01-30-2016, 08:37 PM
So many of you think I dislike coach Murphy based on my posts being critical of his system. Let me tell everyone on this board that of course I wanted Coach Murphy to be successful and EMU to win some games (not all of them) and be competitive in the conference. When I look at Murphy's teams each year, it is evident that we have very nice talent. In fact, I would say we have top 1/3 tier talent in this conference.
OK, if we have top tier talent in this conference, why do we struggle offensively? The answer really stems from the lack of running any type of structured offense. Murphy's offense is one on one with little ball movement or screens. This means when the lanes are clogged and we need to shoot from outside, our guards have to shoot overtop of their defenders vs getting open looks for a guard coming off a screen. The toughest plays in basketball is for a guard to have to rise up and shoot over top of a defender. However, this is Murphy's offensive system. There are very few MAC guards that can consistently shoot jump shots when a defender is up on them. In fact, as great of a player Raven Lee is, he can not shoot over top of guards consistently. Raven and Tim Bond are really the only guards we have that can shoot over top of guards and neither can do it consistently. Unless you have an NBA guard, it's asking way too much from good D1 players to score consistently in this manner. This is Murphy's system and which is why we are so hot and cold from the outside. Sometimes we break down the defense and kick it out for an open look but Toney, Price and Mangum catch and shoot set shots. None of these three players can rise up over a defender and hit consistent jump shots - at least not consistently it's just too difficult. In Murphy's five years here, I have not seen a structured offense and we play mostly street ball. Unless Raven Lee hits miracle shots with defenders in his face, we struggle from the outside. It is not that we have bad shooting guards, it's just that we have a terrible offensive system.
Now to discuss our defense: many of you ask, why do other teams have career shooting days against us? It is because we play the same zone and now the MAC coaches know how to scheme against it. With good ball movement and passing inside out, the offensive team can get wide open looks. In fact, you saw WMU run BGSU's offense against us. WMU worked the ball inside out and got wide open uncontested shots that most D1 guards would hit with their eyes closed. The zone also makes it confusing for the defender to know who to box out when the shot is taken because the zone might be overloaded and there are too many players to box out or it might leave you out of position. For example, many times I see EMU with two players on the guy with the ball and then one quick pass and a shot, typically leaves an offensive player with a free path to the rim and an offensive rebound. This has lead JT4 to getting into foul trouble by having too many players to defend down low, or the offensive rebound is kicked out to a guard who gets an uncontested shot. The aforementioned reasons are why I would take my chances with a man to man defense because it is less vulnerable to uncontested shots and less prone to giving up offensive rebounds.
Finally, I went with a few buddies to the WMU game and slapped 5 with the players before they were introduced. I did not get a sense from them that they were having fun. They did not seem that excited to be playing..... I have seen that from them during several occasions but I believe they play hard in the game. From what I have gathered, Murphy should try to improve his motivational tactics because the players seem uninspired before the game. I also was disappointed in Murphy when EMU had cut the lead to 6 or 7 points with a minute and a half to go and WMU hit a tough shot on us. We then come down and score and call timeout. I sware to all of you Murphy stood outside the EMU huddle with his arms folded uninterested on coaching the rest of the game. Coach Brown stepped into the huddle and gave direction - I thought Murphy displayed very poor leadership skills. So here we are in year 5. Murphy is not going to get it done here. He has so much talent and doesn't know how to use it. Clearly he was a recruiter for Syracuse because he is lost during the game
I mean staying in a zone when you're down when the clock is running........I have seen this movie too many times.
I will be there next year to see the sitouts, hopefully JT4 returns, and hopefully Raven too but I can guarantee to all of you that if major changes are not made, Coach Murphy will become an NBA scout not not by choice.
Go EMU!
OK, if we have top tier talent in this conference, why do we struggle offensively? The answer really stems from the lack of running any type of structured offense. Murphy's offense is one on one with little ball movement or screens. This means when the lanes are clogged and we need to shoot from outside, our guards have to shoot overtop of their defenders vs getting open looks for a guard coming off a screen. The toughest plays in basketball is for a guard to have to rise up and shoot over top of a defender. However, this is Murphy's offensive system. There are very few MAC guards that can consistently shoot jump shots when a defender is up on them. In fact, as great of a player Raven Lee is, he can not shoot over top of guards consistently. Raven and Tim Bond are really the only guards we have that can shoot over top of guards and neither can do it consistently. Unless you have an NBA guard, it's asking way too much from good D1 players to score consistently in this manner. This is Murphy's system and which is why we are so hot and cold from the outside. Sometimes we break down the defense and kick it out for an open look but Toney, Price and Mangum catch and shoot set shots. None of these three players can rise up over a defender and hit consistent jump shots - at least not consistently it's just too difficult. In Murphy's five years here, I have not seen a structured offense and we play mostly street ball. Unless Raven Lee hits miracle shots with defenders in his face, we struggle from the outside. It is not that we have bad shooting guards, it's just that we have a terrible offensive system.
Now to discuss our defense: many of you ask, why do other teams have career shooting days against us? It is because we play the same zone and now the MAC coaches know how to scheme against it. With good ball movement and passing inside out, the offensive team can get wide open looks. In fact, you saw WMU run BGSU's offense against us. WMU worked the ball inside out and got wide open uncontested shots that most D1 guards would hit with their eyes closed. The zone also makes it confusing for the defender to know who to box out when the shot is taken because the zone might be overloaded and there are too many players to box out or it might leave you out of position. For example, many times I see EMU with two players on the guy with the ball and then one quick pass and a shot, typically leaves an offensive player with a free path to the rim and an offensive rebound. This has lead JT4 to getting into foul trouble by having too many players to defend down low, or the offensive rebound is kicked out to a guard who gets an uncontested shot. The aforementioned reasons are why I would take my chances with a man to man defense because it is less vulnerable to uncontested shots and less prone to giving up offensive rebounds.
Finally, I went with a few buddies to the WMU game and slapped 5 with the players before they were introduced. I did not get a sense from them that they were having fun. They did not seem that excited to be playing..... I have seen that from them during several occasions but I believe they play hard in the game. From what I have gathered, Murphy should try to improve his motivational tactics because the players seem uninspired before the game. I also was disappointed in Murphy when EMU had cut the lead to 6 or 7 points with a minute and a half to go and WMU hit a tough shot on us. We then come down and score and call timeout. I sware to all of you Murphy stood outside the EMU huddle with his arms folded uninterested on coaching the rest of the game. Coach Brown stepped into the huddle and gave direction - I thought Murphy displayed very poor leadership skills. So here we are in year 5. Murphy is not going to get it done here. He has so much talent and doesn't know how to use it. Clearly he was a recruiter for Syracuse because he is lost during the game
I mean staying in a zone when you're down when the clock is running........I have seen this movie too many times.
I will be there next year to see the sitouts, hopefully JT4 returns, and hopefully Raven too but I can guarantee to all of you that if major changes are not made, Coach Murphy will become an NBA scout not not by choice.
Go EMU!