EMU faded badly in the 2nd half to a very good Syracuse team.

Early in the 2nd half EMU trailed by 5 points...

17:59 EMU GOOD DUNK by BRYANT,GLENN(fastbreak)(in the paint) SU 37 - EMU 32 (SU by 5)

I'm been watching EMU and Toledo's game (last night) and feel like a NBA scout:

Parker (Duke), Wiggins (Kansas), Randle (Kentucky), Innis (Syracuse - frosh PG).

Those are some kind of frosh!!!

Iowa State kills NIU 99-63. D. Highsmith 19 Pts, 6 Reb, 1 Ast

Not bad for Highsmith. Now we need to get a few more players to go with him. Seems like we rebounded fairly well.

NIU
OREB 24
DREB 22
REB 46

ISU
OREB 10
DREB 26
REB 36

(12-31-2013 11:20 PM)RobertN Wrote:  Iowa State kills NIU 99-63. D. Highsmith 19 Pts, 6 Reb, 1 Ast

Not bad for Highsmith. Now we need to get a few more players to go with him. Seems like we rebounded fairly well.

NIU
OREB 24
DREB 22
REB 46

ISU
OREB 10
DREB 26
REB 36

The kid is a player. Montgomery is going to give him a green light and let him work things out on O. Will stay on him re D as he is a plus athlete who can impose his will. As he matures he'll smooth off any rough edges. MAC FOY IMO.

(12-30-2013 10:03 PM)T-Town Wrote:  Final

Kansas 93 Rockets 83

Rockets represented and gave a nationally ranked team a game on the road. Looks like the MAC is turning a corner in hoops

Toledo shouldn't lose 7 in MAC play. But between 2 and 6 is reasonable. OU, EMU, and WMU at home. OU, BG, AKRON, EMU, WMU on the road. Toledo would not be elite if they dropped 7 of 8. Right now the Rockets are the favorite in the West though.

ohio is the only close to well rounded mac team other than Toledo. both of those teams play as a team on both ends. have balance, experience and depth. I like Toledo as they have a few more shot makers and a pg edge. neither team is very bulky inside and lost their toughest games (osu and Kansas) on the boards/blocks.

Kent is similar. I like their team too, although they are weaker inside at times as they don't have consistent inside players like n'dour or boothe.

eastern and akron have as much talent as anyone but haven't had a lot of heart so far. we'll see if either team can come together and find their style and energy down the stretch. if either plays w abandon and teamwork they will be as good as anyone.

bg is playing pretty well and buffalo has had good games. Miami is responding to their coach and just got a key player back. niu is improved. the mac from 6-10 is better this yr.

(01-02-2014 02:40 AM)pono Wrote:  eastern and akron have as much talent as anyone but haven't had a lot of heart so far. we'll see if either team can come together and find their style and energy down the stretch. if either plays w abandon and teamwork they will be as good as anyone.

EMU's schedule has really hurt the team's to play up to its ability.

I would compare the schedule to a runner running a race full of up and down hills, which really hurts performance (an up hill and an down hill don't equal out). It is hard to run a PR (personal record) running that kind of course.

When someone tosses out the games vs. Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse (keeping UMass and Purdue) EMU looks like a pretty good team. No bad losses.

Sagarin has EMU's schedule at #12 overall in D-I. This is out of what 350+ D-I schools.

Guys, try to be 'logical' about OOC schedules and what we can infer from the results of those games.

Schedules which are 'outliers', i.e., too hard (e.g., too many difficult teams, too many road games, etc.) or too soft (e.g, too many weak opponents, too many home games, etc.) obscure how good or how bad a team might be.

The best way to 'predict' MAC success would be if teams played a composite 'Sagarin' schedule difficulty of say 90 - 175, essentially the 3rd highest quartile.

Most of the 'big boys' like to schedule soft in the OOC schedule because they can and also their conference schedules are very tough.

Why would Duke and Syracuse want to schedule a bunch of Sweet 16 caliber teams? What do they gain? Why take a 50 - 50 chance of losing those games...

Spreads for Today.

