I have to disagree. I think this draw is great, other than Wisconsin. Minnesota is a soft Big-10 team with a new head coach and Wichita State is overrated in my opinion. They haven't been as dominant as people expected so far. I think their high ranking is a hangover from their deep tourney run.
I disagree completely that we're overrated, but I understand that's your opinion, I just think maybe I could try and change you opinion on that. We replaced our post with a transfer who had to sit out last year, a juco transfer who had hardly any minutes last year, and another juco transfer that is brand new this year. It's taken time for our bigs to mesh with the team, because our backcourt is comprised of all returning players. If you look at the recent 4 games played by WSU, @SLU, ORU, UT, @Bama one of the highlights of our team has been our post play. Which has finally come in in the later portion of our NonCon. Which is our toughest portion of our noncon, which looks to me that it indicates our post is progressing, and progressing well. I might mention that in 4 years, SLU has lost 4 times at home. Now it's 5 after WSU went in there.
Outside of the post, our backcourt is solid solid solid, and has been talked about being one of the best in the country. Soph. PG Fred Van Vleet has court vision, and plays a lot like D Rose when he drives, he's a magician at the rim. Ron Baker, RS Soph is lights out from anywhere on the court, drives, shoots, what ever you need, Cotton is a Junior who gets to defend the best player on who ever we play, he's that good on D. Cle Early is a phenom, 6-8 SF/PF who has one of the quickest first steps in college right now. He can shoot from the 3, or dribble drive you from the 3, he can also go low and play the post well with soft touches around the rim, he also likes to throw down nasty dunks. NBA scouts have been in to our practices to look at Cle, and they come out saying there are at least 2 NBA guys in that gym, Cle and Baker. We recently had Miami Heat scouts at the bama game, as well as a few others from other teams.
The Shockers as a team though is where it's at. I can talk all day about individual skills, but the real skillset of this team, is just that. It's a team. WSU never looks rattled, never looks desperate, and we've had some times this year where the cream rose to the top with this group because other teams would have given up. We've been trailing or tied at half for more games this year than not, yet we're 11-0. No doubt, big experience bonus from the tournament run where we did the same thing. The Shockers rebound and shoot free throws well, WSU outrebounds opponents 8.18 boards a game, shoot .752 from the line which is 25th in the country, have an assists to turnover ratio of 3 per game, and win the turnover margin by 3.18 a game.
We might be better this year than last year, and the scary thing is that the WSU team that lost to 12 seeded VCU 2 years ago, was probably better than last year's F4 team.
I just have a hard time thinking the Shockers are over rated.
During the Bama game, we had 3 starters on the bench before half with 2 fouls a piece. It was nerve racking, and they needed someone to come out and play big time. Cle did just that, and I made the comment that "character is made when adversity is met." These Shockers have character for days, and it's unwavering.
P.S. I had a blast at the CU vs Jackson State game. I loved Boulder, had a great time watching the Buffs stomp them. So impressed with Booker and Spencer, those guys are special. I got on the kiss game with my lady friend I brought. All-in-all, it was one of the best trips I've taken, and hope that I can come back to Boulder soon for another game, and if our Athletic Departments would ever listen to me, I've been demanding a Shocker vs CU home-home series that should be a rivalry.
