(11-08-2013 05:42 PM)EMUAARON Wrote:  The convo felt like an old shoe today. that was fun. even though the opponent only had one guy listed over 6'3", there were still some things to learn from this game.

- on offense the team was looking to run more, particularly the first unit. there were also some nice entry passes to the bigs and some nice drive and dishes.

- the 2-3 defense was the same as last year. Albion tried attacking it a few different ways with very little success. if we went with the halfcourt defense the entire game, Albion wouldn't have scored more than 25 points. but, it seemed like Murphy wanted to try out this 2-1-2 full court press. (did we do that last year? i don't remember) it was not very effective when run by the first team, and it absolutely bombed when it was run by the second team. they couldn't get it right for the life of them. Murphy will either spend a ton of practice time working on it or shelve it pretty quickly.

- This is going to be the Mike Talley show. he keeps his head up, directs players and is clearly the offensive leader. i like this a lot more than last year's GBIII offense. He looked really good out there on offense and defense. i think we'll see him get 35 minutes a game. I'm glad that Steve was right about our upgrade at PG.

- at least for this game, Ray Lee got rid of the 'discombobulated' look he had last year (traveling, dribbling off his foot because he was forcing the offense, etc). he will be able to get around a lot of perimeter defenders. the question is - will he make good decisions after getting past that first defender? he was able to bail out of questionable drives because of Albion's small size. against a bigger/better team, he will turn the ball over on those same plays.

- i really liked Ray and Talley at the top of the 2-3. they're both very active. Ray is working hard, but he needs to learn from Talley's economy of motion. every move Talley makes has a purpose, while Ray is scrambling more than he needs to. he got caught turning the wrong way a few times, and against better teams that will lead to a breakdown in the defense.

- Ward can shoot. he also played nice defense and had a few good boards. the rest of his points were because of the opponent, so i'm anxious to see how he looks against an equally-talented team.

- Riley was more vocal on defense, but he was relying on his size instead of getting good position. we'll see how he looks against a MAC frontline.

- i don't think we'll see Harrison get a lot of PT at the 4 once the season gets going. he kept getting outrebounded by smaller guys, and he wasn't as quick as Bryant in filling the paint from that baseline defensive spot.

- the Ross/Combs backcourt looked rough on both ends of the floor. no ability to create shots and only average defense. Ross is like Jarrod Axon - he doesn't do anything wrong, but he's not going to be the reason you win. i don't have a lot of faith in Combs getting minutes on this team.

- same Glenn Bryant that we're used to - great at cutting to the hoop and providing help defense. not so good on fadeaway 8ft jumpers.

- Ajayi has the potential to be a good player. he's more athletic than i expected, and he's big. If he develops, he'll be a good one, but that's a big "if".

Once again, Aaron you watch a game and can really dissect it.

GB III is going to be the spark plug for the 2nd team, IF Murphy decides to stay with an "A" and "B" team. I hope he doesn't try to carry that team and revert to his 3 point shooting.

Ajayi is Riley's heir apparent for 2014/15. I assume he has two years at EMU. I'll double check.

It does appear that our walk-ons are redshirting. Super was correct that playing an x-hibiton game doesn't exhaust a redshirt. And with 12 players who can play, why play walk-ons who can be redshirted?

As BobW mentions, this team is very, very deep which is why I don't lose any sleep over recruiting. And yes, 2014/15 looks good, even with graduation losses. (I have no problem with Talley, Lee, Ward, Ajayi, Price, etc.).

Awesome! Great to have someone who saw the game. You the man Aaron!

I don't think we pressed much at all last year. Murphy might try it now because it looks like we have lots of depth, but hopefully he scraps it if it doesn't work, like you said.

It's so nice to have a reliable PG again.

(11-08-2013 06:27 PM)emu steve Wrote:  Ajayi is Riley's heir apparent for 2014/15. I assume he has two years at EMU. I'll double check.

Ajayi is a soph, so he'll be the starting center in '15 and '16. if he improves, we'll be set at that position.

(11-08-2013 06:30 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Awesome! Great to have someone who saw the game. You the man Aaron!

I don't think we pressed much at all last year. Murphy might try it now because it looks like we have lots of depth, but hopefully he scraps it if it doesn't work, like you said.

It's so nice to have a reliable PG again.

thank you sir!

I went through yesterday's minutes.

Twelve players played.

Riley 25, Ajayi 10 and Hughley 5. (Hughley can apparently play some 5, he isn't tall but has muscle).

And, of course, Riley and Ajayi are our '5's this year.

Strickland appears to be the '11th' man, kind of a utility player, who might sub in and out of the 2nd unit.

Hughley is the '12th man'.