It is official: Wichita State has been figured out

[rlh04d]

For anyone hoping to pop some popcorn and watch the drama on shocker net, the site has apparently exploded so you'll have to settle for real life. Or hope they come here.


Please don't hope for that

It was bad.

The Shockers are currently playing like a bunch of spoiled kids that expect teams to roll over for them because of their ranking. When they don't, and they get punched in the mouth, they just stand there.

Shocker fans, meanwhile, have done likewise. Temper tantrums in abundance.

Personally, I've never understood why more teams weren't playing zone against us. I've seen numerous times throughout the season where teams had significant amounts of success against us while playing zone, then would switch to man and we'd blow them out. Why switch when it was working? Seems like teams got the message and they're sticking with zone. Slow the game down, frustrate us, and we never get into a rhythm. When we're allowed to play physical and fast against man coverage, we're an amazing team ... when the refs are quick with the whistle, and the opposing team uses zone and forces us to play slow, we are a very bad team.

Meanwhile, tonight was the worse loss I can remember in the last few years as a Shockers fan. I'd say Creighton is the only shot at an at-large bid for the tournament now, unless WSU turns it around starting Saturday and beats Creighton in Omaha.

[CBB_Fan]

Wichita State's at-large chances when from near-certain to fairly low with this game.

No offense to anyone, but the losses Wichita State has are ALL bad. I don't they've lost to a tournament team yet, and SIU isn't even a postseason team at all.

They should be 22-2 right now, leading the Valley with a 99.9% chance of going dancing. Instead, they are 19-5, and they will not dance unless they can win 5 of their last 7 games. Let's just assume @Indiana State and @Creighton will be losses; this Shocker team is not nearly as good on the road as the Shocker teams of the past two years.

A 23-7 team from the MVC will not go dancing even with good wins, especially not with losses to Tennessee, Evansville, UNI, and SIU. It doesn't matter that they have beaten every tourney team they've played.

[rlh04d]

From my seat it looked like it was goaltending but I admittedly was not seated at the best spot to make that call. Regardless, SIU just wanted it more tonight. I think what's being lost here is not how the game ended, but the fact that Wichita went 11 minutes without a field goal, they just flat out choked tonight.

I do think the goaltending was a bad call, but I don't think it really matters. WSU played like crap and SIU deserved to win.

I don't care about the refs. What really bothers me is that Fred Van Vleet was playing great, and Armstead was playing like crap, but FVV was sat for the final 7 minutes or so of the game while Armstead helped us piss the game away. Armstead has 20 turnovers in our five losses. In those five losses, FVV is turning the ball over .083 times a minute, while Armstead is turning the ball over .133 times per minute ... FVV's numbers are improving as the season goes on, Armstead's are consistent. As you'd expect for a good freshman learning the game vs a 5th year senior who isn't getting better.

Since the Drake game (when he had 4 TOs), FVV hasn't given up more than 1 TO in a game. The difference in the two has been massive since that point ... Armstead is at 0.11 TOs a minute, FVV is at 0.035 a minute. We are a very bad team in TOs. Armstead turns the ball over as a PG too much ... FVV does not. Keep FVV in the game.

[saluki762]

No good shots of the goaltending yet (probably because we know it was a bad call) but stolen from Saluki Nation, here is a shot of the shot clock non call.

http://imgur.com/RtFdaYY

[LanceShock]

We certainly can't blame that loss on the referees, it is mind boggling how the refs called the end of the game.

1) To basically decide the game by calling a questionable at best goaltending. If you don't call anything, the game goes to overtime and the players can decide the game.
2) If you are going to make a call like that that just about decides the game, you could at least let Marshall get a timeout in to have a shot at tying it back up.

I'm not sure what is going on with the Shocks right now. And this game should never have been close enough for the refs to be able to decide it. It is very disappointing that the refs did decide to decide the game instead of the players.

[Deanthonybowdenfan]

From a neutral source, heres an unbiased opinion. I just watched the final minutes on espn3. First off, 10 seconds dont decide a game. SIU deserved this win and WSU did not deserve it. That being said , I actually got pissed off watching the end of the game and im not even a shocker fan. It was a good no call on the SIU drive to the basket but it was not a goal-tend. It was close enough so i wasn't pissed yet. But the last 2 seconds, did anyone see Coach Marshall run right to the ref calling timeout with his hand and screaming it right into his face only 10 feet from him?? WSU would of had a second to do an inbounds play and who knows, probably wouldnt have won, but you let the players decide that. I just dont understand why the ref ignored Marshall's timeout call. Good game though SIU! Talk about a bad loss, this is worse then losing to Drake. Shox are on the bubble.

[DawgieStyle]

I was at the SIU game last night, and the play happened right in front of our seats, I couldn't have had a better look.

Charging: You can't call a charge if the defensive player is back pedaling and he doesn't have his feet set or in position. Anyways, at the end of a game like that, they aren't going to call physical contact unless its a flagrant situation, they're going to let them play.

Traveling: Borderline, could have gone either way.

Goal tend: again, borderline, could have gone either way.

Bottom line is this. Refs are human and they make mistakes through out the game, they made some earlier in the game as well, were those blown calls any more or any less important than the one at the end of a game? My opinion is no, it doesn't work like that. Players aren't perfect, they make mistakes during games: Turn overs, bone headed plays, missed dunks, etc. Refs are prone to the same human errors in their jobs. It happens.

For every call WSU fans thought they got screwed on, I'll guarantee during the course of the game, SIU fans some where felt they got screwed just as hard on a different set of calls. The only way that doesn't make sense is if you give more weight to plays at the end of the game, than in the begging or middle, and if you do that, why play the other 39 minutes?

The officials didn't determine the outcome of this game if you look at the whole 40 minutes of play. However, if you're juvenile enough to only look at the last minute of play, and ignore the previous 39 minutes like they didn't happen then of course you think the refs decided the game and screwed you.

Fortunately for sane people, they realize the other 39 minutes of play happened, in which a top 25 team played horribly against the worst team in the league. What did you think the outcome would be if you played like that, even if your opponent was SIU?

[Majik45]

Another unbiased opinion here from another fan who just watched the last play on espn3 replay. That is a tough call to make as goal tend was very close. From the camera angle from the opposite end of the court behind the play, looked like ball was just barely going up, so tough to call it a goal tend. It was extremely close, but you hate to make that call to decide a game.

WSU better get their act together in a hurry. SIU has 1 conference win this year. If they can't win there, they may struggle to win another road game.

[Ali]

GodOrupkeGod indeed.

[Jet915]

Shockers still have a chance at an at-large. Bubble looks pretty weak, if they beat ISUB or CU, dont suffer any more bad losses and beat Detroit, they will still get in.