WSU vs Alabama

[WSUbballer]

Alabama is not very impressive. Wouldn't be surprised to see WSU win this one.

For a fan of a team who used to always win ugly, I'm really surprised you can't see that the Alabama defense has been... impressive.

[WSUbballer]

Alabama was the clear superior team here, no question about it. They have a tenacious defense and will win their share of games in the SEC. WSU was totally out of it in the second half. Settled for 3 pointers, had some real sloppy turnovers, and were outmanned through a lot of the game. Credit a lot of this to the Alabama D.

Shocks can salvage the trip with a win over Temple on Sunday. They need to fix the sloppiness or this will turn into another tournament of missed opportunities.

[MVCfans]

Shockers can be disappointed, but shouldn't lose any sleep for losing to Alabama particularly with another huge game tomorrow against Temple. I really thought that WSU was going to hang around long enough to make it a game that went down to the wire, but shooting 33% from the field won't get you many victories against Top 15 teams. Time to forget about this one and get ready for tomorrow.

[MoValley John]

On a happier note, Iowa State shocks Oklahoma State in football!!!

[valleychamp]

Disappointing game for the shockers. Just a lot of poor decision making, IMO.

[Jet915]

Temple can be a mini-bracketbuster, it will be a huge game IMO for the Shockers...

[WSUbballer]

Disappointing game for the shockers. Just a lot of poor decision making, IMO.

With some of the expectations here, you almost would have thought that Wichita State had a No.15 ranking and Alabama was the unranked team going in.

Disappointing, I guess. Unexpected outcome? No.

[AndShock]

Could we have played better? Ya
Was Alabama the better team? Ya
Would Alabama beat every other Valley team? Ya

[MoValley John]

Could we have played better? Ya
Was Alabama the better team? Ya
Would Alabama beat every other Valley team? Ya

I don't know, I think if either Creighton or Wichita State plays at their best, they can beat Alabama. A lot of the Shockers problems tonight were due to the absence of Stutz. He was slow, didn't move his feet well and was completely ineffective. Stutz can be a beast, but he needs to play physical, fast and dominate. Tonight, when he was in, he seemed timid. If he were simply more assertive, I think the ticky tack whistles go away. The guy that impressed me is Murry. He is flat-out, good! I shudder to think of the platitudes Indiana State fans would be using if Murry were on their team!

With Stutz, he's like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get. even in the game yesterday, Stutz was a zombie in the first half but turned around and played meaningful, productive minutes in the second. If Stutz played well tonight, you guys win.

[Wufan]

Alabama out played our Shockers. They were more athletic and more physical. Our veteran team made poor decisions. David Kyles and Demetric Williams decided to emulate Anthony James in the St Mary's game. Despite a good stat line, Joe Ragland played poorly. Freshman Tekele Cotton played 5 minutes of good basketball. If you didn't notice him, it's because his man didn't do anything while he was on the court. Murry was a stud despite the injury.

Stutz had two really bad whistles that sent him into the "how can I not foul?" mode...which lead to the timid play. Still got 9 boards in 17 minutes, but no offense and no defense. EO won't stuff a stat line, but he sure does disrupt the opposing offense inside the paint. Smith was good, but fired off some wild threes. He actually played quite well at the PF despite his size.

Carl Hall had 13 or so rebounds. If you saw the one offensive possesion in the second half, he's crazy aggressive at getting loose balls. It went like this: Post-up catch ball, turn in for 2 footer. Off ball help blocks it Hall follows with the rebound. kicks it out shot is blocked Hall dives to the floor at the FT line and snags it. resets offense from his stomach. Works for position until the shot-clock winds down. Gets ball in traffic misses bunny but is thrown to the floor in process. Gets rebound from 5 players while on his back. Quick assist from the floor for the easy two. Two guys step on him and he gets up like it was all part of the offense. He's fun to watch in the paint.

WSU had too many shots blocked. Didn't break the press well. Too few assists and too many threes. Didn't feed the post or drive to the basket. Missed alot of FTs. We will need to play better for this season to be a success.