OK, I know all of you are going to be critical of this THREAD, but let me explain why I do not like the direction of our basketball team as follows:
1) We are so use to losing (Barnes, Boone, and Ramsey) that any .500 season in the MAC conference is considered a great accomplishment. I am not sure we were spoiled by Braun's teams but I was a student and fan of our consistent winning seasons during his era. I feel everyone wants to pat Murphy on the back for a .500 season - not me!!!!
2) We fill our roster with too many transfers who have only 1-2 years of eligibility remaining, there is not much time for them to grow. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind 1-2 transfers per season to fill a hole, but Murphy has gone too far. Look at WMUs post NCAA roster from last season. All starters are back less one and three starters are back the following season because WMU recruits and develops highschool players. That is the way to build tradition not players who stay only 1-2 seasons..
3) Murphy's offensive system is boring and erradic. I believe this is one reason why he can not recruit the best MAC highschool players. It seems that players get lost working the ball for the clock to wind down only to jack up a bad shot before the clock expires. I do not see an exciting offensive strategy that would make me or any highschool player want to play in Murphy's system. I mean we have never developed any post players. If you were a highschool post player would you come to EMU only to touch the ball on offense 5-6 times per game? Nope!
4) We only play zone defense and rarely do we mix up our strategy. Listen, the zone might work when you have the best high school players in the country (ie Syracuse) but tell me one team that plays strictly zone and has made it to the NCAA finals the last 20 years.....answer only Syracuse because when you consistently have better players than most, any system would win. Murphy seems too stubborn to mix it up to keep the opponent off balance. I also don't want to hear how great our defense is because that would be misleading due to the fact we limit the opponents scoring by holding the ball. Bottom line zone defenses lose more games than they win!!!!
5) Based on what I have seen of Murphy's coaching and recruiting, we will never get to the MAC championship game.

Many of you will post I am a Murphy hater but I am not. Unlike football (Rynearson Stadium), EMU basketball has a great foundation (Convocation Center) and located adjacent to great recruiting area which shoulf position EMU basketball to consistently win 20 games. I believe last season was a fluke and we win 10-14 games this year.......however, I wish the team much success.

Finally I do believe Heather Lyke agrees with me and she won't tolerate a 10-14 win season this late in Murphy's tenure and his recruiting strategy. Time will tell.....I am a former highschool and small college basketball player ( never played at EMU because I certainly was not talented enough) that use to be excited about EMU basketball but after losing so many games and anticipating Murphy's boring offensive and defensive system, I just can't get excited about EMU basketball. I would love to read about the Grant Longs, Thomas Twins, Tolbert, Wilson, Head, Timi Berkovich, Dial and on and on .....but these players in a good system made me excited about EMU basketball. I hope someday to regain this excitement!!!!!

Wow, where to start with this...

1) This point made absolutely no sense. First off, Murphy went 22-15 (10-8), and not one poster on here has said "that's good enough". We were happy that he took us to our first +500 season in well over a decade, but not satisfied. Your point is baseless.

2) You can cherry pick WMU's roster to advocate against transfers, while I can cherry pick Iowa State's roster last year with 7 (7!!) transfers on it to advocate for it. Again, I don't care where the talent comes from, or how many years it has left. I'd rather have two years of Mike Talley than 4 years of other PGs. This isn't football...guys can have an immediate impact right away coming from any level. It just depends on the talent. So far, Murphy has brought in some pretty talented transfers.

3) Only point I will agree with. I hate his offense. Hoping for a change this year.

4) I love when people blame the zone. We were one of the most efficient defensive teams in the country last year. The zone was furthest from the reason why we weren't more successful. You "not wanting to hear" that we were a really good defensive team is pure ignorance. I'm sure any coach in the MAC would tell you otherwise.

EDIT: From our recap in the MAC semi's against Toledo... "We made big plays against, let's face it, the best defense in our league," said Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk. "That zone is good."

5) I guess that's your opinion. I think it remains to be seen.

I will pull a Bob Wickersham and GUARANTEE that we win more than 14 games, assuming none of our key guys get injured. 10-14 wins? Seriously? We won that many games in 2012 with one of the worst rosters in the conference. I'm sorry you have such a pessimistic view, but that record would be a MASSIVE disappointment. No way.

RE: Transfers. Last year's 2013/14 Toledo team was built with transfers. Todd K took over a bad program at UT and built is pretty much like Murphy is building his program here.

A team loaded with transfers is usually a house of cards and the sign of a coach who either 1. Can't recruit or 2. Wants to get the hell out of Dodge or 3. Both.

(10-22-2014 03:58 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  A team loaded with transfers is usually a house of cards and the sign of a coach who either 1. Can't recruit or 2. Wants to get the hell out of Dodge or 3. Both.

BobW, that is so 1990s thinking.

Now, transfers and graduate transfers is so 2010s thinking.

