Should provoke some discussion:

http://eagletotem.net/blog/2015/02/08/em...ment-20643

Indeed. (BTW, I'm responding to Rob or Ray's comment about Bond and Alvano):

I think Bond has all-MAC PG skills. His skill set, e.g., speed, ability to push, jump, finish, desire to have the ball, etc. are amazing for someone who has only played 10 games.

He is playing on a team which is badly out of sync offensively and he, Lee, Ward, Talley, etc. are trying to do too much solo (sometimes when a player like Lee tries to do too much AND actually does it, it is fun to watch, though. I'd prefer Lee 15, Ward 15, Talley 10, Bond 10, Okoloji 8, etc.).

Good read. Jeremy has always been solid.

He hit the nail on the head with missing Riley. Our zone was tighter earlier in the year, but the bigs just aren't as good of interior defenders as Riles was. As I've said multiple times, it's extremely difficult to replace a 7 foot rim protector at our level. Samuels is a big boy and does use his size well from time to time, but he's not Riley.

Same with Karrington not elevating his game. I remember reading in Blue Ribbon that Murphy expected Ward to take more of a responsibility as a scorer, and to raise the bar offensively. He's basically done the opposite. Not all of this falls on the player though. Murphy needs to find better ways to get Ward scoring. Jumpers aren't falling, so get him some passes inside. He still has top end athleticism...why not take advantage of it? This is as much on Murphy as it is on Karrington, if not more.

One other comment:

I think I have this right (I watched chunks of a lot of games over the weekend):

I believe it was Iowa running the MURPHY, not Syracuse, zone.

Someone pls correct me, but the Murphy zone is very different than the Boeheim zone and the 'lazy' zone teams slide into to rest players or players in foul trouble.

I believe it was Iowa which pulled their forwards out the way we do from the logo in the key.

Our wings cheat up a lot more than Syracuse's do. We try to force more turnovers, but the defensive rotations are practically the same. Dan Dakich said it best when he called it a match-up 2-3 zone. You can tell that Murphy thinks our best offense is the fast break, hence the gambling on passing lanes and attempts to push the ball in transition. Sadly, it doesn't work very well against teams who take care of the ball.

One thing about Ward: He has had injury problems. Don't know how long or how extensive but they've been there.

I was almost 'shocked' when Chad said Saturday that KWard was in a walking boot last week. Crazy to hear someone talking about trying to play at 60%.

[BTW, I was happy the Ohio video and WEMU synced up perfectly. :) ]

(02-09-2015 10:33 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Good read. Jeremy has always been solid.

He hit the nail on the head with missing Riley. Our zone was tighter earlier in the year, but the bigs just aren't as good of interior defenders as Riles was. As I've said multiple times, it's extremely difficult to replace a 7 foot rim protector at our level. Samuels is a big boy and does use his size well from time to time, but he's not Riley.

Same with Karrington not elevating his game. I remember reading in Blue Ribbon that Murphy expected Ward to take more of a responsibility as a scorer, and to raise the bar offensively. He's basically done the opposite. Not all of this falls on the player though. Murphy needs to find better ways to get Ward scoring. Jumpers aren't falling, so get him some passes inside. He still has top end athleticism...why not take advantage of it? This is as much on Murphy as it is on Karrington, if not more.

Eagle Sam hit this nail on the head. I know all of you are tired of me saying this but Murphy does not develop low post scoring opportunities. Our offense should have screens for our athletes cutting to the basket for paint scoring opportunities. K. Ward could also post up his man down in the paint for an extra 4-6 points per game. However, Murphy's system does no low post scoring..... This is a major reason why we can't get the center to come to EMU. If you were in highschool and watched how many touches our post players get, what would you think? Would our offense be attractive? Nope!

(02-09-2015 12:14 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 10:33 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Good read. Jeremy has always been solid.

He hit the nail on the head with missing Riley. Our zone was tighter earlier in the year, but the bigs just aren't as good of interior defenders as Riles was. As I've said multiple times, it's extremely difficult to replace a 7 foot rim protector at our level. Samuels is a big boy and does use his size well from time to time, but he's not Riley.

Same with Karrington not elevating his game. I remember reading in Blue Ribbon that Murphy expected Ward to take more of a responsibility as a scorer, and to raise the bar offensively. He's basically done the opposite. Not all of this falls on the player though. Murphy needs to find better ways to get Ward scoring. Jumpers aren't falling, so get him some passes inside. He still has top end athleticism...why not take advantage of it? This is as much on Murphy as it is on Karrington, if not more.

Eagle Sam hit this nail on the head. I know all of you are tired of me saying this but Murphy does not develop low post scoring opportunities. Our offense should have screens for our athletes cutting to the basket for paint scoring opportunities. K. Ward could also post up his man down in the paint for an extra 4-6 points per game. However, Murphy's system does no low post scoring..... This is a major reason why we can't get the center to come to EMU. If you were in highschool and watched how many touches our post players get, what would you think? Would our offense be attractive? Nope!

