With the closing of the regular season play drawing closer, the hot topic of conversation is the NCAA March Madness tournament. Shocker fans are beginning to think of their brackets and how far they plan to push their favorite team into the post season tournament.

At the beginning of the season, fans witnessed the Shockers struggle in the first half to get a steady offensive flow then explode in the second half and finish win a solid win. Head coach Gregg Marshall said many times that the team would not be able to continue playing that way and keep a winning streak going. Luckily, the team has been able to rally together and pull off the best season record so far in the program’s history.

In the games against Loyola and Evansville this past week showed signs of the struggle in the first half.

Coming back from halftime with hard defense and tough offense has helped the team remain perfect in their season record.

The big question still stands unanswered: will the Shockers be able to pull off another trip to the Final Four, or championship game, with a struggling first half of play?

Here are my thoughts on the big tournament. 

Going against teams in tougher divisions such as the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, coming out with a struggling offense, but tight defense can help the team keep their head above water. 

The key to their success in the tournament will rely on the team picking up the flow quicker in the first half. 

Coach Marshall and his staff have done a great job of making the quick call to adjust the defense to the opponent’s tempo and play calls. Once the Shockers make the adjustments to their defense, the team’s confidence to overpower the opponent’s offense will benefit the Shockers on offense. It will break down the opponent’s confidence to hang tight against their defense and make the other team feel flustered and throw their game plan out of whack. 

If the Shockers can get their second half offensive flow to make its presence in the first half, the Shockers have what it takes to bring home the first championship title in program’s history. 

Taking things one step at a time, the Missouri Valley Conference tournament is the first focus with the post-season to follow. 

Fans will have to wait until March to watch this continued Cinderella story to unfold.