Graduate transfers are like David Dombrowski making a trade in July for an Infante, Sanchez, Iglesias, etc.

Nice way to fill holes. (remember the 'revolving door' at 2nd base not long ago?).

Lucky one, you are pretty much spot on here. I can't really argue with any of your points. For most fans, the biggest sin is the boring style of play which is keeping fans away in droves. HOPEFULLY we play a more uptempo style and multiple defenses this season!

your logic is horrible. let's go down the line:

1) a lot of people were critical of Murphy last year, so don't act like you're some kind of pariah for 'not patting Murphy on the back for having a .500 season.'

2) the 'transfers vs hs recruits' conversation is the most boring old bit on this board. i don't know why it's so important to you where the player was before playing at EMU. we have a really bad sports legacy at our school. getting recruits isn't easy. the university itself has a bad reputation, and the athletic teams absolutely have a bad reputation. Meaning, you need to get recruits from wherever you can.

Kent State had a great (by MAC standards) team led by Al Fisher, a transfer. Quaintance was another transfer on that team who played a huge role. i would love to look back on an EMU MAC Championship team, and i sure as hell wouldn't care if the leaders on that team were HS or JUCO transfers or grad transfers.

3) his offense sucks. we all know that. it's a problem.

4) your logic is horrible here. of course Syracuse is the only team to win a championship playing the zone. how many other teams play the 2-3 exclusively? not a lot. the question that needs to be asked is, "is the 2-3 zone better than the alternative?" i think it is. unfortunately, we don't have access to parallel universes, so we can't run a double-blind, randomized trial to determine if the 2-3 is really better than playing man, but our defensive stats have been at the top of the MAC every year since Murphy arrived. and these are pace-adjusted stats, so your point about us holding the ball is moot.

5) you might be right about this. not having an offensive system makes it difficult to win championships. this is something that many of us have discussed on this board.

(10-22-2014 04:07 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 03:58 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  A team loaded with transfers is usually a house of cards and the sign of a coach who either 1. Can't recruit or 2. Wants to get the hell out of Dodge or 3. Both.

BobW, that is so 1990s thinking.

Now, transfers and graduate transfers is so 2010s thinking.

Graduate transfers are like David Dombrowski making a trade in July for an Infante, Sanchez, Iglesias, etc.

Nice way to fill holes. (remember the 'revolving door' at 2nd base not long ago?).

Steve, I agree that transfers are useful to fill holes but they shouldn't comprise the majority of your roster.

even the title of the thread is incorrect. our win percentage over the last three seasons:

2012: .438
2013: .471
2014: .595

the team is going in an upward direction. you might think that it won't continue, but that's conjecture. it is irrefutable that the team has thus far gone in a positive direction.

regarding our defense, last year we were:
- first in the MAC in turnover margin (pace does not affect this statistic)
- first in the MAC in scoring defense (pace does affect this statistic)
- first in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense (pace does not affect this statistic)

we had the best field goal percentage defense in the country last year, with talent level that might put us in the top 100 most talented teams in the country. that's impressive.

i do wish he would switch to man at the end of games at times, but that is a small complaint, and it's ridiculous to complain about the defensive results as a whole.

and lastly, i would love for someone to tell me the appropriate amount of transfers to have on the roster, and tell me how you arrived at your number.

Is this real life?
Let's be honest. People aren't really complaining about the defense. They're complaint because they want to see more offense. You can't really complain about a defense that led the nation in fg% defense and was top 20 in several other categories. If they scored 90 points per game and played the zone no one would say a word.... You'd probably hear nothing but praise for the defense.

We live in an offense oriented era. The AAU circuit builds these kids up to be offensive machines and then they end up looking like James Harden guarding the free throw line while everyone else is playing man to man. Defense wins championships.

Trust me, the offense will be better this year!

(10-22-2014 04:13 PM)EMUAARON Wrote:  your logic is horrible. let's go down the line:

1) a lot of people were critical of Murphy last year, so don't act like you're some kind of pariah for 'not patting Murphy on the back for having a .500 season.'

2) the 'transfers vs hs recruits' conversation is the most boring old bit on this board. i don't know why it's so important to you where the player was before playing at EMU. we have a really bad sports legacy at our school. getting recruits isn't easy. the university itself has a bad reputation, and the athletic teams absolutely have a bad reputation. Meaning, you need to get recruits from wherever you can.

Kent State had a great (by MAC standards) team led by Al Fisher, a transfer. Quaintance was another transfer on that team who played a huge role. i would love to look back on an EMU MAC Championship team, and i sure as hell wouldn't care if the leaders on that team were HS or JUCO transfers or grad transfers.

3) his offense sucks. we all know that. it's a problem.

