The MAC is featuring 12 teams in 12 days and they just posted an interview with Rob Murphy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFnr6kDwn...e=youtu.be

Sounds like we'll see a lot more offense this year!

Dear KPJ,
Nice post. It sure does sound like there will be more of an offensive show, and I hope we will put the ball through the hoop better than the last two years. To me that was one area that needed to be improved. We just either took bad shots or couldn't make them drop when they should, and that includes foul shooting.

(10-23-2013 09:25 AM)KPJ Wrote:  The MAC is featuring 12 teams in 12 days and they just posted an interview with Rob Murphy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFnr6kDwn...e=youtu.be

Sounds like we'll see a lot more offense this year!

I have CLE on my schedule for March.

For all of Hoopster's hand wringing about not getting his favorite 2 and 3 star high school recruits, Murphy has, in year three, built a very solid, deep team with 8 or 9 players who are good enough to start.

Murphy has added a lot of pieces this year like Ward, Ajayi, Combs, and of course Talley and a healthy Lee.

Five 'newcomers' to an already solid team which played 3 MAC tourney games is very good by me.

I really think this will be an impressive team. I can see a lot of players averaging say 7 - 10 ppg. I don't see any position as being weak (last year anyone being honest would have said that starting a frosh PG is not a position of strength).

Is 2014 the year that the MAC tourney champ comes from the MAC West?

If I were in Vegas and they have odds on the team to win the MAC tourney I would take a flyer on EMU at say 8 - 10:1.

(I passed last month in Vegas on EMU FB to win the MACC at 100:1 month. I doubt anyone here would take a shot regardless of the odds. EMU FB and EMU men's hoops are two different animals. EMU is definitely a good 'sleeper' pick to win the MAC tourney.).

Did he say Da'Shonte Riley has improved defensively?
If that's the case.... Things could get VERY interesting.

Yep, apparently he got stronger this offseason too. If he can play like he did in the MAC tourney on a somewhat consistent basis, watch out. He was a force in those three games. I just hope to see fewer disappearing acts from him this year. He's too gifted to just stand in the background like that.

I'm getting in the mail tomorrow or Friday the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

It has a lot of very detailed quotes from Murphy. I believe he was quoted, in depth, that Riley was healthy this summer for his first off season and worked hard with Mondro and in the weight room.

Riley has had a number of injuries including a broken foot (@ 'Cuse), a foot injury (@ EMU) and a torn labrum (end of the '11/'12 season). The shoulder injury interrupted his summer weight training summer (2012).

Sometimes some injuries are known (those which occur during seasons, like Lee's) others are not known.

(10-23-2013 12:37 PM)KPJ Wrote:  Did he say Da'Shonte Riley has improved defensively?
If that's the case.... Things could get VERY interesting.

Yep, he said better offensively and defensively.

My inference is that Riley today is a stronger, healthier athlete did he was last March.

In the Blue Ribbon Yearbook Murphy was quoted as saying Riley will be one of the best if not the best center in the conference.

I hope Murphy is right.

I took a lot of lot of grief on this board last season for standing squarely behind Riley.

Riley made me proud during the MAC tourney and let's hope he show Zeke Marshall type abilities for his senior year.

P.S. I keep hearing positive vibes about the talent on this team. This team is incredibly deep and versatile with so many interchangeable parts that we have the depth to cope with injuries and foul trouble.

I wish NuPudge and I could go to a bowl game, but I'll settle this year for a post season bid in one of the post season tourneys (e.g., NCAAs, NIT, CBI, etc.).

Quite frankly it always takes an act of faith, and a few drinks , to be optimistic about EMU FB, not so with this year's men's basketball team.

(10-24-2013 09:14 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(10-23-2013 12:37 PM)KPJ Wrote:  Did he say Da'Shonte Riley has improved defensively?
If that's the case.... Things could get VERY interesting.

Yep, he said better offensively and defensively.

My inference is that Riley today is a stronger, healthier athlete did he was last March.

In the Blue Ribbon Yearbook Murphy was quoted as saying Riley will be one of the best if not the best center in the conference.

I hope Murphy is right.

I took a lot of lot of grief on this board last season for standing squarely behind Riley.

Riley made me proud during the MAC tourney and let's hope he show Zeke Marshall type abilities for his senior year.

P.S. I keep hearing positive vibes about the talent on this team. This team is incredibly deep and versatile with so many interchangeable parts that we have the depth to cope with injuries and foul trouble.

I wish NuPudge and I could go to a bowl game, but I'll settle this year for a post season bid in one of the post season tourneys (e.g., NCAAs, NIT, CBI, etc.).

Quite frankly it always takes an act of faith, and a few drinks , to be optimistic about EMU FB, not so with this year's men's basketball team.

I think you said the exact same thing last year, while singing Still's praises. We all know things can unravel quickly at EMU and typically do. Show me, don't tell me. How many times can a person be fooled? That said, I really, really hope you are right!

