EMU FB and the bowl game, and suspense leading up to it, has sucked all of the oxygen out of EMU sports.

Even EMU volleyball didn't get a lot of attention for their NCAA bid.

That said, maybe EMU MBB can use a breather game, and then a long layoff and try to right the ship.

Good grief, Minnie is not shooting as well as he was last year. Like, not even close. If he improves, it will tighten up these games in a hurry. I think he will loosen up as he takes more shots.

Drexel 0-5
Goshen 7-14
@Duke 1-7
Boston 10-17
@Rutgers 0-8
DMercy 1-9
@Northeastern 8-18

Total 27-78 .346
Last year .453

The Northeastern game was his best performance of season by far and I am including the Boston game. He made steals, collected rebounds and yes shot the ball decently. Perhaps those injuries were affecting him. Then again could it be that he was not playing with the JT4-Toure baseline tandem as much as he did in prior games? No matter what if he does not play well, it affects the entire team. Jackson gets doubled up on penetration without a serious 3 point option to kick out to. Without an aggressive long armed wing player our zone defense is just five guys allowing uncontested threes and offensive rebounds.

Murphy has four games and five weeks to fix it.

And, as '79 mentioned before, we miss Bond even more than we thought. Hard to believe what he did on the break and what he did on defense with all of the ground he covered.

(12-04-2018 06:46 PM)emu steve Wrote:  And, as '79 mentioned before, we miss Bond even more than we thought. Hard to believe what he did on the break and what he did on defense with all of the ground he covered.

No doubt about it. From a defensive standpoint we, in essence, replaced a super quick, long armed athlete with a 6'11" post player. I like Toure on offense, he has been much better than advertised, but he has not proven to be any kind of upgrade to the middle of the zone. As good as he has been, I still would prefer to see him come off the bench. The points he has been getting us are hardly incremental, instead they are just cannibalized from JT4. He is not adept as a shot blocker either. I feel great about Toure as our center next year but this season I think we would be better off starting Groce, the closest thing we have to Bond, and rotating Rafus, King and Stephens as well in the 3 spot. Just my opinion.

(12-04-2018 08:05 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  No doubt about it. From a defensive standpoint we, in essence, replaced a super quick, long armed athlete with a 6'11" post player. I like Toure on offense, he has been much better than advertised, but he has not proven to be any kind of upgrade to the middle of the zone. As good as he has been, I still would prefer to see him come off the bench. The points he has been getting us are hardly incremental, instead they are just cannibalized from JT4. He is not adept as a shot blocker either. I feel great about Toure as our center next year but this season I think we would be better off starting Groce, the closest thing we have to Bond, and rotating Rafus, King and Stephens as well in the 3 spot. Just my opinion.

very well said! i agree with everything.

(12-04-2018 10:16 PM)EMUAARON Wrote:  

(12-04-2018 08:05 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  No doubt about it. From a defensive standpoint we, in essence, replaced a super quick, long armed athlete with a 6'11" post player. I like Toure on offense, he has been much better than advertised, but he has not proven to be any kind of upgrade to the middle of the zone. As good as he has been, I still would prefer to see him come off the bench. The points he has been getting us are hardly incremental, instead they are just cannibalized from JT4. He is not adept as a shot blocker either. I feel great about Toure as our center next year but this season I think we would be better off starting Groce, the closest thing we have to Bond, and rotating Rafus, King and Stephens as well in the 3 spot. Just my opinion.

very well said! i agree with everything.

Agree. As a fmr. poster would say, "Bond was the straw that stirred the drink."

(12-04-2018 08:05 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  this season I think we would be better off starting Groce, the closest thing we have to Bond, and rotating Rafus, King and Stephens as well in the 3 spot. Just my opinion.

This is a brilliant opinion!! Bond no doubt was a huge loss from last years team (Murphy’s best). But with the nucleus returning AND a reasonable replacement in Groce waiting in the wings (no pun intended), it was conceivable that the team would have still been improved given the chemistry they developed. Instead it feels like a team that was overhauled and trying to learn how to play with each other.