4) your logic is horrible here. of course Syracuse is the only team to win a championship playing the zone. how many other teams play the 2-3 exclusively? not a lot. the question that needs to be asked is, "is the 2-3 zone better than the alternative?" i think it is. unfortunately, we don't have access to parallel universes, so we can't run a double-blind, randomized trial to determine if the 2-3 is really better than playing man, but our defensive stats have been at the top of the MAC every year since Murphy arrived. and these are pace-adjusted stats, so your point about us holding the ball is moot.

5) you might be right about this. not having an offensive system makes it difficult to win championships. this is something that many of us have discussed on this board.

Well at least we have Aaron. I agree 100% with everything in this post. Forgot all about the Al Fisher KSU team. Even before then, they made the Tourney on the back of Jay Youngblood, who was a JUCO transfer as well.

(10-22-2014 04:32 PM)KPJ Wrote:  Is this real life?
Let's be honest. People aren't really complaining about the defense. They're complaint because they want to see more offense. You can't really complain about a defense that led the nation in fg% defense and was top 20 in several other categories. If they scored 90 points per game and played the zone no one would say a word.... You'd probably hear nothing but praise for the defense.

We live in an offense oriented era. The AAU circuit builds these kids up to be offensive machines and then they end up looking like James Harden guarding the free throw line while everyone else is playing man to man. Defense wins championships.

Trust me, the offense will be better this year!

Somehow, the original poster and Bob found a way to complain about what other MAC coaches call the "best defense in the league". It's hilarious.

But I hope you're right, that the offense will improve this year. Last season was pretty frustrating, as our lack of offense cost us so many times at the end of games. Off hand, I can remember the Ohio, 2nd Akron, Miami, and first NIU games where we had solid leads and blew them because our offense was aimless. That has to improve this year. If it does, we will be a legit contender in the MAC.

Playing zone and nothing else, no matter the situation? Just not smart basketball. Would have loved to see the zone against Creighton. Think it may have gotten lit up a little? More than anything, it shows what a poor shooting conference the MAC has become.

(10-22-2014 05:43 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Playing zone and nothing else, no matter the situation? Just not smart basketball. Would have loved to see the zone against Creighton. Think it may have gotten lit up a little? More than anything, it shows what a poor shooting conference the MAC has become.

Funny you say Creighton, who got the brakes beat off of them by Baylor in the NCAA tournament...who plays zone 99.9% of the time (they run 2-3 and 1-3-1).

We could win 25 games this year and unless we win the Mac still only get a second rate offer to a forth rate tournament. Our schedule sucks!

(10-22-2014 06:39 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 05:43 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Playing zone and nothing else, no matter the situation? Just not smart basketball. Would have loved to see the zone against Creighton. Think it may have gotten lit up a little? More than anything, it shows what a poor shooting conference the MAC has become.

Funny you say Creighton, who got the brakes beat off of them by Baylor in the NCAA tournament...who plays zone 99.9% of the time (they run 2-3 and 1-3-1).

If you ACTUALLY watched the game, you would have noticed that McDermott was double teamed and harrassed ALL GAME. Nice piece of coaching by Scott Drew! Give him credit.

Hey, Ken Barna thinks EMU is beating NIU this Saturday 21-10. I assume you believe EMU would have beaten Doug McDermott and Creighton by 30, had they played.

Dear Bob,
I know nothing of college basketball, and do not know who you are referring about, so I really don't know how to respond.
As far as this coming week's game with Northern Illinois, I just believe Eastern has as good a shot at beating them as with any team left on the schedule. Northern is no world beater, has had some quarterback controversy, lost games, and has a weak defense. So yes, I think Eastern can win.

(10-22-2014 07:26 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 06:39 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 05:43 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Playing zone and nothing else, no matter the situation? Just not smart basketball. Would have loved to see the zone against Creighton. Think it may have gotten lit up a little? More than anything, it shows what a poor shooting conference the MAC has become.

Funny you say Creighton, who got the brakes beat off of them by Baylor in the NCAA tournament...who plays zone 99.9% of the time (they run 2-3 and 1-3-1).

If you ACTUALLY watched the game, you would have noticed that McDermott was double teamed and harrassed ALL GAME. Nice piece of coaching by Scott Drew! Give him credit.

Hey, Ken Barna thinks EMU is beating NIU this Saturday 21-10. I assume you believe EMU would have beaten Doug McDermott and Creighton by 30, had they played.

I did "ACTUALLY watch the game" and they played a 2-2-1 and a 1-3-1 zone the entire game. Apparently you weren't paying much attention. Not very surprising.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca...r/6808647/

The Baylor "zone"is nothing like Eastern's passive zone. They attack the ball while Eastern lays back and lets
you miss shots. Good shooting teams will always beat Eastern, Always! Obviously, McDermott shoots a high number of shots from NBA 3-point distance. A traditional zone cannot stop him, OBVIOUSLY. Hence, he's a first round pick.