Kansas coach, Bill Self, believes Wichita State University deserves a #1 seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament if the Shockers can go undefeated:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/mvc/2014/01/19/wichita-state-ncaa-tournament-no-1-seed-missouri-valley/4649113/ ↗ ↗
@drgnslayr Self should not just hang a medium sized monkey on Marshall. He should add that Wichita State has the best talent in the country for winning it all. :-)
Wichita State will be a tough out for anyone. Would love to see them play Louisville again in the tourney.
I'd love to see Wichita State match-up with Kentucky. It would make for an interesting game. Not sure Kentucky could handle a team capable of executing like the Shockers can.
Is this the table to find all the action today :)
slayr, I loved your alternate idea for Wiggins to open up his game. The issue I take with it is that I think he can add the rim finishing to his game more quickly than he can a step back jumper. And don't forget, Kobe stole all of Jordans moves :)
The outside game will come with his time in the League, but as far is the single biggest improvement he can make in college is his mental toughness to finish around the rim.
@drgnslayr RE Kentucky--I get the feeling that Kentucky is just barely holding themselves together when I watch them play. Are the officially not the best freshman class ever, now?
If WSU goes undefeated, they do deserve a #1 seed. I doubt they go undefeated because at some point in time, even in the MVC, a decent team like Indiana State, or Northern Iowa, or Drake will catch them on the road and upset them. I doubt they lose at home this year, but road trips can get dicey.
I'd say even a 1 loss MVC regular and tournament champ WSU should be a 1 seed. If they have multiple losses, no, but it would be tough to say they don't have one of the 3 or 4 best resumes with only 1 loss.
@Blown Re: UK, that great Anthony Davis team created huge expectations for young freshman teams that have followed. People forget that Jones and another player were sophomores and that that team didn't get well oiled until mid season.
This year's UK team is playing about the way a bunch of really good freshman ought to be playing; i.e., not as good as seasoned teams like Chita State.
Same with KU. We are doing about as well as anyone could reasonable expect for a team that's been playing games together 3 months and has 3-4 players trying to figure out what D1 is about.
Unreal early expectations for such young teams. March is a freshman dominated team's best hope for actually playing two halves like a real D1 team.
UK, and KU to a lesser extent because KU has Perry and Dir, are probably not done with the steep part of the learning curve; that still ought to be a month away.
We are just very lucky Self is so good at masking and at clever tactical adjustments at half time.
Therefore, we have to reserve harsh judgement of UK till then.
Though its always okay to call them a bunch of still billies and buccaneers. :-)
@justanotherfan Yes, but I would like to see them seeded lower than they deserve just to hear them cry about it. :-)
Therefore, we have to reserve harsh judgement of UK till then.
Thanks for challenging me to improve the way I think about situations by taking more into consideration than I may be in the habit of.
RE: Wichita--they are going to be best served with a chip on their shoulder. They are in dangerous water right now. Marshall has a new element to manage, and that is the "expectation" element. He's always been able to serve up the underdog speech to his team, even this year after making it to the FF last year, he was able to dish out the "no respect" card. That's all starting to change, and will cause ego inflation.
If he does manage the egos and the expectations through the remainder of the season, the University of Texas will be calling him in to replace Rick Barnes.
So Jaybate mentions the steep learning curve ahead for this team, and it got me to thinking - with a relative let-up in the schedule difficulty, what does Self work on or "install" next? Press break has received a lot of attention, do we think maybe there will be extra focus on that? Or will it be a continued focus on defense (we know Self would love for nothing else than to always be improving his team's defensive toughness). Let me know what you think we are, or should be working on.
Individually, these are the things I'd like to see some of the players working on within their own games:
Perry Ellis - finishing & rebounding with contact. In practice he is guarded 100% of the time by Tarik Black who has been told fouls are not a concern.
Wiggins - dribbling in crowds. Let the scout team/coach's sons run some zone against him and tell him to get to the rim.
Embiid - continue to get comfortable with mid-range face-up jumpers. Keep watching Olajewon tapes. Also maybe have somebody assigned to randomly cheap shot him every day in practice to build resistance against retaliation.
