My guess:

We don't have that one big scorer, go to guy, who can carry the team on his back at crunch time (e.g., the last 3 minutes today).

How about Grant Long (1988)? Marcus Kennedy(1991)? Earl Boykins(1996, '98)?

We have a lot of good players but not the type of player who is 1st team all-MAC, and maybe MAC POY.

I thought our balance was a good thing. Now it might be a mixed blessing.

I haven't looked at the stats, but I doubt we have the same high scorer consecutive games.

Announcers from ESPN3, etc. will look and say "Karrington Ward is leading EMU in scoring with N ppg" and then say he is 0 - 3 and scoreless in the first half...

Valid points? Esp. interested in the comments of those who remember Grant Long, Marcus Kennedy, etc. (I remember seeing some Kennedy games but only in the MAC tourney and NCAAs).

We use a lot of players. While it might be called depth, it's a result of not having starters who have solidified their starting spots. When you know who your five best are, it's because they're good. We seem to have a bunch of guys that are better than average, but not exceptional.

Except for perhaps the Grant Long team, the other NCAA teams had solid starting fives. They were good players in their own right, not a supporting cast.

None of outside shooters is as good as Tolbert or Dial, our points aren't as good as Boykins. All the guys you mentioned were consistently good each night, we have no consistency.

Two things stood out to me. 1. Talley is no Neely or obviously Boykins. Great teams have smart, talented, great leaders at the point. When things go sideways, great PGs can right the ship. Talley is not that guy
yet.

2. We have no one to get 'easy' baskets. Riley should be that guy. His 5 foot jump hook was unstoppable but then he goes away, content with being invisible on offense. Grant Long, Marcus Kennedy, and Theron Wilson could step up and get those tough inside points.

(01-26-2014 04:53 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Two things stood out to me. 1. Talley is no Neely or obviously Boykins. Great teams have smart, talented, great leaders at the point. When things go sideways, great PGs can right the ship. Talley is not that guy
yet.

2. We have no one to get 'easy' baskets. Riley should be that guy. His 5 foot jump hook was unstoppable but then he goes away, content with being invisible on offense. Grant Long, Marcus Kennedy, and Theron Wilson could step up and get those tough inside points.

I agree with you, but in all fairness to Talley not many MAC guards would want to be compared with Boykins.

I think Michael Reghi (MAC TV) calls Boykins the best guard he's seen in the MAC.

I didn't see many Kennedy games (because we had no games on TV back then at least where I live and we didn't have ESPN2, ESPN-U, BTN, etc. etc. and the Internet was unheard of) but that guy was absolutely unstoppable near the basket. Unbelievable.

(01-26-2014 06:38 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I didn't see many Kennedy games (because we had no games on TV back then at least where I live and we didn't have ESPN2, ESPN-U, BTN, etc. etc. and the Internet was unheard of) but that guy was absolutely unstoppable near the basket. Unbelievable.

Kennedy was a monster, no doubt. Thank goodness he transferred from Ferris State!

(01-27-2014 06:54 PM)HuronRob Wrote:  

(01-26-2014 06:38 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I didn't see many Kennedy games (because we had no games on TV back then at least where I live and we didn't have ESPN2, ESPN-U, BTN, etc. etc. and the Internet was unheard of) but that guy was absolutely unstoppable near the basket. Unbelievable.

Kennedy was a monster, no doubt. Thank goodness he transferred from Ferris State!

Yep, I assume (pretty sure) that Gary Waters brought him to EMU and made Ben Braun a fortune (I believe Gary also got Boykins to come to EMU).

No Gary Waters, no recent EMU legacy (other than Grant Long's 1988 team).

Folks really need to understand who does what for a particular team. In the case of the 90s, Gary Waters was the 'recruiter and relator (one who deals with the players).'

Ben Braun might have been the coach of the year, but without Waters it wouldn't happened.