" weaknesses of the Shox this year.
"The Shox lost all their scoring" 11/23 from 3 and a lot of those were contested. Jake White was making them when he was getting knocked on his ass and landed out of bounds after shooting. Cleanthony Early was above 50%, Armstead was above 50%. The Shox are slashing to the basket for high percentage shots like never before. Armstead, Early, and Hall were getting to the hoop. Armstead has an uncanny REALLY high arching mid-range shot over the trees in the lane.
"The Shox lost all their rebounding" Hall is more active on rebounding than last year. Orukpe will get more minutes. Early is one of the most explosive leapers I've seen in a Shocker uniform. Jake White is a high BBIQ guy who put on a bunch of weight and tends to get to the right spot. Rebounding should be better this year.
I've never seen the team this advanced, playing this much within the system, playing as much D, and hitting it as hard as this year's scrimmage. There are more sky walkers, more glass eaters, more shooters, more slashers, and harder defenders than I've seen before, including last year and 2006.
If you think the Shox are a .500 team, please ask your coach just before the Christmas break - just before Valley play starts. I doubt there will be a coach in the Valley projecting the Shox at .500 - or even .667.
I've watched enough Valley games to know that both teams I watched last night would be top-half Valley teams.