Marshall +10.5 @ Akron - 7 PM
IPFW +4.5 @ Bowling green - 7 PM
Siena Heights (OFF) @ Western Michigan - 7 PM

(01-02-2014 01:32 AM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Toledo shouldn't lose 7 in MAC play. But between 2 and 6 is reasonable. OU, EMU, and WMU at home. OU, BG, AKRON, EMU, WMU on the road. Toledo would not be elite if they dropped 7 of 8. Right now the Rockets are the favorite in the West though.

Toledo is the favorite in the whole conference not just the West. Their offensive metrics are ridiculously good so far. Their defensive metrics are pretty shaky however.

Come on Zips, stop falling apart and take a win.

Akron wins 59-58 over Marshall. Its a win and for the MAC that's all that matters.

(01-02-2014 08:17 PM)OUVan Wrote:  

(01-02-2014 01:32 AM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Toledo shouldn't lose 7 in MAC play. But between 2 and 6 is reasonable. OU, EMU, and WMU at home. OU, BG, AKRON, EMU, WMU on the road. Toledo would not be elite if they dropped 7 of 8. Right now the Rockets are the favorite in the West though.

Toledo is the favorite in the whole conference not just the West. Their offensive metrics are ridiculously good so far. Their defensive metrics are pretty shaky however.

Some of the "shaky" defensive numbers are due to the offensive style of play. Outshoot your opponent and outboard your opponent and don't turn the ball over. Toledo has shown the ability to play tough D for periods of time. They held BC scoreless for several minutes and KU without a basket for something like seven minutes. The weak schedule concerns me more than how we defended against that scheddule. We beat everybody so we played defense well enough.

Way to go, Zips!

BG lost to IUPFW by 5. WMU beat Sienna Heights by 36.

Also saw today the the Buffalo South Dakota State game for tonight has been postponed due to the weather.

(01-03-2014 06:24 AM)Eagle66 Wrote:  BG lost to IUPFW by 5. WMU beat Sienna Heights by 36.

Also saw today the the Buffalo South Dakota State game for tonight has been postponed due to the weather.

Imagine that.

Miami on the way to UMass

Akron is having some real confidence issues. Treadwell is forcing shot after shot because he knows as the team goes he goes. Clearly he is not going and is trying to break out. Q has lost all confidence in his shot but is still able to penetrate the lane off the dribble drive. Jake Kretzer is struggling horribly. The kid needs to learn how to shot fake BAD...

KD needs to stop worrying about timing his subs and play the hot hand. Last night we went from a 14-7 deficit to a 6 point halftime lead. Who was on the court the most? Not Tree -- he had three fouls. Not Nyles, Not Q. Not Jake or Reggie. Last night the energy and spark came from this group -- Carmelo, Deji, Harney, Big Dog Isaiah Johnson and Pat Forsthye. Coach needs to play those who get the job done. If those guys would have gotten the bulk of the minutes in the second half like they did in the first Akron would have covered the spread.

But I understand where KD's head was at. He knows that Akron needs Q, Nyles, Tree, Jake and Reggie for us to have a chance at another NCAA appearance.

(01-03-2014 07:40 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(01-03-2014 06:24 AM)Eagle66 Wrote:  BG lost to IUPFW by 5. WMU beat Sienna Heights by 36.

Also saw today the the Buffalo South Dakota State game for tonight has been postponed due to the weather.

Imagine that.

While it is cold in Buffalo there is nothing preventing South Dakota St. from getting here. I have heard they had issues in Chicago which is where their layover was and then when they tried to push the game back they had trouble getting their whole travel party onto one flight.

I know there were delayed flights from Chicago airports this morning. I don't know if that was due to the recent snow, or cold, or what.

NIU basketball just announced some rather disappointing news in the last hour. This is a huge blow in a somewhat surprising season for our team and for a true freshman.

Quote:...the Huskies will have to play the rest of the season without freshman guard Dontel Highsmith, who tore his ACL against Iowa State on Tuesday.

Highsmith was NIU's leading scorer, averaging 10.5 points per game. NIU plans on seeking a medical hardship waiver for Highsmith, who has played in 11 games.