Still wondering about ASPECTS of the team.

I see JT4 and Steele as centers. The rest, Madray, LWH, Jones, etc are '4's.

I see a lot of very offensively talented players who want to go solo using their offensive skills. This team would drive Bobby Knight crazy.

our defense is brutal down low. Hogan is good at scoring in traffic, but still, he shouldn't have this many baskets. i still think Thompson should play some minutes in the middle.

love seeing Mangum go off like this. great offensive half. hopefully we get a vintage Raven Lee second half.

(11-30-2016 08:02 PM)EMUAARON Wrote:  our defense is brutal down low. Hogan is good at scoring in traffic, but still, he shouldn't have this many baskets. i still think Thompson should play some minutes in the middle.

love seeing Mangum go off like this. great offensive half. hopefully we get a vintage Raven Lee second half.

Agree!!

Thompson is a natural center.

Opening it up a bit with a 16 point lead. Teams that don't take care of the ball will have a nightmare of a time against our defense. Especially on the perimeter. We are so long and athletic. Hopefully the iupui game was just an ugly blip on the radar and we are really this good.

Nice butt kicking in Detroit.

Shocking really. We are playing well, but Detroit is a mess. Nice to have a dominant, in-state road win though.

"we're trying to win the MAC so there aren't any off days."

i love hearing Mangum say that in the postgame. good stuff.

BTW, I think Steele continues to improve his first season of D-I ball.

I think he has a bright future.

(12-01-2016 12:22 AM)emu steve Wrote:  BTW, I think Steele continues to improve his first season of D-I ball.

I think he has a bright future.

That is good because Thompson is gone.

(11-30-2016 09:02 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Shocking really. We are playing well, but Detroit is a mess. Nice to have a dominant, in-state road win though.

Yes, people need to watch what they wish for with coaching changes. I'd bet McCallum would have them better than this.

Good win. EMU is now 3-3 vs d1. Hoping they can go 2 of the last 3 OOC. This is their year to make some noise if they can.

(12-01-2016 12:22 AM)emu steve Wrote:  BTW, I think Steele continues to improve his first season of D-I ball.

I think he has a bright future.

I liked Steele after watching him this past summer, honestly not impressed so far with LWH and Madray. Not impressed with shooting 61% from FT line with JT4 at 50%, he is normally better than that.

(12-01-2016 02:14 AM)emu79 Wrote:  

(12-01-2016 12:22 AM)emu steve Wrote:  BTW, I think Steele continues to improve his first season of D-I ball.

I think he has a bright future.

I liked Steele after watching him this past summer, honestly not impressed so far with LWH and Madray. Not impressed with shooting 61% from FT line with JT4 at 50%, he is normally better than that.

I think they, esp LWH and Madray, are playing out of position inside.

I agree with Aaron, I believe, who feels that playing JT4 on the wing, might be saving him from foul trouble, but isn't helping the interior defense.

(12-01-2016 02:14 AM)emu79 Wrote:  

(12-01-2016 12:22 AM)emu steve Wrote:  BTW, I think Steele continues to improve his first season of D-I ball.

I think he has a bright future.

I liked Steele after watching him this past summer, honestly not impressed so far with LWH and Madray. Not impressed with shooting 61% from FT line with JT4 at 50%, he is normally better than that.

The one thing which folks have mentioned is a 26 point win AFTER trailing what double-digits early on.

The swing, largest deficit to largest lead, must have been pretty impressive last night.

Pretty candid and interesting post-game presser from Murphy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlFl4Y24...e=youtu.be

A lot of interesting things going on: non-conference scheduling, his view of EMU's growth during his tenure, the athletic department in general.

He says "we're banned from Crisler Center." He doesn't mean we're literally banned, but the fact that he's willing to be that public about Michigan's refusal to schedule us probably says something about their athletic department (and lends some veracity to what Steve said about them bullying the 2K Classic to not have us go to Ann Arbor). Not new, but he says he wishes he could play all Michigan D-1 schools every year, and wants to get long-term home-and-home deals with Oakland and Detroit going (as do all of us).

Also says Allen ended up choosing Detroit over EMU "because he wanted to play as a freshman" and he wouldn't have cracked the lineup here.

(12-01-2016 02:09 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  Pretty candid and interesting post-game presser from Murphy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlFl4Y24...e=youtu.be

A lot of interesting things going on: non-conference scheduling, his view of EMU's growth during his tenure, the athletic department in general.

He says "we're banned from Crisler Center." He doesn't mean we're literally banned, but the fact that he's willing to be that public about Michigan's refusal to schedule us probably says something about their athletic department (and lends some veracity to what Steve said about them bullying the 2K Classic to not have us go to Ann Arbor). Not new, but he says he wishes he could play all Michigan D-1 schools every year, and wants to get long-term home-and-home deals with Oakland and Detroit going (as do all of us).