Interesting. I saw a lot of centers last year who had much, much problems with the ball. Think Riley. Think Ajayi.

It isn't the system. Our centers just are not good with the ball. Boothe made more impressive posts moves in the first few minutes of the UT game then our centers have made virtually all year.

To me, the lack of post presence means as Sam (?) said the opponents don't need to defend the post. They defend the arc.

Good point about KWard posting up. Can't remember him doing it. It would be nice to see what he can do.

Every since KWards ESPN dunk he has gone down hill samething happened ladt year after Brandon's. They both aren't playing like they did before it.

Dunking conspiracy!!!!

(02-09-2015 12:25 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 12:14 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 10:33 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Good read. Jeremy has always been solid.

He hit the nail on the head with missing Riley. Our zone was tighter earlier in the year, but the bigs just aren't as good of interior defenders as Riles was. As I've said multiple times, it's extremely difficult to replace a 7 foot rim protector at our level. Samuels is a big boy and does use his size well from time to time, but he's not Riley.

Same with Karrington not elevating his game. I remember reading in Blue Ribbon that Murphy expected Ward to take more of a responsibility as a scorer, and to raise the bar offensively. He's basically done the opposite. Not all of this falls on the player though. Murphy needs to find better ways to get Ward scoring. Jumpers aren't falling, so get him some passes inside. He still has top end athleticism...why not take advantage of it? This is as much on Murphy as it is on Karrington, if not more.

Eagle Sam hit this nail on the head. I know all of you are tired of me saying this but Murphy does not develop low post scoring opportunities. Our offense should have screens for our athletes cutting to the basket for paint scoring opportunities. K. Ward could also post up his man down in the paint for an extra 4-6 points per game. However, Murphy's system does no low post scoring..... This is a major reason why we can't get the center to come to EMU. If you were in highschool and watched how many touches our post players get, what would you think? Would our offense be attractive? Nope!

Interesting. I saw a lot of centers last year who had much, much problems with the ball. Think Riley. Think Ajayi.

It isn't the system. Our centers just are not good with the ball. Boothe made more impressive posts moves in the first few minutes of the UT game then our centers have made virtually all year.

To me, the lack of post presence means as Sam (?) said the opponents don't need to defend the post. They defend the arc.

Good point about KWard posting up. Can't remember him doing it. It would be nice to see what he can do.

I've made the same observation several times. We need a low post game to keep the defenses honest.

(02-09-2015 12:48 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Dunking conspiracy!!!!

ESPN curse?

Luckyone, I am with you on the lack of post game, keep on saying it. I think Steve 's point about "poor hands" offensively is more attributable to Riley and to a lesser extent even Ajayi. But I think Samuels actually has a good feel for the ball and a wide body. He could easily be taking low post feeds. Or at least I'd like to see EMU try this more.

Regardless, I don't think most in the MAC have pro bound centers, but work with what thru have. If EMU worked on their offensive game more, our centers will develop to some extent. Whatever that happens to be would be valuable compared to what they are playing at now.
Riley did not improve offensively over the three years he played here. My feeling is coaching is overlooking this.

(02-09-2015 12:14 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  

(02-09-2015 10:33 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Good read. Jeremy has always been solid.

He hit the nail on the head with missing Riley. Our zone was tighter earlier in the year, but the bigs just aren't as good of interior defenders as Riles was. As I've said multiple times, it's extremely difficult to replace a 7 foot rim protector at our level. Samuels is a big boy and does use his size well from time to time, but he's not Riley.

Same with Karrington not elevating his game. I remember reading in Blue Ribbon that Murphy expected Ward to take more of a responsibility as a scorer, and to raise the bar offensively. He's basically done the opposite. Not all of this falls on the player though. Murphy needs to find better ways to get Ward scoring. Jumpers aren't falling, so get him some passes inside. He still has top end athleticism...why not take advantage of it? This is as much on Murphy as it is on Karrington, if not more.

Eagle Sam hit this nail on the head. I know all of you are tired of me saying this but Murphy does not develop low post scoring opportunities. Our offense should have screens for our athletes cutting to the basket for paint scoring opportunities.

This I agree wholeheartedly on. But Ward isn't a back to the basket guy. Not very strong, and can't do much off the dribble. He'd basically be taking turnaround jumpers, and the whole idea is to get him to take less jumpers.

I love the idea of getting him on cuts to the basket though. Or even on the block where a penetrating guard can hit him for an easy dunk, like Nazione had several times against WMU. However, Karrington just floats around the perimeter. It's frustrating, because we saw last year how good of a shooter he can be, with a FG% in the 40s and 3pt% in the high 30s. This year he just can't find his shot at all. That's where Murph needs to find better ways for him to score in the half court.