Great win, but can we learn to make FTs?

Dear Friends,
Being at the game yesterday, I noticed two things. One which was probably obvious to those of us that watched it, and that was the almost two to one advantage Northern had in foul shots. All of us have complained about the referees, but this was like they were trying to give the game to Northern.
The other was when Eastern was on offense, the two big men, Thompson and Steele, just stood on either edge of the backboard while the guards went through a weave of sorts. It seems to me that they have to move around more, so that there may be a more open man, to get the ball for a shot.

(03-07-2017 08:56 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Friends,
Being at the game yesterday, I noticed two things. One which was probably obvious to those of us that watched it, and that was the almost two to one advantage Northern had in foul shots. All of us have complained about the referees, but this was like they were trying to give the game to Northern.
The other was when Eastern was on offense, the two big men, Thompson and Steele, just stood on either edge of the backboard while the guards went through a weave of sorts. It seems to me that they have to move around more, so that there may be a more open man, to get the ball for a shot.

Murphy told them if they move, they'll be shot.....Or worse yet, the team might be mistakened as running a structured offense and that is not allowed in Murphy ball :-)

You gotta feel for NIU fans. We'd all be ripping the hairs out of our heads even worse if we had to sit through six years of Mark Montgomery. He has almost as non-existent of an offensive system as we do, with the same painful mistakes year after year.

At least none of our guys that transferred out really came back to bite us in the butt. They've had Abdel Nader go to Iowa State, only to be a starter on a very good team and get drafted (!) by the Celtics. As well as Akeem Springs, who's scoring around 10 ppg on a tournament-bound Minnesota team, and Michael Orris, who starts on a South Dakota State team that is one win away from the dance. Could you imagine if Jodan Price or Jalen Ross left us only to be really good players on tournament teams? This place would flip.

Funny thing is, I remember all of those guys playing against us and looking completely lost and/or inefficient. Both Nader and Springs played in the infamous "4 points in the 1st half" game, and shot a combined 2-22 from the field (0-11 from three). Wow. Seeing those guys go elsewhere and become effective on good teams doesn't speak too highly of Monty's coaching.

Provided we don't make a miraculous run in the MAC Tourney, I don't think Rob Murphy should be brought back. For our sake, I hope Monty coaches NIU forever.

BTW, apparently Gary Waters is done at CLE State.

(03-07-2017 02:47 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  You gotta feel for NIU fans. We'd all be ripping the hairs out of our heads even worse if we had to sit through six years of Mark Montgomery. He has almost as non-existent of an offensive system as we do, with the same painful mistakes year after year.

At least none of our guys that transferred out really came back to bite us in the butt. They've had Abdel Nader go to Iowa State, only to be a starter on a very good team and get drafted (!) by the Celtics. As well as Akeem Springs, who's scoring around 10 ppg on a tournament-bound Minnesota team, and Michael Orris, who starts on a South Dakota State team that is one win away from the dance. Could you imagine if Jodan Price or Jalen Ross left us only to be really good players on tournament teams? This place would flip.

Funny thing is, I remember all of those guys playing against us and looking completely lost and/or inefficient. Both Nader and Springs played in the infamous "4 points in the 1st half" game, and shot a combined 2-22 from the field (0-11 from three). Wow. Seeing those guys go elsewhere and become effective on good teams doesn't speak too highly of Monty's coaching.

Provided we don't make a miraculous run in the MAC Tourney, I don't think Rob Murphy should be brought back. For our sake, I hope Monty coaches NIU forever.

I'll never feel bad for NIU fans.

But I do question mark Montgomery. One only has to watch the Emu film against Ball State or Toledo to develop a solid strategy against Eastern. He failed miserably on that.

(03-07-2017 04:53 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(03-07-2017 02:47 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  You gotta feel for NIU fans. We'd all be ripping the hairs out of our heads even worse if we had to sit through six years of Mark Montgomery. He has almost as non-existent of an offensive system as we do, with the same painful mistakes year after year.