Also says Allen ended up choosing Detroit over EMU "because he wanted to play as a freshman" and he wouldn't have cracked the lineup here.

Good points.

I'm 100% certain that UofM vetoed our game with them as part of the 2K Classic.

As far as Allen (and other future recruits), we need to remember that we have a veteran team this year and a veteran team next year with four sitouts.

If any prospect thinks that he is going to compete for a starting position as a frosh, he is probably misguided.

Next year, as we know, we can pencil in: JT4, Minnie, Bond, Steele, Jackson, etc. as players who will be good for 30 minutes per game.

Other than SG, our lineup is already pretty deep.

And as I've said many time, when it comes to scheduling: It takes two to tango. We shouldn't have problems with home and home w/ UDM and Oakland but getting 3:1, for example, might be something UofM or MSU won't buy. Period. "No way".

Every D-I coach is aware what Fort Wayne (playing at home) did to Indiana last week... That is a chance most coaches will not take.

(12-01-2016 02:09 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  Pretty candid and interesting post-game presser from Murphy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlFl4Y24...e=youtu.be

A lot of interesting things going on: non-conference scheduling, his view of EMU's growth during his tenure, the athletic department in general.

He says "we're banned from Crisler Center." He doesn't mean we're literally banned, but the fact that he's willing to be that public about Michigan's refusal to schedule us probably says something about their athletic department (and lends some veracity to what Steve said about them bullying the 2K Classic to not have us go to Ann Arbor). Not new, but he says he wishes he could play all Michigan D-1 schools every year, and wants to get long-term home-and-home deals with Oakland and Detroit going (as do all of us).

Also says Allen ended up choosing Detroit over EMU "because he wanted to play as a freshman" and he wouldn't have cracked the lineup here.

It sounds like Murphy should publicly invite Michigan to play a game home or away. Put them on the spot. Just say it in one of these press conferences.

Whew, I have been so busy at work, I have not been able to post and I know you guys miss my posts lol kidding.

I was at the UDM game at Callihan Hall. That place reminds me a bit of games at Bowen because you are so close to the action and it's an old gym.

To start let's comment on the first half. UDM came out fired up thinking that this is a rivalry game and playing with a chip on their shoulders. The first EMU offensive play was a lob to Raven Lee and he dunked it impressively! I mean the pass was below the rim and Raven grabbed it low and still had enough athleticism and ups to keep rising and finish an alley oop dunk! It appears that he lifted weights during the off season because he looks stronger, his game looks stronger, and he plays with confidence! Unfortunately EMU did not come out playing the rest of the half like this is a cross town rivalry; they played like they were going against a bad 1-6 team (and they were!!).

The second half we came out with more energy and focus to put this game away. EMU is very talented but I am not sold we are a top 4 MAC team just yet. Coach Murphy is tinkering with his starting lineup and I am not sure we found it just yet. We need to find some outside shooting so that teams can not double down on JT4 and Steele. I was surprised that Nobles shot and made a 3 again so I guess he has the green light. Can Madray shoot the outside jump shot? I have not seen it just yet. At any rate Ray Lee and JT4 dominated the second half. We did not play to our potential and we missed too many free throws but we came out and played hard. In the second half we did what a good team does against a bad team and that is beat them badly at every phase of the game. There were some areas we need improvement on but I'll reserve comment now.

Finally my assessment on UDM.....whew could be big time trouble for the program there because Bacardi Alexander did not appear to run a structured offense. It looked like street ball. Did UDM get too emotional and hire a P5 assistant with local ties but without coaching experience? Alexander was known for being a recruiter at UofM but I was not impressed with his X and Os strategy. This could bode well for EMU because I don't think Alexander can out coach Murphy in this cross town rivalry.

Go EMU

No mention of Mangum at all? He was our best player on the court Wednesday night.

(12-01-2016 04:23 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(12-01-2016 02:09 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  Pretty candid and interesting post-game presser from Murphy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlFl4Y24...e=youtu.be

A lot of interesting things going on: non-conference scheduling, his view of EMU's growth during his tenure, the athletic department in general.

He says "we're banned from Crisler Center." He doesn't mean we're literally banned, but the fact that he's willing to be that public about Michigan's refusal to schedule us probably says something about their athletic department (and lends some veracity to what Steve said about them bullying the 2K Classic to not have us go to Ann Arbor). Not new, but he says he wishes he could play all Michigan D-1 schools every year, and wants to get long-term home-and-home deals with Oakland and Detroit going (as do all of us).

Also says Allen ended up choosing Detroit over EMU "because he wanted to play as a freshman" and he wouldn't have cracked the lineup here.

It sounds like Murphy should publicly invite Michigan to play a game home or away. Put them on the spot. Just say it in one of these press conferences.

We have, didnt you hear the laughter coming from ann arbor?