Murphy teams rarely give up (except the team a couple years ago with the Toney, Magum, and Lee seniors). So i not throwing in the towel. But this beginning has been a disappointment that could have been avoided.

(12-05-2018 09:08 PM)RamyEMU Wrote:  

(12-04-2018 08:05 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  this season I think we would be better off starting Groce, the closest thing we have to Bond, and rotating Rafus, King and Stephens as well in the 3 spot. Just my opinion.

This is a brilliant opinion!! Bond no doubt was a huge loss from last years team (Murphy’s best). But with the nucleus returning AND a reasonable replacement in Groce waiting in the wings (no pun intended), it was conceivable that the team would have still been improved given the chemistry they developed. Instead it feels like a team that was overhauled and trying to learn how to play with each other.

Murphy teams rarely give up (except the team a couple years ago with the Toney, Magum, and Lee seniors). So i not throwing in the towel. But this beginning has been a disappointment that could have been avoided.

Ramy thanks for the compliment. I was in love with the idea of starting all three of our bigs as I am sure Murphy was as well. It has been, however, less than successful.

Honestly we play in the MAC and this preseason disappointment does little to affect the season. Had we only lost to Duke, TCU and Kansas in the preseason, I still doubt that we would get an NCAA invite without winning the MAC Tournament.

The REAL season starts January 4.

(12-05-2018 02:22 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(12-04-2018 10:16 PM)EMUAARON Wrote:  

(12-04-2018 08:05 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  No doubt about it. From a defensive standpoint we, in essence, replaced a super quick, long armed athlete with a 6'11" post player. I like Toure on offense, he has been much better than advertised, but he has not proven to be any kind of upgrade to the middle of the zone. As good as he has been, I still would prefer to see him come off the bench. The points he has been getting us are hardly incremental, instead they are just cannibalized from JT4. He is not adept as a shot blocker either. I feel great about Toure as our center next year but this season I think we would be better off starting Groce, the closest thing we have to Bond, and rotating Rafus, King and Stephens as well in the 3 spot. Just my opinion.

very well said! i agree with everything.

Agree. As a fmr. poster would say, "Bond was the straw that stirred the drink."

See this G League video for evidence of what Timmy can do for a team.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1070526002101665793

(12-06-2018 03:21 AM)emu steve Wrote:  See this G League video for evidence of what Timmy can do for a team.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1070526002101665793

Go Tim!!

We miss you even more than we thought we would.

Wow. Central State is NOT a successful basketball team this year. 1-8 with 0-4 conference in SIAC.

All their five nonconference losses were by 20+ points.

(12-06-2018 10:38 AM)Block_E Wrote:  Wow. Central State is NOT a successful basketball team this year. 1-8 with 0-4 conference in SIAC.

All their five nonconference losses were by 20+ points.

So your saying there is a chance!

(12-06-2018 01:56 PM)alum93 Wrote:  

(12-06-2018 10:38 AM)Block_E Wrote:  Wow. Central State is NOT a successful basketball team this year. 1-8 with 0-4 conference in SIAC.

All their five nonconference losses were by 20+ points.

So your saying there is a chance!

Win by 25 or Bob interrupts the Camellia Bowl to demand an early buyout.

(12-07-2018 02:22 PM)Block_E Wrote:  

(12-06-2018 01:56 PM)alum93 Wrote:  

(12-06-2018 10:38 AM)Block_E Wrote:  Wow. Central State is NOT a successful basketball team this year. 1-8 with 0-4 conference in SIAC.

All their five nonconference losses were by 20+ points.

So your saying there is a chance!

Win by 25 or Bob interrupts the Camellia Bowl to demand an early buyout.

CMU didn't make a bowl game this year, so Bob doesn't have much to watch.



Like all of our other precious non-D1 games, my only hope is that no one gets hurt. Been an immensely disappointing start to the season, but we can still turn it around in MAC play. Need to be healthy to do that, though.