At least none of our guys that transferred out really came back to bite us in the butt. They've had Abdel Nader go to Iowa State, only to be a starter on a very good team and get drafted (!) by the Celtics. As well as Akeem Springs, who's scoring around 10 ppg on a tournament-bound Minnesota team, and Michael Orris, who starts on a South Dakota State team that is one win away from the dance. Could you imagine if Jodan Price or Jalen Ross left us only to be really good players on tournament teams? This place would flip.

Funny thing is, I remember all of those guys playing against us and looking completely lost and/or inefficient. Both Nader and Springs played in the infamous "4 points in the 1st half" game, and shot a combined 2-22 from the field (0-11 from three). Wow. Seeing those guys go elsewhere and become effective on good teams doesn't speak too highly of Monty's coaching.

Provided we don't make a miraculous run in the MAC Tourney, I don't think Rob Murphy should be brought back. For our sake, I hope Monty coaches NIU forever.

I'll never feel bad for NIU fans.

But I do question mark Montgomery. One only has to watch the Emu film against Ball State or Toledo to develop a solid strategy against Eastern. He failed miserably on that.

i agree 100% with both of you. the only thing i can figure with Monty is that Maric is his best player, and having your best player do what they're best at (scoring near the hoop) makes sense in a lot of situations. however, when you never beat us doing that, and other teams have given you a template for beating us, it's a poor decision.

(03-07-2017 02:47 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Provided we don't make a miraculous run in the MAC Tourney, I don't think Rob Murphy should be brought back. For our sake, I hope Monty coaches NIU forever.

Good post. However, my take away of what you wrote was maybe we should count our blessings with Murphy. Could be ALOT worse.

(03-07-2017 11:12 PM)RamyEMU Wrote:  

(03-07-2017 02:47 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Provided we don't make a miraculous run in the MAC Tourney, I don't think Rob Murphy should be brought back. For our sake, I hope Monty coaches NIU forever.

Good post. However, my take away of what you wrote was maybe we should count our blessings with Murphy. Could be ALOT worse.

Oh, it could absolutely be a lot worse. One only has to look at Charles Ramsey's last year as well. Getting blown at home by WMU on Earl Boykins Day was one of the basketball low points that I can remember in my time at EMU. The players looked completely disengaged. We got blown out a lot that season.

Murphy at least keeps us competitive, but eventually those competitive games need to turn into wins. We always seem to fail down the stretch in close games, and that's on coaching as much as anything else. It could be a lot worse but, with the talent we have, it should be a lot better.

That's why I think, barring a massive upset tomorrow, it would be a good time to replace Murphy. We have some promising freshmen/transfers coming in, with a pretty solid cupboard already here. A new coach could hit the ground running, rather than completely rebuild.

I've long been a supporter of Murphy, and I thank him for bringing a competitive product back to us. But you can only accept mediocrity and underachieving for so long. Murph has shown us that talented players can still be brought to EMU. Now, we just need that to translate into wins.

Very well said, Sam. If Murphy gets canned, I will be the first to write him and thank him for what he's done at EMU. He's returned us to relevance within the MAC and brought multiple B1G wins. Defeating Michigan in Ann Arbor and watching us play in Cleveland in the MAC semifinal are two of the greatest experiences I've ever had as an EMU fan. Murphy was instrumental in getting us to a competitive level and retaining/recruiting that talent level.

That said, we haven't really grown as a program. Not getting a 1st round bye with arguably he most talented team in the MAC simply can't be good enough. I think it's time too.

Wow, you guys have put a bulls-eye on his back for tomorrow's game.

He needs to win tomorrow and maybe Friday, in your views to keep his job????

Good points but sure the players for the 2017 class play for emu if Murphy and current staff are gone guess it would depend on the replacement

I'm going to soften my opinion on Murphy. I think he runs a good program and can win at EMU. He just needs to be a little more adaptive to the things happening on the court. Adjustments are vital and inflexibility can cause losses.

If we lose tomorrow and we give him one more shot next year, I won't be angry. At least then we wouldn't have to worry about all the talent transferring.

