I don't think the key is simply getting the ball to JT. He got pounded today. Him and Steele both got beat on the boards. The two of them should never get outrebounded. Only issue with Steele is that he played WAY too many minutes. He was gassed. Can't have that at the end of a close game. We also seem to have a serious issue catching the ball when it hits our hands.

Willie Mangum, while he gets hot and scores points, is a huge liability. Murphy has to get his chucking under control. Lee finds his way to the bench with half the misses. Lee made his own mistakes throughout. They have both struggled of late

Murphy...... awful. No offense. Awful management of the clock down the stretch.

Oh, and let's not talk about the refs. That's a game you gotta win and neither the team or Murphy executed.

Boy, Wofford-Humphrey and Madray have been stellar additions! Sorry EMU Steve, you really overestimated their usefulness. Business as usual in Murphyland.

(01-07-2017 09:11 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Boy, Wofford-Humphrey and Madray have been stellar additions! Sorry EMU Steve, you really overestimated their usefulness. Business as usual in Murphyland.

As much as I love EMUs Steve's basketball insider information, Bob is correct on Madray and Woeful - they may not be MAC level players from what I've seen.

(01-07-2017 09:15 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  

(01-07-2017 09:11 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Boy, Wofford-Humphrey and Madray have been stellar additions! Sorry EMU Steve, you really overestimated their usefulness. Business as usual in Murphyland.

As much as I love EMUs Steve's basketball insider information, Bob is correct on Madray and Woeful - they may not be MAC level players from what I've seen.

True, although Steele and Nobles have been better than expected.

When one talks about newcomers or kids, one isn't going to hit on all. Anyone expects a coach to hit 100% is a dreamer or naive.

Madray is playing out of position. Don't know what's with LWH.

No need to defend your position, Steve. Remember when Bob predicted that Creighton would never take us to a bowl game? Whoops. Don't throw stones in your glass house, Sham.

Sometimes you hit on jucos/transfers (Riley/Naz/Mangum), sometimes you miss. It's hard to predict.

(01-07-2017 10:56 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  No need to defend your position, Steve. Remember when Bob predicted that Creighton would never take us to a bowl game? Whoops. Don't throw stones in your glass house, Sham.

Sometimes you hit on jucos/transfers (Riley/Naz/Mangum), sometimes you miss. It's hard to predict.

I'm going to go geek on my friend, Bob.

There are 13 scholarships and 5 starters. By definition, 8 players, be they frosh, transfers, JUCOs, etc. are not starters.

Also parallel is that there just isn't enough minutes for 13 players so on good teams, good players do not get many minutes. Does that mean that they are not good players?

Best example on our team: Jones. I think he is a MAC player but caught on a team which has many front court players. Is coach going to sit JT4 to give Jones minutes?

Guys, I think we need to remember this is going to be a long MAC season.

CMU, who some crowed about early last week, is now 0 - 2.

Other than Akron and Ohio starting fast seemingly confirming that they are good and TOL's fast start, what can one say about a bunch of 1 - 1 (or 0 - 2) teams???

I see a lot of parity in 2017.

One thing about Madray, when Murphy opted to play JT4 on the wing that made a mess of the center position with Steele and Madray.

I still believe that Madray is best at PF but who plays behind Steele at '5'???

I still like JT4/Steele at '5', Nobles/Madray/Jones at '4', Bond at '3', Toney/Lee/Mangum in the backcourt.

I would split JT4's minutes between center and PF to give Steele more minutes. I would give JT4 20 minutes at center, and 10 at PF. Steele could play 20 minutes at center. Nobles could move to '3' when Bond moves to '1'.

Nobles could be the old 'combo' F: PF / SF.

(01-07-2017 10:56 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  No need to defend your position, Steve. Remember when Bob predicted that Creighton would never take us to a bowl game? Whoops. Don't throw stones in your glass house, Sham.

Sometimes you hit on jucos/transfers (Riley/Naz/Mangum), sometimes you miss. It's hard to predict.

Bob loves to make forward looking statements like reading a weather vane or worse profoundly state what happened YESTERDAY (instead of predicting the future).

After FGCU got hot in the NCAAs, he proclaimed it a coming hoops power with near beautiful beaches, warm weather, exciting hoops, etc. What's not to like???

Didn't happen. "One hit wonder."

Mercer beat Duke in the NCAAs but hasn't become a hoops power. "One hit wonders" happen all the time in college sports.

I dont remember a time where a lost hurt so bad. It was gut wrenching because we just kept turning the ball over and couldn't rebound, it was like getting the ball ran down your throats in football. It was demoralizing.

I feel like there were some times where we attempted to be to flashy. A couple of missed alley oops and a few passes down low where a simple pass would have sufficed but they tried to go no look.

Yeah, the refs hurt but they got in our head.

