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ISU vs. Wichita State

3rd & 7 37yd

Hello from the Scottrade Center. Illinois State getting ready to play semifinal in MVC tourney against Wichita State. It should be heated, to say the least. These teams don't like each other much. The winner gets Creighton, which is blasting Indiana State 51-24 in first semi. The Jays look tough, but teams rarely have two great offensive games in row. Fire away with any questions ...

by jbenson 3/9/2013 8:58:04 PM
Heard the officials today will be John Higgins, Paul Janssen and Don Dailey. Janssen was part of crew in Normal on Feb. 17 when Wichita State stunned ISU in final minute, thanks to flagrant personal foul on Jackie Carmichael and wrong player shooting FTs for Shocks. The refs, Janssen, David Hall and Gerry Pollard, were reprimanded by MVC. But all are doing the tournament. Big reprimand.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:06:19 PM
Creighton has let its foot off the acclerator after leading 41-18 at half. Up 53-30 with 8:28 left. Jays are getting ready for Sunday's championship game. They will be difficult to beat.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:08:05 PM
Key player today could be Ron Baker. The redshirt freshman guard for Wichita State returned for first time in almost 3 months off with a stress fracture in his foot on Friday and looked pretty good. The Redbirds have not played against Baker and need to get out on him quickly or he'll bury the 3-pointer.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:10:24 PM
Word is that Tyler Brown is fine after getting his leg caught up in a scramble with UNI's Seth Tuttle last night. Brown stayed in the game and hit two big baskets to help the Redbirds pull away.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:14:45 PM
Sycamores to NIT?

by Cagillac Jack 3/9/2013 9:20:42 PM
I would think both Trees and UNI are both headed to NIT. I would think UNI has better chance to go further. Indiana State has a difficult time scoring.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:21:32 PM
Number of conspiracy chants at WSU HC today?

by michaelleotta 3/9/2013 9:22:37 PM
hahaha. Yes, he will be playing that card. I can't wait to see coaches shake hands after God Bless America. That could be interesting.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:23:10 PM
Are CBIT and the other tournament on the same level? One better than the other?

by Cagillac Jack 3/9/2013 9:23:13 PM
CBI usually includes a couple power six teams, while the CIT is completely mid-majors. But CBI involves about 35,000 to host a home game. I'm not sure about CIT, but don't think its much. I don't see ISU wanting to lose money on one of these tourneys, so if they play (especially CBI) it probably be on the road.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:25:32 PM
Fair to say live ball turnovers will be difference for ISU today? Or you see another?

by michaelleotta 3/9/2013 9:29:10 PM
That will certainly be a key. Also, ISU has to stay fairly even on the boards and can't give Wichita a lot of second-chance opportunities.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:29:50 PM
Having said that can they play zone today? Seeing them rebound outta that zone lately has been brutal.

by michaelleotta 3/9/2013 9:36:28 PM
I agree. I don't think there will be much zone today unless forced to because of fouls to the bigs.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:36:50 PM
Which leads me to my next question, how much zone do they play on WSU, watching them rebound in zone defense has been well, not fun to watch lets just say that.

by michaelleotta 3/9/2013 9:36:52 PM
They definitely have rebounding problems out of zone.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:37:38 PM
ISU will be wearing its red road unis today. Like those better than silver gray or whatever color those other ones are.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:38:06 PM
Why does ISU have trouble rebounding when playing in a zone defense ?

by Cagillac Jack 3/9/2013 9:45:12 PM
Not just ISU, but a lot of teams do. I agree, though, seems like ISU has more problem than other teams. The guards have to really be committed to getting long rebounds and a lot of times they are caught flat footed. It's a mentality.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:46:16 PM
Players look nervous or loose?

by b 3/9/2013 9:53:22 PM
Pretty loose. Just saw tweet from Wichita Eagle that said Cleanthony Early has a stomach ailment, but will try to play. That would be a huge loss for the Shocks.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:53:56 PM
I haven't seen all the games, but in those I have, our zone looked pretty effective. I would like to see us play it more, although not always of course. Sonnen and guys like him can break it.

by Cagillac Jack 3/9/2013 9:54:04 PM
Zone has been about 50-50. A couple times really good and then a couple horrible, and then some in between. It was great down stretch in win at Creighton. By far the best this season

by jbenson 3/9/2013 9:54:53 PM
Show time. Enjoy the game. This could be a classic. Hope we do this again at noon tomorrow. See ya and thanks for joining in.

by jbenson 3/9/2013 10:04:29 PM