I just think we've hit the ceiling with Murphy, and we shouldn't expect anymore next year if we keep him.

(03-08-2017 11:32 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  I'm going to soften my opinion on Murphy. I think he runs a good program and can win at EMU. He just needs to be a little more adaptive to the things happening on the court. Adjustments are vital and inflexibility can cause losses.

And also bring in some fresh assistant s from time to time look what bringing in new assistants did for the football program

(03-08-2017 11:11 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Good points but sure the players for the 2017 class play for emu if Murphy and current staff are gone guess it would depend on the replacement

True. I would think that Epps would be a possible loss.

Would JT4 try to turn pro? (he is getting scouted. 2nd round possibility? I kind of doubt it, but...).

Anyone who is a graduate eligible transfer? E.g., Madray?

I just hope we don't have the debacle we had in the WBB program where the players didn't get whom they wanted (presumably Finley) and walked...

Changing coaches is always a risky move. One has to REALLY know the dynamics of the coaches, players, etc. etc.

Truth be told, I have NO idea of the relationship between the players and coach(es).

I don't live in 48197 so it isn't like I can engage players, fellow students, etc.

(03-08-2017 11:09 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Wow, you guys have put a bulls-eye on his back for tomorrow's game.

He needs to win tomorrow and maybe Friday, in your views to keep his job????

My question to you would be are you happy with a below conference winning percentage and slightly above .500 seasons year after year?

(03-08-2017 11:09 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Wow, you guys have put a bulls-eye on his back for tomorrow's game.

He needs to win tomorrow and maybe Friday, in your views to keep his job????

I think if he beats Akron, he stays. Honestly, I think he stays regardless now that we didn't lose to NIU. I just think Frank is right: I will have minimal expectations next year if Murphy is still at the helm, even though we should be one of the more talented teams in the conference again.

(03-08-2017 11:36 AM)emu79 Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 11:32 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  I'm going to soften my opinion on Murphy. I think he runs a good program and can win at EMU. He just needs to be a little more adaptive to the things happening on the court. Adjustments are vital and inflexibility can cause losses.

And also bring in some fresh assistant s from time to time look what bringing in new assistants did for the football program

I really don't know too much about the coaching staff, but...

I believe Mondro does game prep and big men.

I believe Brown and White are the primary recruiters. I've read (here) that Brown has a good reputation as a recruiter. I've also heard that White is very well liked by the recruits and their families. White is a downright nice guy. I don't have any problems seeing how he'd be very well liked by parents, etc.

When I look at other coaching staffs, and I don't have to go to Bobby Knight, but if anything I think our staff might be TOO low keyed. I sometimes wondered how the team would do with Hurley (fmr. UB), Coach K (Tol), etc. who have more high keyed, driven personalities.

If JT4 gets an uncalled for technical tomorrow, if I were Murphy I'd take the ball and heave it at... the game official. #FireUpEastern

(03-08-2017 11:11 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Good points but sure the players for the 2017 class play for emu if Murphy and current staff are gone guess it would depend on the replacement

That's tough to speculate, but you could be right. I could see Thompson leaving if Murphy is fired. Epps might decommit as well. Other than that, I think Bond is kind of handcuffed here, unless he wants to go elsewhere to sit out a year just to play one final season. Plus, he's going to be "the guy" next season no matter who comes here.

Nobles is someone that I really want to stay, because I think he could be a very good player under the right system. He's the best three point shooter on this team, but doesn't get enough looks. Anyway, he's already used his redshirt, so he's essentially in the same boat as Bond, unless they both graduate early.

Jackson, Minnie, Harris, and Groce are all basically locked in. They won't sit out ANOTHER year to go elsewhere. Maybe one (or two) of Steele, LWH, and Madray leave, but I doubt Steele is one of them. Silver signed his LOI, so he's in too.

Thompson would be quite the loss, but we should still have some talent for a new coach to play with, and that's without said coach bringing in some of his own guys late in the game.