Selden - tighten up jump shot mechanics. I believe coach Townsend is the guy to see in this respect. Also, I'd love for him to see spot duty in practice at the point. Just in case Self needs to go big. We saw Smart posting up Mason a couple of times against Okie St, and it would just be a nice safe-guard/tool to have in the bag.
Na' - find some way, any way, to improve M2M defense. I forget which poster used to point out that physically he will always be at a disadvantage, not necessarily/strictly because of his height, but rather his shorter legs/strides (anybody...?). Surely someone has overcome this disadvantage though? Find them and study their tape. Also, him running the break could be a little better.
Mason - continue looking to dish off the drive. Saw it a couple times against Faylor, but also saw a couple out of control drives where he threw up a wild shot. I believe both times the shot fell, but that is "fool's gold" to rely on those shots repeatedly.
Jamari - tighten up ball security & passes. Turnovers are a bit high for his MPG. Also, rebounding position. Do your work early young man! (did show improvement of this in the Faylor game).
Black - Continued chemistry with Jamari, as his best shot at seeing the court is the two of them playing well together. Seems to have gotten his fouls under control; maintain despite directive to hack-a-Perry.
Greene - making the simple play. Playing within himself. This will help limit the mistakes and thus the quick hook by Self. And it's never a bad idea to develop a killer defensive game. That will keep you on Self's PT radar as well.
Frankamp - See Greene. We know you are both great shooters. Enhance your game to give Self a reason to play you, not a reason to take you out.
@justanotherfan I think WSU is really onto something. I'm thinking KU should drop out of the Big 12, and join the Horizon or the Mo Valley . We could play patsies the entire non-conference, and be undefeated every year in conference, and sail into a number 1 seed. If anyone questioned us about our weak schedule, we could simply say "everyone is afraid to play us". It's a brilliant way to a number 1 seed. Why play all these games against tough teams, when you can get rewarded for playing nobody?
Wow... lots of great posts in here! I sort of forgot about this thread.
I agree with @justanotherfan , and the Shocks deserve a #1 seeding with no or one loss. They may have a soft schedule compared to KU, but it still is tough to win out all season. They play teams that know them well, and on the road. It is a long season and tough for any team with any schedule to go undefeated or with just one loss.
I try to watch all of Kentucky's games and there is no way they have the nucleus they had in 2012 when they won it all. They have more future talent now but lack enough experienced players to give them some balance. Something big will have to click with that team if they hope to be a real contender in March. And I'm pretty sure a solid execution team (like WSU) would expose a team like Kentucky.
I would say the same thing about us versus the Shocks... but I'm starting to see us play some decent defense, and if we keep improving like we have been in B12 play, we would give the Shockers every kind of challenge (and then some) come March!
I think the Shocks would have hammered us a month ago. Today, I see it going either way... and in another month I see us clearly dominating WSU!
I'm sorry, I'm not feeling the Shocker love like a lot of folks.
I think they play a weak schedule in a weak conference and have a slimy, d-bag coach. But that's just my opinion.
I'm tired of hearing Gregg Marshall whine and cry and bad mouth everybody in the country that's not named Wichita State.
Besides my family's health and prosperity, what I pray for the most is that Mr. Marshall get his wish and plays Kansas. Soon.
Be careful what you wish for......
@nuleafjhawk slimy coach is right! I like the team, not him.
WSU is a very good, experienced team, no question about it. They made to the Final Four last year when KU did not, and so far they seem headed to a #1 seed as their conference schedule is considerably easier than that of teams in conferences such as the Big 12 and B1G.
Don't care for their coach but WSU is a solid team.
Can we say that Kansas is now the hotbed of college basketball? For the third year in a row the state will send every Division 1 team in the state to the dance; no other state with at least 3 Div 1 teams can say the sames, and all 3 teams are currently ranked in the top 25,
"what I pray for the most is that Mr. Marshall get his wish and plays Kansas. Soon.
Be careful what you wish for......"
Amen! That's what I'm talking about!