Take one player from WSU's roster, Rashard Kelly. He's a 6'7" 225-pound junior forward. Good defender. He's a fantastic offensive rebounder. Doesn't take a lot of threes, but can hit them in a pinch (33.3% career 3pt FG%). He's in his junior year, so he's been around-- he's played in 4 Arch Madness games and 6 NCAA Tournament games.

On just about any other team in the Valley, he would be a starter. On the Shockers, he's the 10th highest scorer and only plays 14.8 minutes per game. Anywhere else, he's be averaging 22-24 minutes and be the second or third scoring option while pulling down 5-7 rebounds per game (a lot of them offensive boards).

WSU's 9th leading scorer is 6'10" junior center Rauno Nurger, who would start every game at every MVC team this year. On the Shockers, he has started five of their 17 games and averages 5.5 points and 2.9 rebounds playing an average of 15.9 minutes per game. He shoots 60% from the field, 50% on threes, and he's got eight blocks on the season, which would rank 2nd on Loyola. And so on up the list.

Loyola is not a shabby team in terms of talent, but if any one of the top five bench players from WSU (Shaquille Morris, Daishon Smith, Austin Reaves, Rauno Nurger, or Rashard Kelly) were eligible to play for Loyola tomorrow, they would be in the starting lineup. If 6'8" sophomore forward Eric Hamilton (WSU's 12th leading scorer, who's having a terrible year offensively) were available, he would merit some consideration to start for LU just because of his height. He's maybe about the same or a notch above or below Kirby on various skills, and Kirby has started some games for Loyola. That's who they have in the 12th seat down the bench. We haven't had 12 players in a game since Eureka on Nov. 14. We had 11 against Northern Iowa last week, which included Glorind Lisha and Tyson Smith for less than a minute.

It's a given that they're deeper than us, with more talent. Given the run that they've been on, it'd be embarrassing if all of their success didn't translate into the deepest and most talented team in the conference (see my other alma mater: SIU). But, that doesn't mean they're unbeatable. We should've beaten them last year in St. Louis, and we're more talented this year than we were last year. So, game on.

According to TeamRankings.com, we have a 5.4% chance of beating them, which sounds about right to me.... It translates to about a 1 in 18 chance of winning. I think that with a good game plan, great execution, a bunch of lucky breaks, and a bad off night by two or three of their guys, etc. it's certainly possible. They've lost one home conference game since we joined the league in 2013-- that's a home conference record of 28-1 since we've been members of the MVC. The one loss was by three points, to a team that won Arch Madness a couple of weeks later.

WORST PEP TALK EVER.

I'm somewhat curious if some of the top tier players on that team (namely someone like McDuffie, probably still their most talented player) are disappointed by their overall lack of minutes. While it's extremely impressive that so many players get in and out, I'd wonder if some may be disappointed with their lack of PT...especially given their own talent level/vs who they're going against...wouldn't you want your 10-15 minutes against P5 schools? That said Marshall is a great basketball coach and I'd have to guess he recruited talent who are willing to buy into this for the most part. There's really no smoke so I can't knock the program.

The depth is also something Moser seems to be steadily building with his MVC. As of now we only lose Doyle next year. A huge loss no doubt, but he'll be replaced by Townes, Krutwig, Negron, and a (hopefully!!) recovered Chastain. Should give us a lot more quality depth off the bench. Not at WSU's level yet, but definitely on the right path.

Let's come out hot and stay hot tomorrow. GO RAMBLERS.

This sentence has taken on a whole new meaning in the past couple of hours.

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ahunte,

I hope I'm mistaken, but all evidence points to the fact that the JCT we once knew and loved has been taken over by aliens from the planet "Alpha Loser Weenie" and been turned into a Shocker-worshipping pod person.

There is one sure way to find out.

Why have none of the Shockers stepped up to take a starting role? Also, Gregg Marshall is an arrogant jerk.

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ahunte,

I see what you're doing. Clever, maybe a bit too clever for JCT. On average a pod person loses 20 IQ points in the transformation. And JCT wasn't that smart to begin with...

Shox at home ??? Marshall working the refs ?? Well, it will be tough BUT we have a chance. We can score . We have Milton as a nice pro type player--The other seven can SHOOT !! If all do what they have done , we could surprise--Watch INGRAM !!

I do believe the refs are the key !!