The voters will factor in the 3 starter injuries they had.
maybe - but actually, FWO - of the 3 "injured" starters - there's actually a little serendipity that makes Gregg Marshall look good when in fact it also exposes some bad coaching moves he might have been making before it cost them........
...so although it won't be popular with Shocker fans - I am going to play spoiler a little...
One of the "injured" has returned and only missed 7 games ...and interestingly Wichita was 6-1 in those games without Hall,
BUT ..... they were also 6-1 in the 7 games before he went out and they kept winning all their games for the next two weeks after Hall returned as well!!
- so even tho he was a starter - it's debatable whether it is or was his absence that made any difference or was it just the time span and the teams that were on the schedule that was the only determining factor...
The other two "injured" guys may actually have forced Marshall to use players off his bench that he simply did not know were every bit as good maybe better than the ones he lost...so how is this good coaching??
Baker averaged just 7 ppg in his 10 games and Wessel in his 8 games barely averaged 5 ppg.
Wessel's absence moved Cleanthony Early into the starting lineup - so the argument could be made HOW THE HECK was Gregg Marshall NOT starting Cleanthony Early the first 1/4 of the season - forcing Early to put up 25-point games to let Marshall know his talents were being wasted as a bench player...Early has had the NBA scouts there watching him and yet he wasn't a starter until Marshall was forced to start him?? Good coaching??
Then when Baker went out with his 5.5 ppg average - that forced Marshall to move Demetric Williams into the lineup and it's pretty apparent to anyone who's watched the Shox, that Williams is a better player and should have been starting over Baker!
Demetric's numbers are considerably better across the board from what Baker was giving them...plus he's become a team leader.
I think they are a better team with him in the starting lineup.
Oddly - just a month ago there was
this article...
"Wichita State - HOT START, NOW ABOUT TO GET HEALTHY..."
hinting that now that they were getting their injured players back - they were going to take off and be unstoppable...
BUT..........now they're just 3-3 since beating Bradley with most everyone "healthy"....
so again - can one use this to argue for good coaching??
Let's see how WSU does down the stretch before engraving Gregg's name...
they still have to play at Indiana State & Creighton plus two tough games vs. Evansville & Detroit.