Also, how did Perkins get allowed to leave Washtenaw county? He would have been a nice piece.

(01-08-2017 08:55 AM)vannzee Wrote:  I dont remember a time where a lost hurt so bad. It was gut wrenching because we just kept turning the ball over and couldn't rebound, it was like getting the ball ran down your throats in football. It was demoralizing.

I feel like there were some times where we attempted to be to flashy. A couple of missed alley oops and a few passes down low where a simple pass would have sufficed but they tried to go no look.

Yeah, the refs hurt but they got in our head.

Also, how did Perkins get allowed to leave Washtenaw county? He would have been a nice piece.

Correct on the flashy part vs executing the play this has been my beef with Bond on occasion this team has the physical ability but does it have desire or heart to win??

(01-08-2017 08:55 AM)vannzee Wrote:  I dont remember a time where a lost hurt so bad. It was gut wrenching because we just kept turning the ball over and couldn't rebound, it was like getting the ball ran down your throats in football. It was demoralizing.

I feel like there were some times where we attempted to be to flashy. A couple of missed alley oops and a few passes down low where a simple pass would have sufficed but they tried to go no look.

Yeah, the refs hurt but they got in our head.

Also, how did Perkins get allowed to leave Washtenaw county? He would have been a nice piece.

Vannzee, in my opinion, you have to be on an upward trend to secure very good HS players. I believe when he was available, Hurley had Buffalo on upswing.

The first half of the second half, refs were clearly on Buffallo's side. It evened out in the "last quarter", but kept Buffalo in the game/lead until then which changed the dynamic of the game. Not sure if this looked different on the stream vs live for those who disagree.

Sunshine Steve is overly optimistic by his own admission. Therefore, I don't think you can rub his nose in any overly optimistic prediction.

Murphy has done an amazing job of keeping EMU out of the cellar, but has failed to produce a truly successful season. This early home loss to a rebuilding Buffalo team is not a good sign that this will change this year. We will see.

(01-08-2017 06:30 PM)RamyEMU Wrote:  The first half of the second half, refs were clearly on Buffallo's side. It evened out in the "last quarter", but kept Buffalo in the game/lead until then which changed the dynamic of the game. Not sure if this looked different on the stream vs live for those who disagree.

Sunshine Steve is overly optimistic by his own admission. Therefore, I don't think you can rub his nose in any overly optimistic prediction.

Murphy has done an amazing job of keeping EMU out of the cellar, but has failed to produce a truly successful season. This early home loss to a rebuilding Buffalo team is not a good sign that this will change this year. We will see.

Ramy,

I agree with what you said; however, it doesn't take an amazing job to keep EMU out of the cellar just an average job.

I'm still 'Sunshine Steve'. Still believe we have the best talent in the MAC West.

I'm not giving up hope because of one disappointing loss...

Last time I checked, other MAC West 'contenders' like BSU and CMU have ZERO conference wins.

This is going to be a long battle to CLE

EDIT: Sometime I think sports fans live in not a bubble but in a compartmentalized mental space. They see the sky falling directly over their heads, but no where else.

We are 1 - 1, not where I wanted to be, but BSU and CMU are 0 - 2. CMU has to face Akron Tuesday.

So what does that mean: We have a good chance to be 2 - 1 by Wednesday morning; CMU could be 0 - 3.

I just don't see the sky falling despite the fact that I felt a thunderstorm blow through Saturday afternoon.

(01-08-2017 07:53 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I'm still 'Sunshine Steve'. Still believe we have the best talent in the MAC West.

I'm not giving up hope because of one disappointing loss...

Last time I checked, other MAC West 'contenders' like BSU and CMU have ZERO conference wins.

This is going to be a long battle to CLE.

Steve,

I agree with you in that we have the most talent in the West. After watching CMU, they are simply not that good or talented. It will be interesting to see if our talent can overcompensate the coaching deficiency. We may win the West but there's no way we win the MAC.

Although I will say the MAC is down in basketball......

Toledo has won 5 (maybe 6?) straight. They won't be a pushover. Not saying we can't win the West, but we'll have to go through UT.

(01-08-2017 09:20 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  Toledo has won 5 (maybe 6?) straight. They won't be a pushover. Not saying we can't win the West, but we'll have to go through UT.

I haven't paid a lot of attention to MAC MBB (because our FB season lasted so long. ).

I just checked TOL's schedule.

Look at all of the home games vs. mid-majors. Talk about a way to get off to a good start...

They played 8 games in Dec/Jan and 7 were home games, including 2 conference games.

http://utrockets.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball#

Eventually TOL has to go on the road and they'll probably 'come down to earth.' Just my guess. I don't think they are as good as their record...

Tomorrow's game will be on ASN.

I found it on Comcast-Chicago, available on DirecTV.

Probably on other sports channels, etc.