I also can't get the image of Akron, by far the MAC's best team getting absolutely destroyed in the NCAA tourney by VCU in the first round. The bar is extremely low, folks.

(10-24-2013 10:00 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(10-24-2013 09:14 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(10-23-2013 12:37 PM)KPJ Wrote:  Did he say Da'Shonte Riley has improved defensively?
If that's the case.... Things could get VERY interesting.

Yep, he said better offensively and defensively.

My inference is that Riley today is a stronger, healthier athlete did he was last March.

In the Blue Ribbon Yearbook Murphy was quoted as saying Riley will be one of the best if not the best center in the conference.

I hope Murphy is right.

I took a lot of lot of grief on this board last season for standing squarely behind Riley.

Riley made me proud during the MAC tourney and let's hope he show Zeke Marshall type abilities for his senior year.

P.S. I keep hearing positive vibes about the talent on this team. This team is incredibly deep and versatile with so many interchangeable parts that we have the depth to cope with injuries and foul trouble.

I wish NuPudge and I could go to a bowl game, but I'll settle this year for a post season bid in one of the post season tourneys (e.g., NCAAs, NIT, CBI, etc.).

Quite frankly it always takes an act of faith, and a few drinks , to be optimistic about EMU FB, not so with this year's men's basketball team.

I think you said the exact same thing last year, while singing Still's praises. We all know things can unravel quickly at EMU and typically do. Show me, don't tell me. How many times can a person be fooled? That said, I really, really hope you are right!

I also can't get the image of Akron, by far the MAC's best team getting absolutely destroyed in the NCAA tourney by VCU in the first round. The bar is extremely low, folks.

This is a good post, Bob.

You probably unwittingly found a commonality between EMU and Akron during their past seasons.

Akron without the PG, Abreu, suffered badly in the NCAAs at the hands of a good VCU team and folded like a deck of cards. How much was the loss of a key player and how much was because of the shock of a felony arrest can't be quantified.

I was told by someone close to our team that the Still saga had a very negative effect on the team. Having a teammate go to prison for a long time is a big, big downer. I believe the word I was told was 'shocked' - everyone in the program was shocked. Whether they should have been is another question.

To win big, everything needs to go right.

Hopefully, we have no big distractions this season.

I don't want to be disappointed but everything is pointing towards a pretty good season...I am especially encouraged by Murphy's willingness to run this year. That tells me that he has faith in his players, especially his guards. The time is ripe to take the MAC. Ohio's window may have closed and Akron will not be as good. We have the ath-a-letes to do some damage and make the NCAA tournament.

(10-24-2013 12:56 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  I don't want to be disappointed but everything is pointing towards a pretty good season...I am especially encouraged by Murphy's willingness to run this year. That tells me that he has faith in his players, especially his guards. The time is ripe to take the MAC. Ohio's window may have closed and Akron will not be as good. We have the ath-a-letes to do some damage and make the NCAA tournament.

I agree with you, sir.

I believe Murphy has the guards and shooters to do what he, you and I want him to be able to do.

I'm willing to predict that UT and EMU will give the East a run for its money this year.

I too see the tide turning in MAC men's hoops.

I should quite while I'm ahead (or at least I think I am, Lol), but I wonder if we could see this lineup at times:

Talley, Ward (SG), GB, Riley and Ajayi

Other than Talley, that is one tall lineup.

Of course, if Murphy goes real tall, put Lee in for Talley and this becomes the tallest lineup in the MAC.

I just got my Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

Murphy indicates that Ajayi is a 5 who can also is athletic enough to play the 4.

If I read this right, those worrying about who will succeed Riley in 2014/2015 should know that he is on campus and will be ready after Da'Shonte's last game at EMU.

That means 1, 2, and 5 and whatever position Ward will play, presumably 3, will be fine in 2014/2015.

Now I can feel comfortable for the rest of today...

I always thought it was a given that Ajayi would play center next year. It's the other "big man" spot that concerns me. We lose Bryant, Harrison, Strickland, and Hughely, who all are capable of playing the 4. In '14, as it stands right now, my guess would be moving Ward to the 4 and probably slide Jodan Price into the 3. However, we still desperately need at least one more big for next year. I'd hope for a true frosh and a JUCO, but who knows what will happen between now and then.

(10-25-2013 12:47 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  I always thought it was a given that Ajayi would play center next year. It's the other "big man" spot that concerns me. We lose Bryant, Harrison, Strickland, and Hughely, who all are capable of playing the 4. In '14, as it stands right now, my guess would be moving Ward to the 4 and probably slide Jodan Price into the 3. However, we still desperately need at least one more big for next year. I'd hope for a true frosh and a JUCO, but who knows what will happen between now and then.

As my thought processes evolve I too now think the 4 spot is the critical piece for 2014/15.

That said, a project 4 isn't going to solve anything in his first two years, if at all.

It's JUCO time at the 4.